LAWS(BOM)-1961-12-3

SHRIPRAKASH SHIVRAM POTDAR Vs. STATE OF MAHARASHTRA

Decided On December 21, 1961
SHRIPRAKASH SHIVRAM POTDAR Appellant
V/S
STATE Respondents

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THIS is one of those cases in which a verdict would shock the conscience of the public. A child aged 2 fell down from an apartment on the 4th floor or a building situated on Netaji Subash Road. The tragedy occurred on the 14th of October, 1961, at about 10-30 a. m. When the father had gone to his office, the maid was in the bathroom and the mother was reading a news-paper in the drawing room. Presumably, the child crawled to the balcony, got on a chair, and lost her balance. On hearing the noise, the mother looked out only to find that the child was lying motionless on the payment below. In these circumstances we are unable to appreciate how and on what basis the Coroners' Jury came to the conclusion that the mother must be held guilty of negligence. To permit the seeds of a prosecution to be sown on these facts, seems to us to be a perversion of justice, and if we have the power, we must grant the relief prayed for by the petitioner. The verdict of the Coroner's jury seems to us to be based on no evidence at all, and it would be unfair to the mother, to permit that verdict to stand.

(2.) THE learned Assistant Government Pleader who appears on behalf of the State, contends that a Coroner's Court is not one of those Courts which are established in the heirarchy of Courts under the Criminal Procedure Code, and he argues that we have no jurisdiction to quash the verdict returned by the jurors of the Coroner's Court. On the other hand, Mr. Mengade who appears on behalf of the petitioner, contends that this Court has got jurisdiction to control the deliberations before the Coroner and in proper cases this Court must exercise its jurisdiction either to amend or quash the verdict or the inquisition.

(3.) TURNING to the provisions of the Coroner's Act, 1871, section 29 provides that: