PANDHARINATH BUDHO PATIL Vs. STATE OF MAHARASHTRA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THIS appeal is brought by special leave from the judgment of the Bombay High Court dated the 20th March, 1967 setting aside the order of acquittal of the appellant passed by the Extra-Additional Sessions Judge, Jalgaon on July 31, 1965 and convicting the appellant under section 307, Indian Penal Code and sentencing him to suffer rigorous imprisonment for seven years,

(2.) THE case of the prosecution is that Gangadhar Gotu Chaudhari was stabbed at about 8 p. m. on March 28, 1965 opposite to his house in village Khandale in Taluka and District Jalgaon. He fell down bleeding and was carried to his house by four or five persons. Dayaram Katu (P. W. 6) informed the police patil Gobadhu Dalpat (P. W. 2) who immediately proceeded to the spot. On inquiry Gangadhar told the police patil, P. W. 2, that the appellant had stabbed him in the abdomen in the lane in front of his house. THE police patil proceeded to Bhusaval police station and lodged first information report at about 11 p. m. the same night. THE head constable started for the village and reached Khandale at about 2 a. m. on March 29, 1965. He drew up a pancha-nama and seized certain blood-stained articles. He arranged to Bend Gangadhar to the Municipal Dispensary at Bhusaval where he was treated from March 29, 1965 to April 7, 1965. As the condition of Gangadhar became worse the Medical Officer sent him to the Civil Hospital at Jalgaon where Gangadhar died on April 8, 1965 at about 8.25 a. m. After completing the investigation the police charge-sheeted the appellant and four others under section 304 read with section 34 and section 149, Indian Penal Code. THE appellant was independently charged under section 302, Indian Penal Code, for the act of stabbing Gangadhar. THE Additional Sessions Judge disbelieved the four eye-witnesses on the ground that the statements were fabricated and inconsistent. It appears that when these witnesses were first examined on March 29, 1965 by the police they never mentioned the names of accused 2 to 5 but after the death of Gangadhar they implicated these four accused in their statement made on April 9, 1965. THE Additional Sessions Judge therefore acquitted the appellant and the other four accused of all the charges. THE State of Maharashtra preferred an appeal to the High Court against the acquittal of the appellant. THE High Court agreed with the Additional Sessions Judge that the four eye-witnesses were not reliable. But the High Court, however, believed the two dying declarations of the deceased Gangadhar, the first made to the police patil incorporated in Ex. 7 and the second made to the Police Sub-Inspector on March 29, 1965, Ex. 26 at the Bhusaval Municipal Dispensary. THE High Court considered that these two statements were true and genuine and on the basis thereof convicted the appellant of the charge under section 307, Indian Penal Code.