The Madhya Pradesh High Court recently ruled that throwing a toddler on the floor constitutes an attempt to commit murder, as it refused to dismiss a First Information Report (FIR) filed against a woman.
In 2022, Bharti Patel was charged under Section 307 (attempt to murder) of the Indian Penal Code after allegedly throwing her own child on the floor during a courtroom proceeding where she was seeking maintenance from her husband.
Justice Gurpal Singh Ahluwalia stated that the woman has no authority to throw the child on the floor or to throw a paperweight towards him. The Court expressed its opinion that there was a clear intention to cause fatal harm to the child.
"Throwing a 13 months old child on the floor by itself would amount to attempt to murder and throwing a paperweight towards his head would further aggravate the situation," it said.
Patel sought the Court's intervention to quash the case. Her counsel argued that the FIR was filed by a practicing lawyer as a retaliatory measure following a previous incident. However, the Court promptly remarked that the facts of the case portrayed a distressing situation. It observed that the woman had thrown the child on the floor, attributing her own troubles to the child.
Further, the Court found that Patel had previously received a notice under Section 12 of the Contempt of Courts Act for her behavior during the proceedings in the magisterial court.
The Court also observed that despite the Presiding Officer's repeated instructions to pick up the child, Patel refused to comply and made no effort to soothe the child's crying. The Court noted that despite repeated instructions from the court, Patel failed to improve her conduct and continued to disrupt the proceedings.
Taking these circumstances into consideration, Justice Ahluwalia expressed the opinion that it could not be claimed that the FIR against Patel was a spontaneous or fabricated action.
Advocate Bheem Choudhary appeared for the petitioner.
Deputy Government Advocate Swati Aseem George represented the State.
Case Title: Bharti Patel vs State of Madhya Pradesh
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