Going too far

A man who was accused of murder had an eyewitness vouching for his attempt at self-defence. During cross examination, the witness said that the deceased, a karate expert, had a knife in his hand and had initiated the fight. He added that it was only when the knife fell from the karate expert’s hand that the accused had picked it up and stabbed his opponent. The Supreme Court held that even though the accused had not mentioned the ground of self-defence in his plea, it was available to him. However, as the accused had inflicted three injuries, the court held that the prosecution could say that he had overdone his right of private defence. The court modified the conviction of murder to one of culpable homicide not amounting to murder. (Udaykumar Pandharinath Jadhav vs State of Maharashtra)

Justice, not mercy

A man was convicted by the at the Fast Track Court in Godhra for raping a minor girl. The accused appealed to the Gujarat High Court, pleading that mercy be granted to him, as he was illiterate as well as the sole bread earner in his family. He appealed that the sentence be reduced to the period he had already spent in custody. Disagreeing, the Gujarat High Court held that since his offence had been proved in the court, any reduction in sentence was unjustified. It added that showing mercy to someone who had committed such a heinous crime would be a travesty of justice and the plea of leniency would be wholly misplaced. (Maniyabhai Manabhai Uma vs State of Gujarat)

Clearly his doing

When the accused in a murder case was convicted, he challenged the order on grounds that the only two witnesses were the parents of the deceased who were likely to be biased. He contended that the absence of any independent witness weakened the case for the prosecution. Rejecting the contention, the Punjab and Haryana High Court held that since the incident took place in the room of the deceased on a bitterly cold night in January, the absence of an independent witness was easily explained. The absence of an independent witness, it added, could do nothing to allay the guilt of the accused. (Shanker Kumar vs State of Punjab)