MAHADEO GANPATI SUTAR Vs. STATE OF MAHARASHTRA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THIS criminal appeal is filed by the appellants/original accused Nos. 1 and 2, namely, Mahadeo Ganpati Sutar and Shrimati Sakhubai Ganpati Sutar, being aggrieved by the judgment and order dated 31-10-1985, passed by the Sessions Judge, Kolhapur in Sessions Case No. 69 of 1984. By the impugned judgment and order the learned Sessions Judge, Kolhapur convicted accused No. 1 Mahadeo for offences punishable under section 498-A r/w section 34 and sections 302 and 201 of the Indian Penal Code. He accordingly sentenced him to suffer R. I. for three years and a fine of Rs. 1,000/-, in default to suffer R. I. for six months under section 498-A r/w section 34 of the Indian Penal Code. Accused No. 1 was further convicted and sentenced to suffer imprisonment for life and a fine of Rs. 1,000/- in default to suffer R. I. for one year under section 302 of the Indian Penal Code. Accused No. 1 was further convicted under section 201 of the Indian Penal Code and was sentenced to suffer R. I. for one year and a fine of Rs. 100/-, in default to suffer R. I. for one month.

(2.) THE learned Sessions Judge vide the impugned judgment and order also convicted accused No. 2 Sakhubai under section 498-A r/w section 34 of the Indian Penal Code and sentenced her to suffer R. I. for three years and a fine of Rs. 1,000/-, in default to suffer R. I. for six months.

(3.) THE prosecution story can be briefly narrated as follows : accused No. 1 Mahadeo is the son of accused No. 2 Sakhubai. The allegation against both the mother and the son was that in furtherance of their common intention, they subjected the deceased Sou. Suman, who was the wife of accused No. 1 and daughter-in-law of accused No. 2, to cruelty and that on 11-7-1984 between 8-00 a. m. and 11. 00 a. m. accused No. 1 Mahadeo in furtherance of the common intention with accused No. 2 Sakhubai committed Sumans murder. It was also the charge against accused No. 1 that he had committed the murder of his wife Suman by throttling her to death and thereafter he threw her dead body in the well of Ghorpade.