DAULAT SITARAM SARDAR Vs. STATE OF MAHARASHTRA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Appellant Daulat in Criminal Appeal No. 358 of 1994 was accused No. 3 and appellant Bhaskar alias chhagan in Criminal Appeal No. 377 of 1994 was accused No. 1 in Sessions Case No. 5 of 1992 tried before Shri P. S. Paranjape, additional Sessions Judge, Khamgaon. They were tried along with four others, out of whom one died and three were acquitted of offences punishable under sections 302, 498-A and 201 read with section 34 of the penal Code. Appellant Bhaskar was convicted of offence punishable under section 302 of the Penal Code and sentenced to suffer imprisonment for life. Appellant daulat was convicted of offence punishable under section 201 of the Penal Code and sentenced to suffer rigorous imprisonment for three years. Aggrieved by their convictions and sentences, these two appellants have preferred the present appeals.

(2.) Facts, which led to prosecution of these two appellants alongwith four others, discernible from the record, are as under :

(3.) The incident took place in March, 1991. Deceased Karuna was married to accused No. 1 Bhaskar about 5 to 6 years prior to the incident. Accused No. 1 Bhaskar was having illicit intimacy with accused No. 6 Dhrupadabai. Accused Nos. 4 and 5 are parents of Bhaskar. Accused No. 2 Baldeo and No. 3 Shantabai were the cousins of accused No. 1. Accused Shantabai died during the pendency of the trial. On account of Bhaskar's illicit intimacy with dhrupadabai, the appellants and the other co-accused used to ill-treat Karuna. Karuna had conveyed to her brother, sister as well as uncle about this ill-treatment, since her father had renounced the world.