DHEDYA BAJYA VALVI Vs. STATE OF MAHARASHTRA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THE appellant, aggrieved against the judgment and order dated November 1, 1993 passed by the Additional Sessions Judge, Nandurbar, in Sessions Case No. 44 of 1992, convicting him for the offence punishable under section 302 of the Indian Penal Code and sentencing him to imprisonment for life and to pay a fine of Rs. 500/-, in default to suffer rigorous imprisonment for one month, has come up in appeal to this Court.

(2.) THE prosecution story, briefly put, is as under :---One Bajya is a resident of village Mothi Kadvan in Navapur taluka. He has two sons, namely, Lakhu and the accused-appellant-Dhedya, and three daughters, namely, Tara, Chamari and Jaynubai. Sakaribai widow of the deceased Ishwar, is the daughter of Chamaribai. Bajya had partitioned his agricultural land long time back. He allotted 13 acres of land to each of his sons. He gave 3? acres of land to his daughters. His sons were residing separately from him. Bajya and his wife were being looked after by Sakaribai and her husband. Sakaribai, along with her husband, was living in village Mothi Kadvan for the last about 10 years. Sakaribais husband, Ishwar, was cultivating the land in the possession of Bajya on crop-share basis. The appellant had divorced his wife long time back and had leased out the agricultural land which fell in his share in the family partition. He was working in Gujarat State and was moving from place to place. Bajya had given 5 acres of land to Sakaribai out of love and affection and for services rendered by her to him and his wife. A few days prior to the incident, the appellant came to his ancestral village and made grievance about the allotment of 5 acres of land to Sakaribai. He apprehended that Sakaribai and her husband Ishwar might grab the land of his father which was under their cultivation on crop-share basis. He asked Sakaribai and her husband to leave the village. The land in possession of Bajya is at some distance from his house in the village. At the time of the incident, there was water melon crop in his field. Two huts were erected by Sakaribai and her husband in the field, to protect the crop, out of which one hut was in possession of Sakaribai and her husband and the other in possession of her mother Chamaribai and her husband. On January 18, 1992, Sakaribai had gone to Nandurbar in the morning to sell fire wood. She returned to the house in the village in the evening at about 5. 00 p. m. She prepared food and thereafter she proceeded toward the hut in the field. She met her husband on the way. They went together to the field. In the meantime, the appellant also came in the field. The appellant and Ishwar (husband of Sakaribai) had meals together in the hut. The appellant intended to go to Bardoli in Gujarat State in the night and he requested to provide some food for carrying with him. He was to leave for Bardoli by railway train. The railway station Khatgaon was situate at a distance of 3 km. from the village. The train was to arrive at Khatgaon railway station at about 4. 00 a. m. In the night at about 9. 00 p. m. , after taking meals, the appellant asked Ishwar to accompany him to reach him at the railway station. Ishwar agreed and both of them left the field for the railway station. Sakaribai and her mother were in the field for the whole of the night. Ishwar did not return from the railway station during the night. In the morning, Sakaribai went to the house in the village. The house is at a distance of 1 km. from the field. She found that the appellant was sitting with Noora Fulji at his house around fire to warm himself. She enquired from the appellant about her husband. He told her that Ishwar was murdered by him by assaulting him on head and face by stone under a mango tree in the field of Shega Katodya in the night. Sakaribai went to the house of one Pachya and along with him went to the house of Police Patil, Noorji, and disclosed to him the information received by her from the appellant. The Police Patil came to the house of Noora Fulji and found that the appellant was sitting there. He also made enquiries from the appellant and he was informed that he had caused the death of Ishwar under a mango tree in the field of Shega Katodya by using a stone. When the appellant gave the information to the Police Patil, Sakaribai, Pachya and Raijya were present there. In view of the confession made by the appellant, the Police Patil brought him to his house and tied him with a rope. In order to confirm the information about the murder of Ishwar, the Police Patil, Pachya, Sakaribai and Raijya went to the field of Shega Katodya and found that the dead body of Ishwar was lying under a mango tree and two stones having blood were lying there. There was also blood on the bark of the mango tree. They returned to the village and thereafter went to police station of Visarwadi to lodge report. Report (Ex. 20) was lodged on January 19, 1992 at 9. 45 a. m. The Police Station Officer, Shinde, immediately left for the place of occurrence. He prepared the inquest panchanama and the spot panchanama, Exs. 11 and 12 respectively. The body of the deceased was sent for autopsy to Rural Hospital, Navapur. He arrested the appellant. He seized the shirt of sky blue colour with checks thereon, which was on the person of the appellant. The shirt had blood stains on the sleeves and the shoulder. The Investigating Officer also got prepared a map of the place of occurrence from the Circle Inspector. On the same date -January 19, 1992-, he recorded statements of Chamaribai, Noorji-the Police Patil, Raijya, Noora Fulji, and others. On January 20, 1992, he recorded statement of one Ishwar Jiva Gavit before whom the appellant had made extra-judicial confession. He seized the clothes of the deceased, of the appellant, bark of mango tree, the stones having blood from the scene of offence. The attached articles were sent to the Chemical Analyser for report. The Investigating Officer had also forwarded the stones seized from the place of occurrence to the Medical Officer, Rural Hospital, Navapur, (vide Ex. 32), for opinion whether the injuries on the person of the deceased could be caused by the stones and whether these injuries could cause the death of the deceased. The Medical Officer opined that the injuries on the body of the deceased could be caused by the stones and that the injuries could cause the death of the deceased.

(3.) ON completion of the investigation, the Investigating Officer filed the charge-sheet in the Court of the Judicial Magistrate, First Class, Navapur, who committed the case to the Court of Session as the offence was exclusively triable by that Court.