RAJENDRA PAULAT SALVE Vs. STATE OF MAHARASHTRA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The accused, who was convicted for the offence punishable under section 306 of the Indian Penal Code and sentenced to undergo r. I. for 3 years and to pay fine of Rs. 500/- by the 4th Additional Sessions judge, Dhule in Sessions Case No. 3/1992, has preferred this appeal challenging the order of conviction and sentence.

(2.) The prosecution case in brief is that the accused was serving as Head master in a Zilla Parishad at Nandarde, Taluka Shirpur. Deceased Rekha, who was daughter of P. W. 8 Madhukar, was also serving as teacher in the same school. Rekha was married to P. W. 7 Jitendra on 13-3-1991. Jitendra was serving as a teacher in a Zilla Parishad School at Kasare. After his marriage, in june 1991 P. W. 7 Jitendra, was transferred to Zilla Parishad School at Nandarde and the accused was transferred from Nandarde to Kasare in place of Jitendra. When accused was posted at Kasare, he used to reside at Khandbare. According to the prosecution, when the accused came to know that Rekha was engaged to marry with P. W. 7 Jitendra, the accused first approached P. W. 5 Jagannath -father of Jitendra and told him that he had love affair and illicit relations with rekha and therefore, his son should not marry Rekha. Few days before the marriage, he also met Jitendra and told him the same thing. Jitendra told his father about the information given to him by the accused. However, his father after some enquiry told Jitendra that there was no substance in the allegation. Prior to the marriage the accused also wrote a letter and also personally contacted p. W. 8 Madhukar and told him about his love affair and illicit relations with rekha and asked him not to perform her marriage with Jitendra. He proposed that rekha be married to him. In spite of all these attempts made by the accused, marriage of Rekha and Jitendra was solemnized and they began to live together.

(3.) According to the prosecution after the said marriage, accused began to defame Rekha, making false allegations of illicit relations with her. After he was transferred to Kasare in place of Jitendra, he was further aggrieved and he began to tell his colleagues in the School at Kasare about his illicit relations with Rekha and defamed her. P. W. 3 Babulal and P. W. 6 Sudam are two such teachers who were told by the accused about the bad character of Rekha. As Jitendra was previously serving at Kasare, he was also friend of P. W. 3 Babulal and P. W. 6 sudam. He had a talk with them about the subject and on 20-7-1991 these three persons went to Nandarde to have a talk with the accused on the subject. On that day at about 6 p. m. they found the accused near S. T. stand of Wadi, the village of parents of Rekha. On enquiry by Jitendra, Babulal and Sudam, the accused repeated his contention that he had love affair and illicit relations with Rekha and he claimed that he had also love letters written by Rekha to him. Babulal and sudam asked him to hand over those letters to Jitendra and not to speak on the subject in future. The accused assured them that he would return the letters on the next day. In view of this, all these three persons had a night halt as Wadi. On the next day i. e. 21-7-1991 in the evening, they left the house of P. W. 8 Madhukar to go to Nandarde to contact the accused but they found him at S. T. stand Wadi itself. At that time, the accused showed a love letter purporting to have been written by Rekha to him. Jitendra took that letter from the accused. He, along with his two friends went to house of his father-in-law and he showed that letter to Rekha. She denied that the letter was in her handwriting.