MAHADEO DNYANU JADHAV Vs. STATE OF MAHARASHTRA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This appeal by special leave arises out of a judgment dated September 9, 1974 of the High Court of Bombay confirming the judgment of the Additional Sessions Judge, Sangli convicting the appellant under Section 302 of the Penal Code and sentencing him to death. The appellant was also convicted under Section 201 and was sentenced to imprisonment for 5 years for that offence.

(2.) Dnyanu, the father of the appellant, and the deceased Prahlad Jadhav were real brothers. They had partitioned their joint family properties long before the date of the incident but it appears that in spite of the partition there were disputed between the brothers regarding certain properties. On the morning of November 9, 1973 Prahlad Jadhav went to his field with his wives Dhondubai and Yashodabai and his infant daughter Malan. At about 2 p. m., a neighbour called Babu Govinda Jadhav heard cries coming from Prahlad's land and he therefore ran in that direction. While standing on a Bandh, he saw the appellant dealing an axe blow to Yashodabai. Prahlad, who was grazing his sheep in the northern corner of his field, tried to go to the rescue of Yashodabai but the appellant delivered an axe blow to him also. As a part of the same incident, the appellant also committed the murders of Dhondubai and Malan. He thereafter dragged the dead bodies to the foot of a hill and set them on fire.

(3.) Finding that neither the appellant, nor Prahlad and the members of his family, had returned home in the evening. Dnyanu, the appellant's father, grew suspicious. He therefore contacted the Police Patil, Ramchandra Hari. Ramchandra in turn contacted the Sarpanch and the two of them went to Prahlad's field with a group of 40 or 50 villagers. They saw blood marks at various places in the field and following the trail of blood they found the half burnt four bodies in a heap of ash. Dnyanu identified the dead bodies as those of Prahlad, his two wives and his daughter Malan.