Dr. Vandana Das death: Kerala High Court refuses to set aside murder charge against accused Sandeep

The Kerala High Court this week refused to set aside the murder charges framed against the accused booked for murdering 23-year-old house surgeon, Dr. Vandana Das, in 2023 [Sandeep G v. State of Kerala].Consequently, the accused, one Sandeep G, will have to face trial in the case for the offence of murder. Sandeep had allegedly stabbed Dr. Das multiple times when she was examining him after he was brought to the hospital by the police for medical examination. Das succumbed to her injuries and Sandeep was charged under several provisions of the Indian Penal Code including Section 302 which prescribes the punishment for murder. .Justice A Badharudden dismissed Sandeep's contention that his actions were the result of provocation by the delay in treatment and could, therefore, only amount to culpable homicide not amounting to murder which is punishable under Section 304 of the IPC..The Court, however, noted that Sandeep had attacked several hospital officials before stabbing Dr. Das to death. Grave and sudden provocation cannot be argued when the mental state seemingly continued for a long time, the Court said. "Long-lasting provocation, either mild or grave, could not be construed as sudden provocation. Long lasting provocation carries an element of special mens rea or the very intention to commit the crime. Here the accused started to attack everybody repeatedly after taking the scissors kept at the procedure room and keeping the same hidden, though many of them saved from fatality, ultimately, Dr.Vandana succumbed to the injuries allegedly caused by the accused. In such a case, at the stage of framing charge, no court would find that the accused done the overt acts due to grave and sudden provocation so as to consider the case as one in lesser form of murder, that is, culpable homicide not amounting to murder," the Court said..The order was passed on Sandeep's petition challenging the decision of a trial court to dismiss his petition seeking discharge from the case. His primary contention was that he did not have any intention to cause harm to anybody but that the delay in treating him provoked him to act in a manner that ultimately led to Dr. Das's death and injured several others.Sandeep's counsel submitted that even Dr. Das's parents, in a petition moved by them seeking to transfer the case to the CBI, had contended that the investigation by the State police was faulty. However, the Court noted that it had already dismissed the parents' plea after finding that there was no reason to doubt the credibility of the investigation..The prosecution opposed Sandeep's petition and argued that the ingredients to justify a charge of murder was made out in this case. .The Court, after going through the principles laid down by the Supreme Court on discharging accused persons, examined whether the prosecution material in its entirety seemed prima facie sufficient to attract the offence of murder.In view of the sequence of events in this case, the Court concluded that it was not possible to conclude that Sandeep had attacked Dr. Das without any intention to cause bodily harm or without knowing that the injuries he was inflicting could kill her. As such, the charges framed, including that of murder, are not improper. The Court, therefore, dismissed Sandeep's petition and upheld the trial court's decision to dismiss his application for discharge. .Sandeep was represented by advocates BA Aloor, KP Prasanth, Haseeb Hassan M, Krishnasankar D, Rebin Vincent Gralan and Athul M Joshey. Additional Director General of Prosecution Grashious Kuriakose, Senior Public Prosecutor CK Suresh and Public Prosecutor MP Prasanth appeared for the State. .[Read Order]