Trigger-happy ‘baratis’ are in for trouble after a recent Supreme Court verdict held that death caused due to firing of guns as part of revelry during marriage ceremonies will not be treated as a negligent act but culpable homicide where a person, if convicted, can remain behind bars for his entire life.
The apex court recognised that firing of guns at marriage ceremonies was a practice prevalent across the country. However, the fact that persons carrying guns do not act responsibly made the court pass the order.
“"Everybody, who carries a gun with live cartridges and even others know that firing a gun and that too in presence of several people is an act that is likely to cause death, as indeed it did,” said a bench of Justices BS Chauhan and SA Bobde. The case in question is related to a death that occurred at a marriage ceremony in Uttarakhand on May 22, 1998 where a man was arrested for firing the fatal shot, argued that it was not intentional.
The court refused to accept this submission and agreed with the concurrent findings of the trial court and the High Court of Uttarakhand that the man was rightly punished for culpable homicide under Section 304 of IPC. However, the bench modified the life term awarded to the accused Kunwar Pal, reducing it to seven years.
The accused defended the charge against him by claiming that at best his offence could be termed as causing death due to rash and negligent act. This offence under IPC Section 304A only carried a maximum punishment of two years.
The Court held, “Guns must be carried with a sense of responsibility and caution and are not meant to be used in such places like marriage ceremonies.” Rebutting the arguments of the accused, Justice Bobde, who wrote the judgment, said, “The appellant is guilty of committing the act which caused the death of the deceased since the act was done with the knowledge that it is likely to cause death within the meaning of Section 304 Part II of the IPC.”