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Showing contexts for: murder section 300 in Suresh Chand Sharma vs The State (Nct Of Delhi) on 6 June, 2011Matching Fragments
14. Learned APP submitted that the Appellant may not have had an intention of causing injury in the deceased's abdomen but he definitely had the knowledge that his act was likely to cause death of the deceased.
15. Mr. Siddharth Aggarwal, learned counsel for the victim supported the Trial Court judgment and strenuously canvassed that while determining intention or knowledge, the Court is to see the injury actually caused and if the injury inflicted is sufficient to cause death in the ordinary course of nature, the act of Appellant would amount to murder covered by Clause thirdly to section 300 IPC. It is submitted that since the injury caused in this case was sufficient to cause death in the ordinary course of nature, the Appellant cannot escape the conviction under Section 302 IPC.
44. The distinction between culpable homicide and murder was aptly drawn by the Supreme Court in Kandaswamy v. State of Tamil Nadu, (2008) 11 SCC 97. We would like to extract Para 9 of the judgment hereunder:-
"9. 11. This brings us to the crucial question as to which was the appropriate provision to be applied. In the scheme of the IPC culpable homicide is genus and `murder' its specie. All `murder' is `culpable homicide' but not vice-versa. Speaking generally, `culpable homicide' sans 'special characteristics of murder is culpable homicide not amounting to murder'. For the purpose of fixing punishment, proportionate to the gravity of the generic offence, IPC practically recognizes three degrees of culpable homicide. The first is, what may be called, `culpable homicide of the first degree'. This is the gravest form of culpable homicide, which is defined in Section 300 as `murder'. The second may be termed as `culpable homicide of the second degree'. This is punishable under the first part of Section 304. Then, there is `culpable homicide of the third degree'. This is the lowest type of culpable homicide and the punishment provided for it is also the lowest among the punishments provided for the three grades. Culpable homicide of this degree is punishable under the second part of Section 304.
21. From the above conspectus, it emerges that whenever a court is confronted with the question whether the offence is 'murder' or 'culpable homicide not amounting to murder,' on the facts of a case, it will be convenient for it to approach the problem in three stages. The question to be considered at the first stage would be, whether the accused has done an act by doing which he has caused the death of another. Proof of such causal connection between the act of the accused and the death, leads to the second stage for considering whether that act of the accused amounts to "culpable homicide" as defined in Section 299. If the answer to this question is prima jade found in the affirmative, the stage for considering the operation of Section 300, Penal Code is reached. This is the stage at which the Court should determine whether the facts proved by the prosecution bring the case within the ambit of any of the four Clauses of the definition of murder' contained in Section 300. If the answer to this question is in the negative the offence would be 'culpable homicide not amounting to murder', punishable under the first or the second part of Section 304, depending, respectively, on whether the second or the third Clause of Section 299 is applicable. If this question is found in the positive, but the case comes, within any of the Exceptions enumerated in Section 300, the offence would still be 'culpable homicide not amounting to murder', punishable under the First Part of Section 304, Penal Code".