LAXMAN RANA GAVLI Vs. STATE OF MAHARASHTRA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The four accused who have been found guilty by the Addl. Sessions Judge, Raigad for offences under section 302 read with section 34 and under section 324 read with section 34 of the Indian Penal Code have preferred this appeal challenging their conviction. Accused Nos. 1 to 3, Laxman, Eknath and Bhau are the sons of accused No. 4, Rama, who is the brother of P.W. 3 Namdeo. Deceased Hiraji and P.W. 2 Kashinath are the sons of Namdeo. P.W. 5 Pasabai is the wife of Namdeo and P.W. 6 Hirabai is the widow of Hiraji. The third son of Namdeo is Madhukar and Madhukars wife is Tarabai. Thus there are two families. One of which is headed by accused No. 4 Rama and the other headed by P.W. 3 Namdeo. They all are the residents of village Manivali in District Raigad. The houses of the family of the accused and that of the aforesaid prosecution witnesses and the deceased are adjacent to each other. The map (Exh. 6) provides a clear picture of the house of Namdeo which consists of three portions. Portion A to the north is the old house where he tethers his cattle and portion B to the south of portion A is the newly constructed house where the family of Namdeo resides. The cattle shed is also used by Namdeo for sleeping at night. Between these portions lies an open space having a breadth of about 34 feet. The evidence shows that all this property consisting of portions A and B together with the open space in between belongs to Namdeo. The sketch read with the panchanama of the scene of offence shows that at the time of the incident a wooden cot was placed near the eastern wall of the oti in front of the newly constructed portion B. It is the common ground before us that for quite some time prior to the date of the incident which took place on April 5,1980, disputes about the open place between portions A and B between the two families had arisen. It appears that Namdeo refused to give a share in the open space to accused No. 4 Rama or to allow him to erect a structure in this open space. It is the case of the prosecution that this enmity motivated the four accused to commit the offence. It is the case of the prosecution that on the date of the incident in the morning Namdeo, Kashinath, Hiraji, Pasabai and other member of the family went to their field for agricultural operation and returned in the evening at about 6 p.m After their arrival, Namdeo was seen murmuring that the four accused were giving abuses to him and complaining as to why they were doing so. Kashinath and Hiraji, therefore, brought Namdeo inside the new house possibly to avoid any trouble thereafter, Namdeo and Hiraji had their meals in the new house. After taking meals Namdeo went to the old house i.e. the cattle shed for sleeping and Hiraji went outside on the newly constructed oti and sat on the wooden cot kept there, Kashinath was then taking his meals near the door in between the inner room and the front oti. Since it was night time there was a chimney burning in the inner room of the new house and a lantern burning on the oti of the new house. There was also a chimney burring in the old house where Namdeo was sitting on the wooden cot and smoking beedi. At that time the inmates of the new house heard the cries of Namdeo coming from the direction of the old house. Pasabai, Hirabai and Tarabai came out on the oti of the new house and Kashinath was near the door taking his meals. It is alleged that at that time the four accused armed with weapons were seen coming towards the new house. Accused No. 1 was armed with a sword accused No. 2 was armed with a spear, accused No. 3 was armed with an axe and accused No. 4 was armed with a stick. It is alleged that accused No. 4 Rama told his sons to hold Namdeo and kill him. Thereupon, accused No. 2 assaulted Namdeo with a spear which landed on his left wrist. Thereafter, Namdeo fled from the old house and started going by the eastern side of the courtyard towards Neral. After assaulting Namdeo the four accused turned their attention to the inmates of the new house. Accused No. 1 gave a blow with the sword on Hiraji who was then sitting on the wooden cot on the oti and dragged him in courtyard. Seeing this, Kashinath rushed towards Hiraji and snatched away the sword from the accused No. 1 While snatching away the sword from accused No. 1 he sustained an injury to his right middle finger due to the blade of the sword. Pasabai and Hirabai fell on Hiraji to protect him from further assault and in the process Hirabai also sustained injury. Hiraji felt unconscious in the courtyard. Thereafter all the accused left the place leaving the weapons carried by them at the scene of offence. Kashinath lodged the first information report at report at Neral Police Station at about 10.45 p.m. S.I. Paranje then immediately visited the scene of offence and arrested accused Nos. 2 and 3 on that very night and accused Nos. 1 and 4 later. It may be mentioned that accused No. 2 also lodged a complaint at the Police Station on that very night at about 11.30 p.m.

(2.) The death of Hiraji was almost instantaneous. The evidence of his wife shows that he must have died within 5/10 minutes of the incident. The postmortem examination over the dead body of Hiraji was conducted by P.W. 4 Dr. Wankhade. His evidence shows that Hiraji had sustained five external injuries. Two of them were incised wounds, two were abrasions and one was a contusion. The injuries were---

(3.) In the internal examination he found that the left aplical plura was cut and big haematoma seen in left plural cavity. He also noticed that the arch of aorta is cut from the above downward injury half inch in length. According to Wankhade the two internal injuries were corresponding to external injury No. 1 which in his opinion was sufficient in the ordinary course of nature to cause death.