The Kerala High Court recently highlighted the importance of assessing the difference between murder and culpable homicide not amounting to murder in criminal cases.
The Court noted that the 'last seen' doctrine has a very limited application where the time lag between the time the deceased was seen last with the accused and the time of murder, is narrow.
The bench led by Justice Revati Mohite Dere noted that the appellant assaulted the deceased after hours of their fight and when the deceased was sleeping.
A bench of Justices AS Gadkari and Milind Jadhav set aside the conviction of the duo for murder and instead convicted them for culpable homicide not amounting to murder.