Mumbai Sessions Court Holds Man Guilty Of Culpable Homicide, Not Murder, Citing Grave Provocation In Brother’s Death

Mumbai, April 15, 2026: A person cannot be convicted for murder if he had acted in response to a grave provocation, the sessions court has held while refusing to convict a man for the murder of his brother. The court has now convicted the man for culpable homicide not amounting to murder and sentenced him to five years’ imprisonment.

Case background

As per the prosecution case registered with Khar police station, Sunil Tambe was booked for the murder of his brother Sudhir on the complaint of the wife of the deceased, Anjali, on October 19, 2020.

The incident is said to have taken place a day before the lodging of the complaint. It is said that Sudhir, Sunil, and Sanjay are three brothers. Sunil worked as a peon in a bank and was in the habit of consuming liquor, while Sudhir was a paralytic patient and used to remain at home.

Key witness testimony

The key witness in the case was the complainant's son Aryan. He told the court that on October 18, 2020, at around 10 pm, he was having his dinner, while his grandmother and uncle Sunil were also present in the room. His mother, Anjali, had gone out.

The boy said that while he was eating, his hand touched his father Sudhir's stomach. This annoyed Sudhir, who tapped his son's head. Thinking that Sudhir was hitting the child, the grandmother threw Sunil's footwear at Sudhir.

This incident escalated, and Sudhir hit back his mother. This angered Sunil. There was an altercation between Sudhir and Sunil, in which Sunil assaulted Sudhir with a grinding stone.

Court observations on provocation

The court noted that, "From the evidence of Aryan, it is also clear that though initially the accused threatened to assault Sudhir on three occasions, he did not actually assault him. It is only when Sudhir again provoked him that the accused lost self-control and assaulted Sudhir with the grinding stone."

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"Thus, the accused assaulted Sudhir due to the grave and sudden provocation by Sudhir. As such, the case of the accused falls under Exception-1 of Section 300 of the IPC. It can at the most be said that the accused had committed the act with the knowledge that it was likely to cause the death of Sudhir, and it cannot be said that the accused intended to cause his death or cause such bodily injury as was likely to cause his death," the court said, convicting Sunil only for culpable homicide not amounting to murder.

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