SONADAI Vs. STATE OF CHHATTIS GARH

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This criminal appeal under Sec. 374(2) of Cr.P.C. is directed against the impugned judgment dtd. 22/1/2015 passed by the 3rd Additional Sessions Judge, Bastar, Jagdalpur, C.G. in Sessions Trial No.115/2014, by which the appellant herein has been convicted for the offence under Sec. 302 of Indian Penal Code (for short, 'IPC') and sentenced for life imprisonment with fine of Rs.200.00, in default of payment of fine additional rigorous imprisonment for one month.

(2.) Case of the prosecution, in nutshell, is that on 10/8/2014 at about 6:30 pm at village Adawaal, Kusumpal, appellant herein assaulted her husband- Sitaram (hereinafter called as 'deceased) with axe as a result of which, he sustained grievous injuries on his body and died and thereby committed the aforesaid offence. Further, case of the prosecution is that appellant and deceased were wife and husband and they used to live separately as there was some serious dispute between them but deceased used to give ration (rice) etc. to appellant and that on 10/8/2014 at about 6:00 pm, when deceased refused to give ration (rice) to appellant, quarrel took place between them, upon which appellant abused the deceased filthily, pushed him inside the room, locked the door from inside and assaulted him with axe, by which deceased suffered 22-24 grievous injuries on the various parts of his body and died instantaneously. The incident was witnessed by PW-1 Limbu @ Laxman, son of appellant and deceased, aged about 13 years and he has informed the said incident to PW-2 Dinanath where PW-4 Smt. Hemvati was present, then they came to spot and saw the dead body of deceased. Thereafter, the matter was reported to the police, pursuant to which merg intimations were recorded vide Exs. P-9 and P-11 and FIR Ex.P-5 was registered against the appellant. Inquest proceeding was conducted vide Ex.P-03 and the dead body was sent for postmortem examination which was conducted by PW-9 Dr. Pawan Tekade, who has proved the postmortem report vide Ex.P-28. According to postmortem report, cause of death of the deceased was shock and haemorrhage due to multiple injuries on his head, neck and trunk and the death was homicidal in nature. Memorandum statement of appellant (Ex.P-13) was recorded, pursuant to which axe was recovered from the possession of the appellant. Seized article were sent to FSL for chemical examination but as per FSL report, no blood or human blood has been found on the seized axe. Query report has also been obtained vide Ex.P- 29 and as per the said report, injuries found on the body of the deceased could have been caused by the seized axe. Appellant was arrested on 10/8/2014 vide Ex.P-05.

(3.) After due investigation, the appellant was charge-sheeted before the jurisdictional criminal Court and the case was committed to the trial Court for hearing and disposal in accordance with law, in which appellant/accused abjured her guilt and entered into defence by stating that she has not committed the offence.