GANESH Vs. STATE OF MAHARASHTRA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The challenge in this appeal is mainly to the quantum of sentence imposed against the appellant for offences punishable under Ss. 307 and 309 of the Indian Penal Code. The appellant was prosecuted for having slit throat of Master Ashitosh Pradeep Wabale with a knife in the afternoon of 13/5/2013 and thereafter attempted to commit suicide. The learned Additional Sessions Judge, Kopargaon (trial Court), vide impugned judgment and order dtd. 21/9/2018, passed in Sessions Case No.88/2013, convicted the appellant for the offence punishable under Sec. 307 of the Indian Penal Code and sentenced to suffer imprisonment for life and to pay fine of Rs.5000.00, in default to suffer rigorous imprisonment for six months, and further convicted the appellant for the offence punishable under Sec. 309 of the Indian Penal Code and sentenced to suffer rigorous imprisonment for one year and to pay fine of Rs.1000.00, in default to suffer rigorous imprisonment for 2 months.

(2.) Learned counsel for the appellant would submit that, the victim has been recovered of his injuries within a few days of the incidence. The appellant attempted to commit suicide as a remourse for the incidence, should have been considered by the trial Court as a mitigating circumstance. The sentence of life imprisonment is grossly disproportionate. The learned counsel, on his own, offered to pay the victim compensation for the injuries and consequential medical expenditure. According to him, the appellant has been in jail for little over four years. He has a wife and children to look after. The appellant was relation of the victim. He, therefore, urged for converting the sentence of life imprisonment to the sentence already undergone so far.

(3.) Learned A.P.P. would, on the other hand, submit that, it was a serious offence. An innocent child of 10 years of age had to be a victim of the appellant's rage. The victim was survived with the grace of God. As a result of assault, the victim has suffered a permanent disability. According to learned A.P.P., no case is made out for reduction in sentence of life imprisonment.