SUNANDA CHANDRAKANT JUVATKAR Vs. STATE OF MAHARASHTRA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The appellant was charged along with her son Mangesh, of committing murder of Raghunath Paste, resident of Khanvali-Banewadi, Taluka Lanja, Dist. Ratnagiri on 26/1/2002 (in the night) in her house in the same village and her son Mangesh, being juvenile, was tried in Juvenile Criminal Case No.1 of 2003 by the Presiding Officer of the Board of Juvenile at Ratnagiri. He came to be acquitted as per the judgment and order dated 21st June 2003 whereas the appellant was tried in Sessions Case No.83 of 2002 and came to be convicted and sentenced for the offence punishable under Section 302 as well as Section 201 read with Section 34 of IPC by the learned Sessions Judge, Ratnagiri vide his judgment and order dated 8/4/2003. This appeal impugns the said order of conviction and sentence passed in Sessions Case No.83 of 2002 and the appellant is presently undergoing the sentence of RI for life.

(2.) As per the prosecution, deceased Raghunath, husband of Subhadra Paste (PW 8) was alleged to be practising Dev-Devaski (a kind of black magic) on her family and her husband allegedly died on account of the same. She had, therefore, threatened the deceased that if he would not reverse the acts of Dev-Devaski, she would finish him. On 26/1/2002 her son Mangesh came to the house of Raghunath at about 6 p.m. and took him to the house of the accused purportedly telling him that the accused was not feeling well and, therefore, she had called the deceased. As Raghunath did not return, his wife PW 8 made visits to the house of the accused along with PW 1 - Ashok (her nephew) and her son and in the third visit to the house of the accused in the night of 26/1/2002, the accused opened the door and told PW 8 Subhadra that Raghunath had already left the house of the accused. As Raghunath did not return the whole night, Subhadra went to the Police Patil at about 7 a.m. on 27/1/2002 and thereafter her son told her that he had seen the dead body of Raghunath. She went to the spot and identified the dead body. On information given by the Police Patil at about 11 a.m., the police arrived at the scene, dead body was recovered, it had number of injuries on the head as well as the entire body. The dead body was sent for post-mortem examination and Dr. Dilip Suryavanshi, In-charge Medical Officer, Primary Health Centre, Wadilimbu, Tal. Lanja, Dist. Ratnagiri (PW 5) had performed the autopsy and forwarded the post-mortem report at Exhibit 22. The cause of death recorded in the post-mortem report was haemorrhagic shock (hypovolemic) due to multiple injuries. There were in all 43 injuries noted on the body of the deceased and eight of them were on or around the skull. The accused were missing from the village on 27/1/2002 and both of them came to be arrested on 28/1/2002 at village Rhavadi bus stop, Tahsil Lanja. The arrest panchanama at Exhibit 31 was drawn by Head Constable Chavan. The seized as well as recovered articles were sent for chemical analysis by PW 9 - Shri Arjun Shankar Rane, the Investigating Officer on 14/2/2002 under the covering letter at Exhibit 38 and the CA reports were received at Exhibits 39 to 42. On completion of investigation the I.O. filed the charge-sheet on 26/4/2002. Charge was framed on 2/1/2003 by the learned Sessions Judge.

(3.) The prosecution had examined in all ten witnesses including PW 9 Arjun Rane, I.O. and PW 10 Purushottam Wagle. PW 3 Shivaji Bhuwad proved the spot panchanama at Exhibit 14, PW 4 Mohan Surve proved the recovery of weapons i.e. axe and sura which were used in committing the crime as well as one saree and one shirt. PW 7 Vijay Khanwilkar proved the recovery of wrist watch and torch belonging to the deceased PW 2 Dhondu Lingayat proved the inquest panchanama at Exhibit 11. PW 1 Ashok Paste, PW 8 Subhadra Paste, wife of the deceased and PW 9 Arjun Rane, the I.O. are the main witnesses. In his evidence PW 5 Dr. Dilip Suryawanshi stated that he found 40 injuries on the body of the deceased when he conducted the post-mortem on 28/1/2002 at about 9 a.m. and he signed the P.M. report at Exhibit 19 the contents of which were correct, and as per his opinion Raghunath died a homicidal death. The injuries caused on his body were by hard and sharp weapons. He denied the suggestion that the multiple injuries on the body of the deceased could be caused by wild animals and he also denied the suggestion that he did not notice any fracture on the deceased. According to him the death of Raghunath had occurred 24 hours before the body was taken for post-mortem on 28/1/2002. He also admitted that at the instance of the police he had obtained blood from the dead body of Raghunath and the same was handed over to the police. The injuries noted in the P.M. report, which has been admitted by the defence were: Head