KUSTA BALSU KANDNEKAR Vs. STATE OF MAHARASHTRA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This appeal by the original accused is directed against the judgment dated 9th March, 1984, whereby he was convicted for an offence punishable under S. 304, Part II of the I.P.C. and subsequently sentenced to undergo four years' rigorous imprisonment by Dr. Eurico Santana da Silva, the learned Sessions Judge, Margao.

(2.) The relevant facts may be stated. A criminal case was instituted by the respondent charging the appellant of having committed murder of one Habib Khan, a resident of Devabhat, Kurpem. Broadly, the case of the prosecution is that on 30th March, 1983, at about 8 p.m. the appellant went to the courtyard of the deceased's house which is about 200 mtrs. away from his own and began to abuse him with bad words. Then, a fight with bare hands ensued between the deceased and the appellant, a circumstance that caused the wives of the deceased and of the appellant to rush to the spot. The appellant pushed his wife to the ground and, thereafter, stabbed Habib Khan on his back just below the left shoulder-blade by thrusting a kitchen knife he had with him. As a result of this stabbing, Habib Khan collapsed on the spot and came to die within a few minutes. The fatal assault was committed, according to the prosecution, with the intention to cause death and, therefore, a case for an offence punishable under S. 302 of the I.P.C. was filed against the appellant.

(3.) The case of the appellant in the Court is one of complete denial, for he took a stand that he knew nothing about the stabbing of the late Habib Khan at the time he was arrested by the police and further that the complaint filed against him is false.