RAMDAS MAHADU DEVARE Vs. STATE OF MAHARASHTRA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) BY the impugned judgment in Sessions Case No. 147/96 on the file of 3rd Additional District and Sessions Judge, Nashik, the accused was convicted for the offence punishable under section 304 (ii) of I. P. C. and sentenced to suffer R. I. for seven years and to pay a fine of Rs. 25,000/- in default to suffer R. I. for one year.

(2.) WHEN the appeal was taken up for hearing nobody has appeared for the appellant who is in jail. However the appeal cannot be dismissed for default in view of the decision of the Supreme Court in (Banisingh and others v. State of Uttar Pradesh), reported in A. I. R. 1996 S. C. page 2439. Hence we are disposing the appeal on merits.

(3.) THE prosecution case is that the accused Ramdas is the resident of Navibez where he is running a grocery shop. He has three brothers namely Tulshiram, Mahadu and deceased Shamrao. Deceased Shamrao is the youngest brother of accused. All the brothers had partitioned their properties and each of them was staying separately. It is the case of the prosecution that the deceased Shamrao had given to the accused a hand loan amounting to Rs. 50,000/- for the transport business of the accused. But the transport business was failed and then he switched over to a grocery shop. Even though the hand loan was given in the year 1991 the amount was not paid back to Shamrao by the accused inspite of repeated demands. Because of this there used to be small quarrels between Shamrao and the accused.