(1.) THE appellant has challenged the judgment and order of conviction dated16.5.1998 passed by the learned Additional Sessions Judge, Akola, in Sessions Trial No. 173 of 1997, whereby the appellant/accused is convicted for the offence punishable under Section302 of Indian Penal Code and is sentenced to suffer imprisonment for life and to pay a fine of Rs. 300/-, in default to suffer rigorous imprisonment for one month.
(2.) THE material facts and circumstances which have given rise to the prosecution of the appellant/accused can be summarized as follows : On 30.7.1997 at about11-30 a. m. , the appellant/accused came to the house of his father-in-law at Dahihanda. At the relevant time the complainant Pramila (P. W.1), mother of deceased Priya and wife of the accused, was staying at the house of her father. It is the prosecution case that no sooner the accused came to the house of his father-in-law on the day of the incident, he started quarreling with complainant Pramila. THE accused was telling his wife Pramila (P. W.1) that she was not of a good character (the word used in vernacular by the accused was Badmash) and he is not the father of her daughter Priya. It is alleged by the prosecution that the accused immediately thereafter started assaulting the complainant Pramila by giving slaps and fist blows. THE accused picked up an axe which was lying in the house of the father of complainant Pramila and gave a blow by the same on the abdomen of child Priya from its blunt side. At that time the complainant Pramila (P. W.1) and Jaywantabai (P.W.2), grand mother-in-law of the accused, were present in the house. Injury was caused to the child Priya due to the axe blow given by the accused. Pramila (P. W.1) then took the child Priya to the hospital where Priya was declared dead by the doctor.
(3.) MRS. Jog, learned Addl. Public Prosecutor, on the other hand, contended that the evidence of Pramila (P. W.1) and Jaywanta (P.W.2) coupled with the medical evidence succeeded in proving the offence punishable under Section302 of Indian Penal Code against the accused. The evidence of Pramila (P. W.1) and Jaywanta (P.W.2) would show that at the relevant time the accused was armed with an axe, the child Priya was sleeping on the cot and there was a quarrel between complainant and the accused. It has also come in their evidence that the accused had a suspicion about the character of his wife Pramila (P. W.1) and therefore abused her on this count and had gone to the extent of saying that he is not the father of the child. It has further come in the evidence of these two witnesses that the accused gave a blow by axe, though from the blunt side, on the person of the child Priya who received serious injury on her abdomen which has resulted in her death. It is further contended that the version of Pramila (P. W.1) and Jaywanta (P.W.2) being corroborated by the medical evidence, the verdict of conviction awarded by the trial Court is sustainable in law.