The Supreme Court(SC) on Tuesday upheld the life sentence to a man who killed another person after being enraged by the latter taming a bull heroically in the traditional Jalli Kattu festival held annually in Tamil Nadu during the Pongal festival.
A bench of SC justices Swatanter Kumar and Ibrahim Kalifulla rejected the plea of the convict Arumugan that he was innocent and even “assuming” that he had killed Sankar, it would only come under the provision of IPC Section 304 Part II attracting a maximum 10 years’ rigorous imprisonment.
“When the said piece of evidence is analysed, along with the alleged occurrence that took place on 04.02.2000, it is crystal clear that the appellant had an axe to grind against the deceased which he got fulfilled by inflicting a fatal injury that caused the death of the deceased”.
“When such is the clear evidence available on record, there is no scope to apply Section 304 part II of IPC or by way of mitigatory factor to dilute the rigour of the criminal act committed by the appellant,” the SC bench said.
