TULSHIRAM Vs. STATE OF MAHARASHTRA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The appellant, having been convicted of the offence punishable under Section 302 of the I.P.C. and sentenced to undergo imprisonment for life, has preferred this appeal.

(2.) The appellant was serving as a Police Constable at Bhadrawati, District Chandrapur. He was living with his wife Nani alias Laxmi, one son and two daughters in the rented premises consisting of only one room owned by Soni (P.W. 1). The landlady Soni was residing in the adjoining room with her husband and two sons, one of them being Vitthal (P.W. 2), aged about 12 years. The parents of the appellant were residing in close vicinity, only two houses away from the residence of the appellant. The appellant is the maternal cousin of Soni, the landlady. He had come to reside in these rented premises only a month before this occurrence. On the night of 27th/28th December, 1980, Laxmi, the wife of the appellant, met with a gruesome homicidal death in her own house with multiple stab injuries. The autopsy report shows that there were as many as ten incised injuries, all on vital parts. It was a slovenly butchery, to say the least. At 3.00 a.m., on 28-12-1980, the appellant visited the Police Station and lodged his First Information Report. The appellant was on leave at the material time. All these facts are not in dispute.

(3.) The crucial question for consideration is whether it was this appellant who could be held responsible for this brutal and cruel murder of his wife. The prosecution depends solely on circumstantial evidence. What is alleged is that at midnight, Soni heard Vandana, the daughter of the appellant, aged about 5 years, shouting by her name and saying that her father was assaulting her mother. Soni came out of her house and asked the appellant to open the door, but as the appellant did not respond nor opened the door, she went to the house of the parents of the appellant. The mother of the appellant came, whereafter the appellant opened the door and came out. He handed over his daughter Bali to his mother and asked her to look after the child and so saying he left for the Police Station.