GANPAT BAKARAMJI LAD Vs. THE STATE OF MAHARASHTRA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Being aggrieved by the Judgment and Order dated 14th September, 2012, passed by learned Additional Sessions Judge-2, Amravati, in Sessions Trial No. 135 of 2011, by which the appellant was convicted of the offence punishable under Section 302, Indian Penal Code, and was sentenced to undergo Life Imprisonment and a fine of Rs. 1,000/-, in default, to suffer Rigorous Imprisonment for two months, the present appeal was filed by the appellant.

(2.) In brief, the case of the prosecution is that deceased Manisha alias Manorama was married to appellant-accused - Ganpat Lad nine years before the incident. Two daughters and a son were born out of the wedlock. The appellant was ill-treating his wife since after marriage by assaulting her under the influence of liquor and she used to go to the house of her brother - Anil Pohane and used to inform him about the drinking habit of appellant Ganpat and assaulting her on trifle matters. Appellant was given understanding, but to no use.

(3.) On 21st February, 2011, at about 10.30 to 10.45 a.m., Annapurna Ramesh Bawane, neighbour of the deceased, informed deceased's brother - Anil, that Manisha received burns and she was taken to Govt. Hospital at Warud. Therefore, Anil, accompanied by his parents, uncle Tukaram Pohane and the neighbourer Narayan Waghamare went to Govt. Hospital at Warud by auto rickshaw. They met Manisha who was in a burnt condition. Statement of Manisha was already recorded. Anil asked her as to what happened and she narrated the incident, saying that at about 10.00 a.m., her husband Ganpat went out, returned after ten to fifteen minutes in a drunken state, started abusing her and thereafter he took kerosene, poured it on her person and set her on fire. Her father Namdeo as well as Sushila, her mother, so also Tukaram and Narayan, the neighbours, also asked the same question and she answered accordingly. She was brought to the hospital by the neighbours Annapurna Bawne, Lata Dhanraj Kadu and Kamla Pandurang Shende. On the basis of her Dying Declaration recorded immediately after the incident, an FIR was registered.