Court caseAIR 1958 Pat 190

Dasrath Paswan, a student, had failed his examination three years in succession. Depressed, he decided to end his life and told his wife, aged about nineteen, of his decision. She asked him to kill her first and then kill himself. In pursuance of this pact he killed his wife with a bhala, but was stopped before he could kill himself. He was convicted of murder under s. 302 IPC.

The Patna High Court held that the wife was above eighteen, understood what she was agreeing to, and gave her consent freely, not under fear or misconception; her consent was therefore valid under s. 90. Exception 5 to s. 300 provides that culpable homicide is not murder when the person whose death is caused, being above eighteen, suffers death or takes the risk of death with his own consent. The conviction was altered from s. 302 to s. 304 Part I.