Court caseAIR 1965 SC 1616

The appellant owned a factory in Bombay licensed to manufacture wet paints. Without a licence he began manufacturing dry paints, a process that required heating resin and turpentine in burners. Varnish and turpentine were stored close to the burners. One day froth from a burner overflowed, caught fire and spread to the stored solvents; seven workers died. The appellant was convicted under s. 304A (causing death by a rash or negligent act) and s. 285 IPC (negligent conduct with fire or combustible matter).

The Supreme Court set aside the conviction under s. 304A while upholding the one under s. 285. Wanchoo J held that to attract s. 304A the death must be the direct or proximate result of the accused's rash or negligent act; the act must be the causa causans, the immediate cause, and not merely the causa sine qua non, a remote cause without which the death would not have occurred. The immediate cause of the fire was the manner in which the workers handled the burner, not the owner's decision to manufacture dry paints. For s. 285, however, allowing combustible material to be stored near open burners was negligent conduct, and that conviction stood.