Bombay High Court
Emperor vs Chinia Bhika Koli on 22 February, 1906
Equivalent citations: (1906)8BOMLR240
JUDGMENT Lawrence Jenkins, K.C.I.E., C.J.
1. The accused in this case has been sentenced to death on what is stated to be his own plea of guilty.
2. It is not in accordance with the usual practice to accept a plea of guilty in a case where the natural sequence would be a sentence of death, and so we have felt it our duty in this case to scrutinize the charge with some care to see whether the accused really understood the charge to which he pleaded.
3. The charge as translated to us is in effect that the accused for the purpose of taking the ornaments of the deceased struck him on the head and thereby committed murder.
4. A man may plead that he hit some one who thereby died, and that he did it for the purpose of taking away the ornaments of the person injured without necessarily admitting that he committed murder, for murder under the Penal Code requires a certain intention or a certain knowledge.
5. Under these circumstances we are of opinion that it is not safe to accept the conclusion of the Sessions Judge and we accordingly send back the case for trial in accordance with law, and for the purpose we reverse the conviction and sentence.