'No Parent Would Fatally Harm Their Child': Rajasthan High Court Converts Father's Murder Conviction To Culpable Homicide, Reduces Life Term

Rajasthan High Court converted a father's murder conviction for fatally hitting his son's neck with a sharp edged tool, to culpable homicide not amounting to murder and reduced sentence from life imprisonment to 7 years.

The division bench of Justice Vinit Kumar Mathur and Justice Anuroop Singhi took into consideration the testimonies of prosecution witnesses including appellant's wife and daughter, claiming him to be a short-tempered person, lacking mental balance. It was claimed that the appellant often lost control and used to beat his children for their mistakes.

The Court observed that ordinarily, no parent would injure their children fatally, irrespective of how much frustrated they were, such that the child losses his/her life.

“We are of the view that in ordinary circumstances, no parent would cause fatal injury to their children, howsoever frustrated or dejected he or she may be. They will never do something, which may end up in losing their child.”

The conviction of murder and sentence of life imprisonment was challenged on the ground that there were no multiple blows, but only a single one, showing that the father had no intention of causing fatal injuries to his son. The incident happened in the heat of passion, it was argued.

After hearing the contentions, the Court took into account the evidence on record, including testimonies of prosecution witnesses, which aligned with the fact that appellant was a short-tempered person, lacking mental balance, who used to often beat children.

In this background, while making the aforementioned observations, the Court highlighted that even though the appellant inflicted injury on the son, there were no repeated blows. Hence, there was no intention or pre-mediation on his part to inflict fatal injury that resulted in his son's death.

“we find that the accused-appellant was not having any enmity with his son and there was no pre-meditation for inflicting fatal injury. Since the accused appellant was a person of unstable mind, he caused injury upon his son.”

Accordingly, appellant's conviction was converted from murder to culpable homicide not amounting to murder, and his sentence was reduced from life imprisonment to 7 years in prison.

Title: Laxman Das v State

Citation: 2025 LiveLaw (Raj) 342

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