The Madras High Court Bench here has modified the conviction of a villager, who had assaulted his aged father brutally with a bill hook and caused 10 injuries, from Section 307 (attempt to murder) to 326 (causing grievous hurt with dangerous weapons) of the Indian Penal Code and commuted his sentence from three years to 28 months of rigorous imprisonment.
Partly allowing a criminal revision case filed by the convict, S. Chockalingam of Virudhunagar district, Justice P.R. Shivakumar held that the nature of injuries caused by the convict on his father Sundaramoorthy, the weapon used for committing the offence and the manner in which the injuries had been caused would attract only Section 326 and not 307 of the IPC.
He pointed out that only some of the injuries were severe in nature and that they would not have caused death in the ordinary course.
However, the convict’s father, who had also been included as a party to the revision case, contended that he was hospitalised for nearly three months after the violence unleashed by his son for having asked him to let the family live in the ancestral house.
The incident had occurred on February 2, 2008, and an Assistant Sessions Court sentenced the convict to four years of rigorous imprisonment on November 24, 2009. However, on appeal, an Additional District and Sessions Court commuted the punishment to three years of imprisonment on May 14, 2010. Not satisfied with it, the petitioner had filed the present revision to get the punishment reduced further.