BANU KRISHNA BACHATE Vs. STATE OF MAHARASHTRA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THE appellant was tried in the Court of Additional Sessions Judge at Kolhapur in Sessions Case No.101 of 2000 for offence punishable under section 302 of the I.P.C. for having murdered his wife Malubai by strangulation. By his judgment and order dated 28th September, 2000, the learned Judge convicted the appellant u/s 302 of the I.P.C. and sentenced him to suffer life imprisonment. The said judgment and order is under challenge in this appeal. For the sake of convenience the appellant is referred to as "the accused".

(2.) DECEASED Malubai was wife of the accused. The accused and Malubai were married for about 25 years. They had two sons and one daughter. The accused and Malubai were residing with their son Suresh who is married. The deceased was addicted to liquor and as such it is alleged that the relations between the accused and the deceased were strained. The brothers of the deceased as also the accused had made efforts to persuade the deceased to give up liquor. However, their efforts were not successful. Balu and Subhash are the brothers of the deceased. They were staying at Radhanagari. The accused and the deceased were residing at Talegaon Tarf Chafewadi.

(3.) IN support of its case the prosecution inter alia examined complainant Balu, his brother Subhash and one Krishna a resident of Chafewadi who has not supported the prosecution. The son of the deceased was also examined but he has turned hostile. Dr. Yeshwant Bapu was examined as he had conducted the post-mortem on the deceased. Details of investigation were given by P.W. 9 Faruk Isamuddin Kazi, P.S.I. attached to Radhanagari Police Station. The defense of the accused was one of denial. After considering the evidence on record, the learned Sessions Judge convicted the accused as aforesaid and hence this appeal.