TEEKAMCHAND Vs. STATE OF CHHATTISGARH

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Challenge in this Appeal is to the judgment of conviction and sentence dated 7.3.2013 passed by the Additional Sessions Judge, Balod, District Durg, in ST No.48/2012 convicting the accused for offence under Section 302 of the IPC for committing murder of his two years old son Devendra and sentencing him to undergo imprisonment for life and to pay a fine of Rs.50/-, in default of payment of fine to further undergo RI for 3 months.

(2.) Prosecution case, briefly stated, is that on 14.9.2012, the appellant and his son (deceased Devendra, aged 2 years) were alone in the house. The appellant's wife had gone to work in the agricultural field. When she returned home in the evening, she found the door latched from inside. When the accused did not open the door, she called villagers Vidyadhar, Chimanlal & Bhikham Sahu in whose presence the accused opened the door. The appellant's wife went inside and started doing the household work. At this point of time, the deceased's elder brother Avant touched the body of the deceased and felt that the body is cold. He informed his mother (appellant's wife), who immediately came and found nail and strangulation marks over the neck of the deceased. The appellant's brother Vishnu lodged merg intimation (Ex.-P/3) and FIR (Ex.-P/4) informing the police that he resides separate from his brother (appellant) in an adjoining house. The appellant has 3 sons and 2 daughters. Since he is not engaged in any work, he stays at home and takes care of the youngest child Devendra, aged 2 years. At 12 noon and at 2 pm in the afternoon, he found the door of the appellant's house latched from inside and tried to get it opened, but the appellant did not open the door. When the appellant's wife reached back home and she too did not succeed, she called the villagers. The remaining information is the same as is stated in the earlier part of this paragraph.

(3.) In course of investigation, spot map was prepared vide Ex.-P/1 and Panchnama was prepared vide Ex.-P/2. Naksha Panchayatnama was prepared vide Ex.-P/7 in which the Panchas found the injury marks over the neck and upper part of the back. The appellant was arrested on the next day i.e. 15.9.2012. In the postmortem examination conducted by Dr. Tushar Kant (PW-6), cause of death was found to be throttling and mode of death was asphyxia. Duration within 18 hours from the time of postmortem. He opined that the death is homicidal in nature.