Multiple choice

Fact: The accused K.M. Nanavati was an officer. In the year 1956, The Nanavatis were introduced to Ahuja. Gradually, a friendship developed between Ahuja and Mrs. Nanavati Which culminated in criminal intimacy between them. One day Mrs. Nanavati confessed to Mr. Nanavati of her illicit intimacy with Ahuja. Enraged at the conduct of Ahuja, the appellant wanted to settle the matter with Ahuja. Thereafter, he drove his wife and two children to a cinema and left them there, and then went to his ship and took a revolver. He then went to the flat of Ahuja a filthy swine and asked him whether he would marry his wife and took after the children. The deceased retorted, “Am I to marry every woman I sleep with”? the accused became enraged and shot Ahuja dead. Issue: Whether the accused is guilty of murder?

  1. He is guilty of murder as all facts and circumstances are against him.

  2. No, he is not guilty of murder. Because his action is covered under the exception to murder that is grave and sudden provocation.

  3. He is guilty of culpable homicide.
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
B Correct answer
Explanation

This is the famous K.M. Nanavati case (1959). Under Indian criminal law, Section 300 Exception 1 provides that murder is not culpable homicide if the offender acts in the exercise of the right of private defense or under grave and sudden provocation. Here, Nanavati discovered his wife's infidelity and confronted Ahuja, who made an insulting remark. This sudden provocation, combined with the immediate emotional shock, can potentially bring the act under the exception to murder, reducing it to culpable homicide not amounting to murder. The key is whether the provocation was grave and sudden enough to lose self-control.

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