Court caseAIR 1966 SC 1773

Veeda Menezes and her husband were tenants of Yusuf Khan in Bombay. During a quarrel about the tenancy, the respondent threw a file of papers at her husband; it struck Veeda Menezes and caused a scratch or abrasion on her elbow. She prosecuted him for hurt under s. 323 IPC. The magistrate convicted him; the High Court acquitted him applying s. 95, and she appealed to the Supreme Court.

Shah J dismissed the appeal. Section 95 is intended to exclude from the penal law acts which, though technically within the definition of an offence, cause harm so trivial that no person of ordinary sense and temper would complain. Whether an act falls within the section depends on the nature of the injury, the position of the parties, the knowledge or intention with which the act was done and the surrounding circumstances; it is a question of fact in each case. A scratch on the elbow caused by a file thrown in the heat of a domestic quarrel was such a trifle, and the acquittal was right.