SHESHRAO Vs. STATE

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This appeal is directed against the judgment of conviction and sentence recorded by the Ist Additional Sessions Judge, Gulbarga convicting accused Nos. 1 to 3 of offences punishable under Sections 342 and 302 r/w. Sec. 34, I.P. C. and sentencing them to undergo imprisonment for life and to pay a fine of Rs.3,000/- each for the offence punishable under S. 302 r/w. S. 34, I. P. C., in default to undergo S. I. for a period of 3 months. The learned Sessions Judge further sentenced them to undergo R. I. for a period of 6 months for the offence punishable under S. 342, r/w. S. 34, I. P. C. and ordered the sentences to run concurrently.

(2.) The appellants-accused were charged and tried for the offences punishable under Ss. 342 and 302 r/w S. 34, I.P.C. All the accused denied the charges and claimed to be tried. In proof of the charges, prosecution relied on the evidence of 16 witnesses, 13 documents and 9 material objects. After hearing the arguments on both sides and on consideration of the evidence on record, the learned Sessions Judge held the accused guilty of the charges under Ss. 342 and 302 r/w S. 34, I.P.C. and passed the impugned judgment.

(3.) Accused Nos. 1 and 2 are brothers and accused No. 3 is their sister. They are appellants 1 to 3 before this Court. 3rd appellant who will be hereinafter called as the 3rd accused was married to the deceased-Gopal Jadhav about 20 years prior to the date of incident which occurred on the night of 2/3-1-1996 at Tugaon village. She had two sons and two daughters but to her misfortune, her sons died prematurely. It is the case of the prosecution that she has undergone Tubectomy operation which angered her husband viz., the deceased and quarrel started between her and the deceased. Therefore, she left her husband, took her two daughters to her parents' house and stayed with accused Nos. 1 and 2 at Tugaon. The deceased thereafter married P.W. 2 Prabhavathi, 10 years prior to the date of incident and she gave birth to a son and two daughters. They were residing in Gagalegaon village which is situated at a distance of 2 kms from Tugaon. The deceased gave 5 acres of land to his first wife viz., accused No. 3 in lieu of maintenance. He was also visiting her house in order to see his daughters. However, due to family pressure, he was made to request accused No. 3 to return 5 acres of land given by him in lieu of maintenance, which was not acceptable to her and her brothers. Thus the accused were not happy with the conduct of the deceased. It is the further case of the prosecution that on the evening of 2-1-1996 which was a Tuesday, the deceased visited Tugaon. He first visited his sister, P.W. 6-Kamalabai and thereafter left to see his wife, accused No. 3. It is the further case of the prosecution that on the date of incident during night at about 1.00 or 1.30 a.m., P.W. 1-Baburao, P.W. 3-Anjalibai, P.W. 4-Rekhabai, P.W. 5-Vithal and P.W. 6-Kamalabai heard some noise in front of the school situated very near to their houses. Hence they came out of their houses and found accused Nos. 1 to 3 assaulting the deceased. The hands and legs of the deceased were tied with a rope. While accused No. 3 assaulted the deceased with stones, accused No. 3 assaulted with axe on his head and accused No. 1 assaulted with a stick. They so assaulted the deceased by saying that he had deserted accused No. 3 ten years back and had now come in search of holdings. P.W. 1 who is the village Dalapathy went to rescue the deceased but he was threatened by the accused persons. Thereafter, all the witnesses went back to their houses as if nothing had happened. They witnessed this incident in the electric light. On the next day morning at about 6.00 or 6.30 p.m., P.W. 1 came out of his house and found that the deceased was still alive. The deceased requested him to give some water and P.W. 1 gave him water. Since there was no vehicle in the village, P.W. 1 took him in a bullock cart to Government Hospital, Aland where he was declared dead by the doctor at about 11.30 a.m. P.W. 1 thereafter went to Aland Police Station and gave an oral complaint which was recorded by P.W. 15 as per Ex. P.1. On the basis of the said complaint, P.W. 15 registered a criminal case in Crime No. 2/96 and forwarded the FIR to the JMFC, Aland. P.W.14-Mallikarjun, CPI, who came to know of the registration of the case immediately took over further investigation of this case. At about 1.15 p.m., he visited the Government Hospital, Aland and conducted inquest mahazar on the dead body in the presence of witnesses. The dead body was thereafter handed over to the police constable for getting the post-mortem examination done. On the same day, he visited Tugaon village and drew spot mahazar Ex. P.4 and seized 3 big stones, one small stone, a pair of shoes, wrist watch, one rope and one stick. The accused were absconding from the place. He made arrangements to trace them. In the meantime, he recorded the statements of witnesses. The accused were arrested on 17-1-1996. Upon the voluntary statement made by accused No. 2 as in Ex. P.11, he recovered axe M.O. 5 which was produced by accused No. 2 from his house. He seized it under panchanama Ex. P.5. The further investigation was taken over by P.W. 16 who after verifying the investigation made so far, filed the charge-sheet against all the accused persons.