SHAM KESHAV GORE Vs. STATE OF MAHARASHTRA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THIS appeal arises from the order of conviction and sentence recorded by the learned Additional Sessions Judge, ahmednagar in Sessions Case No. 71 of 1998 on 23-2-1999 and the appellant accused came to be convicted for offence punishable under section 302 of the Indian Penal Code for causing homicidal death of his wife Sarubai and was sentenced to suffer imprisonment for life. He has been in jail since 23-2-1999. Though the appeal has been admitted, he continues to be in jail.

(2.) AS per the prosecution case, deceased Sarubai was initially married to one Ramesh Madhav Barde of village Chas Pimpalgaon and after bearing three children from him, she separated and married to the present accused. She begot two children from the second marriage with the accused, who is resident of village Pabal in Parner taluka. Both of them belong to Bhil tribe and were habituated to drinking to alcohol. At village alkuti, there used to be a weekly Bazar on Sunday and the couple used to go to the said Bazar. On the date of incident i. e. on 22-2-1998, it was sunday and both of them had gone to the Bazar with their younger son. At about 4 p. m. they consumed liquor and came back to the bus stand where sarubai went to sleep at about 6 p. m. whereas the accused wanted to consume more liquor and, therefore, he went back to the liquor shop and kept on drinking till about 8. 30 p. m. in the company of Ramesh Rokade (P. W. 6), who was also resident of village Alkuti and was running a small workshop, very close to the bus stand. He was known to the couple and they used to meet him on the Bazar days. Some days before the date of incident, the accused had sharpened the knife in the workshop of Ramesh rokade (P. W. 6 ). The accused and Ramesh (P. W. 6) reached the bus stand at about 9 p. m. and accused woke up his wife so as to return to village pabal. She got up and started abusing the accused and, therefore, he got annoyed, took out the knife hanging near his knee and warded off on the left side below the arm pit of the deceased. On the next day, Yeshwant bande (P. W. 1), the retired Police Patil who claimed to hold the charge for the said post, got the news that the dead body of a Bhil woman was lying in the bus stand and, therefore, he visited the said place between 7 to 7. 30 a. m. and noticed the accused sitting by the side of the dead body. Then the accused was taken along with the Police Patil to his house wherefrom the police Patil rang up Parner Police Station. The police party came to the scene of offence, arrested the accused, carried out the inquest at Exh. 14 and arrest panchanama at Exh. 25. The dead body was sent for post mortem and Dr. Lalge (P. W. 3), Medical Officer at Primary Health Centre Parner conducted the post mortem at 2 p. m. on 24-2-1998. He signed the post mortem notes at Exh. 17 and recorded the cause of death as "shock as a result of haemorrhage caused by penetrating injury to chest wall and lung on left side. Dinkar Gaidhani (P. W. 12)', P. S. I, took over the investigation. Map of incident (Exh. 32) was drawn. The statements of witnesses were recorded on 23-2-1998, 24-2-1998 and 25-2-1998 whereas the statement of the parent of the deceased Gopinath (P. W. 11) was recorded on 28-3-1998. The charge-sheet was submitted and subsequently, the case came to the committed to the Sessions Court.

(3.) THE prosecution examined in all 12 witnesses, Chandrakant Sitaram jondhale (P. W. 2), Prakash Sitaram (P. W. 3), Dhairyasheel Gangadhar (P. W. 4), Udhav Dattatraya (P. W. 5), Dadabhau Tukaram (P. W. 7) are the panch witnesses whereas Raosaheb Gavade (P. W. 8) was the Police Head Constable attached to Parner Police Station who had recorded the information given by Yeshwant Bande (P. W. 1) regarding the incident and had registered A. D. No. 19/1998 under section 174 of the Criminal Procedure Code as per the report at Exh. 12. On visiting the site of offence, he had lodged the complaint on behalf of the State and the same was treated as the First Information Report (Exh. 28) on the basis of which, Crime No. 27 of 1998 for an offence punishable under section 302 of the Indian penal Code came to be registered against the accused on 23-2-1998, on the basis of the extra judicial confession made by the accused. This complaint was registered at about 6. 30 p. m. and 23-2-1997. Suman jadhav (P. W. 9) was also the Police Constable attached to Parner Police station who had reached the dead body to the Rural Hospital, Parner for post mortem on 23-2-1998 and after the autopsy, the dead body was handed over to Dada Gopinath Gangarde the brother of the deceased -as per Exh. 30. He had seized the clothes from the person of the deceased vide panchanama at Exh. 24. Kashinath Kardile (P. W. 10) is the circle Officer who had visited the spot on 27-5-1998 and drawn the map at Exh. 32. The prosecution claimed Ramesh Rokade (P. W. 6) as the eyewitness and also relied upon the testimony of Yeshwant Bande (P. W. 1)and Udhav Bhise (P. W. 5), a panch witness through whom the discovery of the weapon namely knife (Article No. 8) has been proved. The trial Court, based on the evidence of all these witnesses, recorded a finding that Sarubai died a homicidal death at about 9 p. m. on 22-2-1998 and it was the accused who was the author of the said offence. The motive behind the offence, as per the prosecution, was that the deceased was in the habit of drinking and of loose character. The accused was unhappy on the behav-iour of the deceased and, therefore, he had decided to eliminate her. On the date of the incident when he tried to wake her up at about 9 p. m. the deceased abused him and the accused got annoyed, took out the knife from his person and gave one blow the left arm pit.