Additional Sessions Judge Rajesh Kumar Goel awarded the jail term to a Delhi resident, who was suffering from Paranoid Schizophrenia and whose legs were amputated, saying it could not be proved that at the time of the incident, he did not know that his act was either wrong or contrary to law.
"Accused though suffered from certain mental instability even before and after incident but from that one cannot infer on a balance of preponderance of probabilities that accused at the time of the commission of the offence did not know nature of his act, that it was either wrong or contrary to law.
The court said it was proved that victim Sanjay died after a "sudden" fight between him and the convict in January 2012.
"Accused was driven to crime which was not premeditated and occasion had sprung up at the moment, gradually leading to the point when the accused lost his self-control and inflicted the injuries on deceased," the court said.
It alleged that during the fight, the accused caught hold of Sanjay and hit his head against the pavement forcibly and continued doing it till the victim died.
A case was registered and the accused was booked for the offence of murder.
The court, however, diluted the charge of murder and convicted him for the offence punishable under Section 304 Part I (culpable homicide not amounting to murder) of the IPC saying it was "not premeditated".