CHAMPABEN GOVINDBHAI Vs. POPATBHAI MANILAL

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This is an appeal by the complainant against the judgment and order of acquittal by the High Court of Gujarat in Criminal Appeal No. 933/2000 which upheld the order of acquittal of all the accused by the Principal Judge, City Civil Court, Ahmedabad in Sessions Case No. 274/99.

(2.) The deceased, Arunbhai and Popatbhai Manilal, Jayantibhai Manilal and Ishwarbhai Manilal were residents of Bapalal Ghanchi's Chawl, Chamanpura, Ahmedabad. Champaben Govindbhai Patni, the complainant, the mother of the deceased, was married to Govindbhai, who was at the material time working in Mumbai. They have three sons and three daughters, the deceased Arunbhai, being the eldest of the sons. The deceased, a rickshaw- puller by profession, was married 10 years back to Madhuben. She is the daughter of Chamanbhai Popatbhai, the uncle of the accused persons. But at the time of the incident Madhuben was not staying in the family of the deceased.

(3.) The case of the prosecution is that on 18.6.1999, around 9.00 p.m., the deceased Arun was sleeping on a cot on the Otla (extended balcony) of the house after his supper. Accused No. 1, Popat was walking past by him when the leg of the deceased, which was dangling from the cot, touched him. At that the Accused No. 1 started abusing the deceased to which he protested and a scuffle ensued and in the process they reached the entrance of the chawl. The complainant, who was inside the house heard the noise and came out to see that the two were quarrelling. So she told her son not to quarrel and took him aside. Accused No. 1 Popat went to his house. After sometime, all the three accused came to the place of occurrence, armed with weapons. Accused No. 1 had a gupti (a long double edged knife) in his hand; Accused No. 2 Jayanti was armed with a pipe while the Accused No. 3 Ishwar was holding a Dhoka (a wooden log, used for cleaning clothes). At that time, the deceased Arun was standing along with his sister Meghna (PW 4) and the Accused No. 1 caught hold of her. The deceased told him to let his sister go as the quarrel was between the two of them. At that point of time, the Accused No. 1 hit the deceased with the gupti, first on the chest and then on the stomach. The Accused No. 2 hit the deceased on the chest with the pipe and Accused No. 3 hit him with the dhoka. The deceased thus received several blows all over the body. Vijay Patni (PW 5), the nephew of the complainant who had been living with them at the point of time, came to the scene and tried to intervene but was hit on the head by Accused No. 2. The deceased fell on the ground in front of his house thereupon all the three accused ran away from the place. The deceased was taken to the hospital by Champaben, her husband's sister Dadamben and her nephew, Vijay where he was examined and declared dead. A post-mortem examination was conducted, after which the complainant brought the dead body home. The police came to her house and her complaint was recorded.