Man's life-term sentence reduced to 7yrs & ₹1000 fine for killing his pregnant wife over "I can keep 1000 husbands like you remark". Where are we heading?

Shiva was earlier sentenced to life time imprisonment for the murder of his wife, Kiran. The Madhya Pradesh High Court has now reduced his sentence to 7 years considering it was not a planned murder.

Near Kharra ghat in 2021, a man hit his wife with a stone. Kiran told him "I can keep a 1000 husbands like you". The court said this remark could amount to sudden & grave provocation.

The court's reasoning was that the remark indirectly suggested the husband had no value as a husband or as a person. They also noted that the stone was lying nearby and the incident didn't appear pre-planned. This was a key reason for reducing the conviction.

Kiran was pregnant at the time. The post-mortem recorded multiple injuries, and the doctor said death was due to cardiorespiratory failure caused by severe injuries to vital organs including fractures to multiple ribs & sternum.

The Bench noted that several witnesses, including police personnel and court witnesses, confirmed that the accused had contacted the police and others immediately after the occurrence and admitted responsibility for the death. This conduct, the Court observed, was significant while assessing the nature of the offence.

The court changed the conviction from Section 304 Part 1 to Section 304 Part 2 IPC. The decision was made by Justice Vivek Agarwal and Justice Avanindra Kumar Singh

India Today Report Lawbeat Report

Seriously?? Life term to 7 years? The ₹1000 fine almost feels like mocking to me. "oH wElL, sHe pRoVoKeD hIm fIrSt" Provoked him to murder someone??