Law: Penal Code (XLV of 1860)

Section: 302, 304, 335

(a) Penal Code (XLV of 1860), Ss. 302 & 304, Part I ---Murder----Benefit of doubt------Post-mortem examination----Object to ascertain cause of death-Dead body available for purpose but no post-mortem examination held-Element of doubt that death might not have occurred due to injury caused by accused but might be result of other factors not ensuing from injury-Benefit of doubt must go to accused. In case of death from an injury, the death must be regarded as a proximate cause and not too remote a consequence of the injury. Such a death should be the direct result of the injury, or if the death is caused by some intervening factor, that factor should itself be the direct result of the injury but if some other factor intervenes between the injury and the death and the death is not the direct result of the injury, is cannot be said that the injury caused the death of the deceased. Each case, for its decision depends upon its own facts. If death of a person is the direct result of an act commit ted by another person, with the requisite intention or know ledge, or if as a result of that act something else intervenes, such as gangrene, tetanus, peritonitis etc., which is the direct result of that injury, the offender would be guilty of the offence of culpable homicide. If, however, something that intervenes between the act complained of and the death of the injured man is not the direct result of the injury, it cannot be said that death had resulted from the doing of the act which caused the injury. The main purpose of post-mortem examination is to ascertain the cause of death of a dead person. In a murder case death might have been caused by the injury inflicted by the accused but the probability of the death having been caused by other factors could only be excluded by post-mortem examina tion. Where the medical evidence was that the deceased "after the operation developed some complications" the possibility of other factors being responsible for the death, cannot be ruled out altogether in the absence of the post-mortem examination. There is thus an element of doubt as to whether death was caused by the act of the accused, namely, the injury caused.…