India, March 2 -- Nearly five years after a vegetable vendor fatally stabbed a customer during a quarrel over a torn Rs.10 note at Dadar railway station, a Sessions Court has deemed this was a case of culpable homicide not amounting to murder, rather than murder.

The court held that the stabbing occurred "suddenly in the heat of passion upon a sudden quarrel" and fell within the fourth exception to the definition of murder under the Indian Penal Code (IPC).

In a judgment delivered on Friday, Sessions Judge SS Adkar convicted Sonilal Sukhadev Mahanto of culpable homicide not amounting to murder and sentenced him to 10 years' rigorous imprisonment with a fine of Rs.10,000. He declined to convict him of murder. The court also directed that...