Gurugram: The Punjab and Haryana High Court has granted relief to a 100-year-old murder convict in Haryana, altering his sentence from life term to five years in jail. The murder case dates back to 2004 and the conviction came a year later.
The court considered the advanced age of the convict, Jage Ram, and the circumstances surrounding the 2004 case while modifying the conviction and life sentence to five years of rigorous imprisonment under Section 304 (Part II) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
The section deals with culpable homicide not amounting to murder, specifically when the act causing death is done with the knowledge that it is likely to cause death, but without the intention to cause death or bodily injury likely to cause death.
According to the order, delivered last week, the murder of one Tale Ram, a resident of Pakasma village in Haryana’s Rohtak district, in March 2004 was the result of a violent altercation between the children of his brother and the sons of Jage Ram.
An initial complaint in the matter was filed by Tale Ram’s son Om Singh, who said that Jage Ram and other accused confronted him outside his house.
According to the prosecution, Om Singh was initially surrounded by the accused and then physically assaulted. Hearing the commotion, Tale Ram came out of the house, only to be attacked by multiple individuals. Jage Ram was accused of delivering a fatal blow to Tale Ram’s head with a lathi, while the others inflicted injuries on different parts of his body. Tale Ram later succumbed to his injuries.
The matter resulted in an FIR being lodged under Sections 307 (attempt to murder), 323 (voluntary causing hurt), 506 (criminal intimidation), 452 (house trespass), and 148 (rioting with weapons) of the IPC, which was later converted to a murder charge under Section 302 following the victim’s death.
In 2005, the additional sessions judge, Rohtak, convicted Jage Ram and other accused, sentencing them to life imprisonment. Two others, Shree and Ram Bhaj, were convicted for causing injuries to Om Singh.
However, over the years, the case underwent multiple legal challenges, leading to an appeal before the Punjab and Haryana High Court.
The division bench comprising Justice Gurvinder Singh Gill and Justice Jasjit Singh Bedi re-evaluated the evidence and noted discrepancies in the prosecution’s version.
The court observed that the initial FIR stated that co-accused Rajesh had struck Tale Ram on the head, whereas a supplementary statement recorded later attributed this injury to Jage Ram. This inconsistency weakened the prosecution’s case against some of the accused.
The court found that the single lathi blow Jage Ram is alleged to have delivered to Tale Ram’s head, corroborated by defence witness Ram Kishan (village sarpanch), lacked murderous intent but reflected knowledge that death could result from it.
Jage Ram, who was in his seventies at the time of the incident, had used a lathi, which is typically carried by elderly villagers for support, rather than as a weapon of aggression, the court noted.
There was no evidence to suggest premeditation or intent to murder. The single blow inflicted by Jage Ram, while serious, did not demonstrate the intent required for a murder conviction under Section 302 of the IPC, the judges observed.
In light of these factors, the court ruled that Jage Ram’s act fell under Section 304 (Part II) (culpable homicide not amounting to murder) rather than Section 302.
Given his advanced age and the spontaneous nature of the act, his life sentence was reduced to five years of rigorous imprisonment, with his house-trespass conviction upheld, both to run concurrently.
(Edited by Nida Fatima Siddiqui)
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