What Madras High Court held on murder case against woman who killed husband for trying to rape daughter

The Madras High Court recently quashed a murder case against a woman who killed her husband after he, in a drunken state, had attempted to sexually assault their 21-year-old daughter..Single-judge Justice G Jayachandran said that the material on record along with the photographs and post-mortem report presented by the prosecution tallied with the explanation given by the accused-woman (petitioner) and the statement by daughter. "It is a fit case to be interfere with taking note of the fact that the body of the deceased found semi nude and injury on his head i.e., skull broken tallies with the explanation given by the petitioner as well as the statement of daughter of the petitioner," the Court said..As per the prosecution, the investigation found that the deceased man was lying over his daughter and gagging her mouth. The accused-woman tried to pull him away but when he did not respond, she initially hit him with a wooden knife. But when he continued the assault, the woman used a hammer to strike his head and he died on the spot.She was subsequently booked for murder.The woman argued that it was a clear case of private defence under Section 97 of the Indian Penal Code. Therefore, prosecuting her for murder under Section 302 of Indian Penal Code (IPC) was unjustified, it was contended..The Court took into consideration the 'General Exceptions' highlighted under Section 97 of the Indian Penal Code and observed that every person has a right to self-defence and to save another person. "If any person, in order to save herself or anybody from such sexual offence have right to private defence under Section 97 of I.P.C. Even if the offence is admitted, the petitioner will be exempted under Section 97 of I.P.C from being punished," the Court added.In the present case, the Court referred to the statement of the deceased man's daughter along with the photographs and post-mortem report presented by the prosecution, which showed that the man had sustained an injury on the back of his head."It is obvious that the deceased was drunken state and tried to misbehave with his own daughter. To save the honour of his daughter, the petitioner herein, who is none other than the mother of the girl had committed the above offence," the Court noted..In such circumstances, the Court noted that this was a fit case to intervene. Hence, it allowed the petition and quashed the criminal case pending against the woman.None appeared for the petitioner.Government Advocate S Udaya Kumar appeared for the respondent.