VASANT MAROTRAO KARARE Vs. STATE OF MAHARASHTRA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THE appellant was tried for committing murder of his wife kusum for offence under section 302 I. P. C. On the trial the prosecution examined in all 11 witnesses including Dr. Smt. Kanta Motghare (P. W. 7) who carried autopsy on the dead body of Kusum and prepared postmortem note (Exhibit 49), Lahu {p. W. 5), Shankar Kamble (P. W. 6) and Madhukar Zade to whom the appellant made extrajudicial confession and Nandkumar Ozha (P. W. 11) who conducted investigation in the matter. The learned 5th Additional sessions Judge, Nagpur by his judgment and order dated 30-3-1998 convicted the appellant for offence under section 302 of I. P. C. and sentenced him to imprisonment for life and to pay fine of Rs. 500/- in default to undergo R. I. for 3 months. The appellant has challenged the judgment of conviction and sentence passed against him in this appeal.

(2.) THE prosecution case in nutshell is that deceased Kusum was married to the appellant after having taken divorce from her previous husband. The appellant had two sons from his previous wife. On the date of incident which took place on the night of 27-3-1997 the appellant and his wife were sleeping in their house. The appellant was addict to drinking liquor and he was ill-treating physically and mentally to his wife-Kusum as he was suspecting her character and he was 186 asking her to give divorce. The appellant and his wife-Kusum were residing in the house of one Gothe (P. W. 2) as tenant. On the night of 27-3-1997, the appellant assaulted Kusum with a spear-blade inflicting injuries on her trachea and committed her murder. He had kept the spear-blade below the cot and left the house. On the next day morning he was found in the well which is situated near his house. It is the case of the prosecution that the appellant after having left the house, hidden himself in the well by entering into the well by holding the rope. He had tied one end of the rope to Khiradi and other end of the rope was put in the well. In the morning one girl-namely Mangala (P. W. 3) went to the well to fetch water, she noticed the accused inside the well and therefore, she raised shouts. Thereafter, Parasram Raut (P. W. 1), Baban, ramchandra, Vasanta, Mathuji, Shankar Kamble, Narayan Singh, Ramesh, krushna and Madhukar and other persons assembled on the well and the appellant was taken out from the well. He was wearing banian and lungi. When he was taken out from the well he disclosed before these persons who had assembled that he has committed crime by committing murder of his wife. He was taken to Police Station by Shankar Kamble, Lahanu, Baban and others. Witness Parasram did not see the wife of appellant in the mob and therefore, he went along with younger son of Vasanta to the house and when he pushed the door and they found that Kusum was lying dead on the cot and spear-blade was below the cot. Parasram (P. W. 1) went to the well and told this fact to the persons who were present there.

(3.) A. P. I. Nandkumar Ozha visited the spot and recorded the report of Parasram raut, on the basis of which the offence was registered under section 302 of I. P. C. vide Crime No. 67 /1997. Dead body of Kusum was sent to Civil Surgeon. At the same time the police recorded spot panchanama (Exhibit 18) as also inquest panchanama and then referred the dead body to Civil Hospital for post-mortem. Police also seized the rope which was put by the accused before the panchas on 27-3-1997 (Exhibit 61 ). The appellant was arrested and he was referred for medical examination. Medical Officer after examining him issued the medical certificate (Exhibit 17 ). Police also seized the sample of nail clippings of the accused under panchanama (Exhibit 18 ). Police seized lungi and banian from the house under panchanama (Exhibit 40 ). The clothes of the deceased Kusum came to be seized under panchanama (Exhibit 19 ). During the course of investigation the investigating Officer sought opinion of the doctor by referring the spear-blade, whether the injuries could be possible by the said weapon. Doctor in his opinion vide Exhibit 50 stated that the injuries could be possible by the spear-blade (Article 1 ). The articles seized were sent to Chemical Analyser. After completing the investigation, the charge-sheet was filed in the Court of J. M. F. C. who latter on committed the case to the Court of Sessions for trial. The appellant pleaded not guilty to the charge and came to be tried. His defence is that of denial and false implication. In his statement recorded under section 313 Cri. P. C. he stated that he was sleeping in his house. Three persons came to his house at night, he woke from sleep; his wife was sleeping and he ran away from the back-door and fell in the well. The trial Court accepting the evidence of witnesses on extrajudicial confession and glaring circumstantial evidence of accused, having found in the well in the morning and also admitting that he was in the house at night, when murderous assault on his wife was made, came to the conclusion that it was the appellant who committed murder of his wife-Kusum and accordingly he convicted for the offence under section 302 and sentenced him as stated before.