Ganesh Shrawan Chaudhari vs State on 26 February, 1969
In the case of Ram Sundar v. Emperor [1919] A. I. R. Cal. 248, the accused killed his wife and his infant daughter by striking them with a blunt weapon. There was no apparent motive to explain the double murder and the accused admitted without reservation what he had done and made no attempt at concealment or escape. The accused had no reason to suspect his wife's fidelity. According to the accused, his mind was blank at the time of the occurrence and he was not conscious of what he did. There was some evidence that the accused had not been quite himself, that he had been disturbed and distressed by the shortage of cloth, rice and fodder, but there was no reliable evidence that his intellect was deranged. There was even some vague evidence that his natural father had been mad. The High Court held that the evidence was not sufficient to prove that the cognitive faculties of the accused were so impaired that he did not know the nature of his act or that ho was doing what was wrong or contrary to law, so that he was not exempt from criminal liability for the act.