PARSHURAM SHANKAR KAMBLE Vs. STATE OF MAHARASHTRA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The conviction of the accused i.e. the Appellant herein under Section 302 of the Indian Penal Code ("IPC" for short) and his being sentenced to life imprisonment and to pay a fine of Rs. 100/is the subject matter of the above Criminal Appeal.

(2.) The Appellant would be referred as the accused and the Respondent - State would be referred to as the prosecution. The incident took place on 13.06.1991. It is the case of the prosecution that one Bapu Chavan was residing in a hut at Yashodhara Chawl Committee Hutment, Ramabai Colony, Ghatkopar (E), Mumbai 400 075. The accused and some others also resided in the nearby huts. It is the case of the prosecution that on the evening of 13.06.1991 the Complainant i.e. Bapu Chavan and his wife Sharda (deceased) were sitting outside their hut and chitchatting. At around 10.00 p.m., the accused came there and started abusing Sharda. The reason for that was that 4 - 5 days prior to the said incident, Sharda told the neighbours that the accused possessed a knife. The accused continued abusing for about 15 minutes. During the said 15 minutes the Complainant i.e. Bapu Chavan sent his wife to the room. However the accused continued abusing.

(3.) Thereafter Complainant i.e. Bapu Chavan went inside his room, but accused was still continuing with his abusing. Thereafter Sharda came out of her room and the husband i.e. the Complainant followed her. On being asked why he was abusing, the accused went to his hut, came back with a knife and stabbed Sharda on her left below the ribs and on her right side elbow. On the accused stabbing Sharda there was a hue and cry and many persons came out of their huts. One Smt. Surekha Laxman Shevekar who was cleaning utensils seeing the accused stabbing Sharda, threw a Tava at him. The accused pounced upon the said Smt. Surekha Laxman Shevekar and also assaulted her. He thereafter ran away. On account of the stabbing by the accused, Sharda fell down and she was immediately removed to the hut of one Inamulla who was a neighbour. She was laid on a chatai. Someone brought a Rikshaw. She was brought down to the Eastern Express Highway and removed to Rajawadi Hospital where she was declared dead before admission. It seems that at the said time the telephone lines were out of order and hence the Complainant was advised to go to Pant Nagar, Police Station and lodge a complaint, which he did. In his complaint, he has named the accused as the person who had stabbed his wife. The Police thereafter visited the Rajawadi Hospital and inquest was carried out. The clothes on the person of the Sharda were seized. The body of Sharda was sent for postmortem. The Police visited the place of offence and carried out Panchanama. The blood stained Chatai and scrapping were seized. The blood stained clothes of the Complainant were also seized. The accused was arrested. The accused whilst in Police custody volunteered to show the place where the knife was concealed. The statement of the accused was recorded as a memorandum which the two Panchas signed. The accused led the Police and the Panchas to the spot i.e. Timber shop on the Eastern Express Highway, Near Ramabai Colony and behind the Timber shop he took out a knife from the gap and handed over the same to the Police. The knife was packed, labeled, sealed and seized under the Panchanama drawn in continuation of the memorandum earlier drawn at the Police Station. Both the Panchas signed it. The accused was sent to the Police surgeon for sample of his blood and nail clippings. The articles which were seized during the investigation were forwarded to the Chemical Analyzer.