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6. Though learned counsel for the respondent- State opposed the aforementioned submission of learned counsel for the appellant and contended that no case is made out to interfere in the quantum of punishment much less by taking re-course to Exception 4 to Section 300 IPC and hence this Court should uphold the conviction under Section 302 IPC. We, however, find considerable force in the submissions urged by the learned counsel for the appellant.

7. Before we turn to the facts of this case, it is apposite to take note of the principle of law laid down by this Court as to in which circumstances, the accused is held entitled to claim the benefit of Exception 4 to Section 300 IPC thereby is entitled to seek conversion of the offence committed by him from murder to culpable homicide not amounting to murder. Indeed, the principle of law on this issue remains no longer res integra and settled by a series of decisions of this Court. What has varied is its application to every case.

"10. .......... The help of Exception 4 can be invoked if death is caused:

(a) without premeditation; (b) in a sudden fight; (c) without the offender's having taken undue advantage or acted in a cruel or unusual manner; and (d) the fight must have been with the person killed. To bring a case within Exception 4 all the ingredients mentioned in it must be found.

It is to be noted that the "fight" occurring in Exception 4 to Section 300 IPC is not defined in the Indian Penal Code. It takes two to make a fight. Heat of passion requires that there must be no time for the passions to cool down and in this case, the parties have worked themselves into a fury on account of the verbal altercation in the beginning. A fight is a combat between two and more persons whether with or without weapons. It is not possible to enunciate any general rule as to what shall be deemed to be a sudden quarrel. It is a question of fact and whether a quarrel is sudden or not must necessarily depend upon the proved facts of each case. For the application of Exception 4, it is not sufficient to show that there was a sudden quarrel and there was no premeditation. It must further be shown that the offender has not taken undue advantage or acted in a cruel or unusual manner. The expression "undue advantage" as used in the provision means "unfair advantage".(Emphasis supplied) xxx xxx xxx "11......... After the injuries were inflicted the injured had fallen down, but there is no material to show that thereafter any injury was inflicted when he was in a helpless condition. The assaults were made at random. Even the previous altercations were verbal and not physical. It is not the case of the prosecution that the accused-appellants had come prepared and armed for attacking the deceased. ............. This goes to show that in the heat of passion upon a sudden quarrel followed by a fight the accused persons had caused injuries on the deceased, but had not acted in a cruel or unusual manner. That being so, Exception 4 to Section 300 IPC is clearly applicable......."(Emphasis supplied)

14. Keeping in view the approach of this Court for giving benefit of Exception 4 to Section 300 IPC in cases mentioned above and applying the same to the facts of this case, we are inclined to give benefit of Exception 4 to Section 300 IPC to the appellant by altering his sentence awarded to the appellant punishable under Section 304 Part II IPC. This we say so in the facts of this case for more than one reason. Firstly, even according to the prosecution, there was no premeditation in the commission of crime. Secondly, there is not even a suggestion or we may say conclusive evidence that the appellant had any pre-determined motive or enmity to commit the offence against the deceased leave alone a serious offence like murder. Thirdly, incident that occurred was due to sudden quarrel which ensued between the appellant-accused and the deceased-Padma on the issue of going to village Mandya to see the ailing appellant's father. The appellant, on receiving this news, had become upset and, therefore, his insistence to see his ailing father immediately was natural and at the same time, Padma's refusal to leave could lead to heated exchange of words between them. True, it is that it reached to its extreme inasmuch as the appellant in heated exchange of words lost his mental balance and poured kerosene on Padma setting her to burn. However, the fact remains that it was an outcome of sudden outburst and heated exchange with no predetermined motive per se to kill her. Fourthly, no conclusive evidence was adduced by the prosecution to prove any kind of constant quarrel ever ensued in the last 9 long years between the couple and that too for a cause known to others which could lead to killing Padma or whether any unsuccessful attempt was ever made by the appellant to kill her in past and lastly, we have not been able to see from the post-mortem report that any stab injury on Padma's body was caused nor prosecution was able to prove that any blood stained knife from the place of occurrence was recovered at the instance of the appellant or of any witness.

15. In the light of the aforementioned reasons, which, in our opinion, emerge from the evidence on record, we are of the considered view that these reasons are sufficient to give benefit of Exception 4 to Section 300 IPC to the appellant and enables the Court to hold that the offence in question was not murder but it was an offence of culpable homicide not amounting to murder as specified in Exception 4 to Section 300 and hence punishable under Section 304 part II IPC