KONDIBA Vs. STATE OF MAHARASHTRA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This is an appeal by the accused, who has been convicted by the learned Session Judge, Beed, in session Case No. 26 of 1981 for offence of murder under section 302 of the Indian Penal Code and sentenced to suffer imprisonment for life and also convicted under section 309, ibid, and sentenced to suffer S.I. for six months.

(2.) Most of the facts in this appeal are not in dispute. The accused was residing at village Kawadgaon within the jurisdiction of Yusuf Wadgaon Police Station in Kaji Taluka of Beed District along with his wife named Vatsalabai (since deceased) and four children, the eldest of them being a girl named Chaya (P.W. 8). Their house was situated in Maharwada locality of the village and Rukminibai, who is the mother of the accused, was residing separately but near his house. Rukminibai used to work as an agricultural labourer for earning her livelihood. The deceased Vatsalabai also used to work on wages in the fields since prior to the date of incident. For some time prior to the date of incident, the accused was not doing any work and consequently there used to be dispute between the accused and his wife.

(3.) According to the story of the prosecution, on the date of incident, which was 12th December, 1980, Vatsalabai had gone to work in the field of Baliram. The accused went to the field Baliram some time in the noon and told his wife that she should come to the house since her brother had come. Vatsalabai, therefore, came to the back to the house along with the accused. The accused then asked Vatsalabai to give him food, but she expressed her inability to do so since there was no grain in the house. The accused then asked Vatsalabai to go to the house of his mother and procure the grain from her, but Vatsalabai refused to do so. This enraged the accused, who dragged Vatsalabai into the house and felled her down on the ground. He then picked up a knife and caused injury to the neck of Vatsalabai with that knife. The woman died instantaneously. The accused on seeing the death of his wife pierced the same knife in his stomach which resulted in serious injury and he also fell down on the ground. This was noticed by the girl Chaya who was playing along with her brothers near the house. When she saw that her parents were lying in a pool of blood, she immediately rushed to her grandmother Rukminibai and told her that the accused had injured her mother as also herself. Rukminibai then returned to the house and she was raising shouts while coming in the house of the accused. One Govindrao (P.W. 5), who was sitting near the Maruti temple followed Rukminibai to the house of the accused on hearing her shouts and he saw that Vatsalabai was dead but the accused was alive, although his intestines had come out of the injury. On his request the injury on the stomach of the accused was bandaged by Rukminibai. The accused heard this talk and he asked Govindrao to save him after telling him that he had inflicted injuries to his wife and also to himself. Govindrao then asked one Yeshwanta to inform the Police Patil, but the latter was not present in the house.