SHIVASHARANAPPA Vs. STATE OF KARNATAKA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The two appeals have been preferred by the accused- appellants against the common judgment dated 28.10.2005 in Criminal Appeal No. 937/1999 by the High Court of Karnataka at Bangalore whereby the Division Bench has overturned the judgment of acquittal passed by the learned Ist Addl. Sessions Judge, Gulbarga, in S.C. No. 100/1995 acquitting all the accused persons of the offences under Sections 143, 147, 448, 302, 201 read with Section 149 of the Indian Penal Code (for short 'IPC') and convicted the accused-appellants for the said offences. For the offence punishable under Section 302 read with Section 149 of IPC, each of them was sentenced to undergo imprisonment for life, and to pay a fine of Rs.5,000/-, in default of payment of fine, to undergo rigorous imprisonment for a period of one year. In respect of other offences, no separate sentence was imposed by the High Court.

(2.) Sans unnecessary details, the prosecution case is that the deceased, Karemma, was the wife of Mallinath, son of Ningawwa. After the unfortunate demise of Mallinath, dispute arose between Ningawwa, the mother-in-law of the deceased, and deceased Karemma, relating to certain landed property, which initially stood in the name of Mallinath, and subsequently, the entries were made in name of deceased Karemma as she was in possession. The dispute relating to property which is dear to the human race as it stands in contradistinction to poverty, which is sometimes perceived as a cause of great calamity, eventually led, as alleged by the prosecution, to morbid bitterness. In the intervening night of 12th and 13th June, 1994, accused- Ningawwa, along with her relatives formed an unlawful assembly in front of the house of Shankarappa, father of the deceased, with the common object to commit the murder and in execution of the said common object, they trespassed into the house of Shankarappa during his absence where deceased Karemma was sleeping with her daughter, Jagadevi. After entering into the house, the accused persons assaulted the deceased, threatened the eleven year old girl, Jagadevi, and forcefully took the deceased away. After the mother was forcibly removed from the house, Jagadevi proceeded to inform her grandmother, Chandamma, who, at that juncture, was residing in the house of another daughter. Being informed by the granddaughter, Chandamma came to the house of the deceased, searched for her daughter, but, eventually, it turned to be an exercise in futility.

(3.) As the prosecution story would further uncurtain, the accused persons committed murder of the deceased Karemma and threw her dead body in a well situate at Benur village. The dead body was found on 15.6.1994 and thereafter, one Dasharath, PW-10, informed the fact at the concerned police station. On 16.6.1994, the Investigating Officer went near the well, removed the dead body of the deceased from inside the well, held the inquest of the dead body as per Ext. P-7, conducted the spot panchnama vide Ext Nos. 8 and 10, seized certain articles, recorded statements of certain other witnesses and, ultimately, about 8.00 P.M., registered suo motu case forming the subject matter of Crime No. 29/94 at Nelogi Police Station. After completing the investigation, the prosecution submitted the charge-sheet before the competent Court which, in turn, transmitted the same to the Court of Session for trial.