STATE OF MAHARASHTRA Vs. SANJAY SHESHRAO SHIRSAT

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The present appeal takes exception to the judgment and order dated 29.11.2007 passed by the learned Additional Sessions Judge-II, Akola, in Sessions Trial No.27/2006, thereby accused nos.1 and 2 are acquitted of offences punishable under Sections 302, 307, 504 read with Section 34 of the Indian Penal Code.

(2.) The case of the prosecution, in nutshell, is as under:- Accused no.1 - Sanjay and Accused no.2 - Rajesh runs a grocery shop. Deceased Dilip Tryambak More and Punjaji Vitthal Parkhade are neighbours of the accused persons. They are living at village Wahala bk. Tq. Patur. Deceased Dilip and Punjaji had gone to the shop of the accused no.1 and demanded a bag of tobacco on credit, whereupon the accused persons started beating them. The accused no.1 had an iron pipe in his hand; whereas the accused no.2 had a stick in his hand. The accused no.1 had given a blow to the head of the deceased Dilip and accused no.2 assaulted Punjaji with a stick. The deceased Dilip consequently died with the injuries sustained to him. Therefore, the accused nos.1 and 2 have committed an offence of murder. The accused nos.1 and 2 have further caused the assault to do away the life of Punjaji and had he died, they would have been liable for his murder. As such, the accused nos.1 and 2 have further committed an offence punishable under Section 307 read with Section 34 of the Indian Penal Code. During the incident, the accused nos.1 and 2 abused the deceased and Punjaji and gave provocation to commit a breach of peace and as such committed an offence punishable under Section 504 read with Section 34 of the Indian Penal Code. The wife of the deceased after the incident gave a complaint to the police station and thereupon the offence is registered against the accused persons. The Investing Officer recorded statements of witnesses, recovered articles used in the crime, obtained injury reports as well as postmortem and found that the accused persons have committed offences punishable under Sections 302 , 307 and 504 read with Section 34 of the Indian Penal Code and, therefore, filed charge- sheet before the Judicial Magistrate First Class, Patur on 18.3.2006.

(3.) The learned Judicial Magistrate First Class, Patur, registered Criminal Case No.20/2006 against the accused persons. As the offences punishable under Sections 302 and 307 of the Indian Penal Code are exclusively triable by the Court of Sessions, the learned Judicial Magistrate First Class, Patur, committed the case to the Sessions Court at Akola for its disposal, according to law. Charges were framed against the accused persons on 11.12.2006. The charges were explained to the accused persons in Marathi; whereupon they denied the charges and claimed to be tried. The prosecution, in support of their case, examined as many as 12 witnesses. In defence, no witness was examined.