Supreme Court modifies conviction of Army man for killing colleague in heat of passion

The Supreme Court has modified the conviction and sentence of a non-commissioned Army officer in a case of shooting down a colleague in the heat of passion after a sudden fight over the issue of seniority.

"In a disciplined force like Army, the seniority has all the importance. Therefore, there is every possibility that the dispute over seniority resulted in the appellant doing the act in a heat of passion," a bench of Justices Abhay S Oka and Sanjay Karol said.

The court altered the conviction of Lance Naik Gursevak Singh from murder to less stringent culpable homicide not amounting to murder.

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It found that his case would fall under exception 4 to Section 300 of the IPC.

The bench held him guilty of culpable homicide not amounting to murder for the incident of December 4, 2004, and awarded him nine years and three months imprisonment which he had already served.

Going by the facts of the case, the bench noted that it appears that in the heat of passion, the appellant snatched a rifle held by the deceased and fired only one bullet.

"If there was any premeditation on the part of the appellant or if he had any intention to kill the deceased, he would have fired more bullets at the deceased. Hence, there was no intention on his part to kill the deceased," the bench said.

The court also noted both the appellant and the deceased had consumed liquor. There was a fight between him and the deceased over the issue of seniority. In fact, when the appellant told the deceased to bring water for him, the deceased refused to do so on the ground that he was senior to the appellant.