NAVNATH KASHINATH JETHITOR Vs. STATE OF MAHARASHTRA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The appellant was tried in the Court of Sessions at Solapur in Sessions Case No.59 of 2002 for offences punishable under section 302 of the Indian Penal Code (for short, "the IPC") and section 37(1) read with section 35 of the Bombay Police Act (for short, "the Police Act"). By the impugned judgment and order dated 22/10/2002, learned VIth Additional Sessions Judge, Solapur, acquitted him of the charge under section 37(1) read with section 35 of the Police Act. He, however, convicted him under section 302 of the IPC and sentenced him to suffer Rigorous Imprisonment for life and to pay fine of Rs.500/, in default, to suffer Rigorous Imprisonment for one month. The said judgment and order is impugned in this appeal. For the sake of convenience, we shall refer to the appellant as "the accused" in this judgment.

(2.) Shortly stated the case of the prosecution is that deceased Fulabai, the wife of the accused was serving at S.T. Stand, Solapur as a sweeper on contract basis. The deceased and the accused were residing at 181, Budhwar Peth, Milind Nagar, Solapur along with their son Sanjay and daughter Babita. On 16/1/2002, the deceased was on duty at S.T. Stand, Solapur from 2.00 p.m. to 8.00 p.m. At about 5.30 p.m., the deceased went to her house and returned to S.T. Stand. She was sitting with Shantabai Kadlaskar, Annapurna Jadhav and Latabai Kapure at Platform No.8. According to the prosecution, the accused came there and asked the deceased to accompany him to their house. The deceased told him that she had just returned from the house. The deceased asked him as to what work he had with her. The accused told her that there are some guests at home and, therefore, she should accompany him to the house. The deceased, therefore, left the place with the accused.

(3.) According to the prosecution, after 10 minutes, Shantabai Kadlaskar and Annapurna Jadhav were going to answer nature's call to ladies lavatory. For that purpose, they had to cross gents lavatory. At that time, they saw a crowd gathered near gents lavatory. They went to see what is happening there. They saw that the deceased was lying in an injured condition. Therefore, Shantabai went to the police booth, which is situated at the S.T. Stand. PC Shankar Pawar, PN Lakshman Shinde and PC Kimbhune were present there. PC Pawar and PN Shinde immediately rushed to the place where the deceased was lying injured. They called the autorickshaw. When they were keeping the deceased in the autorickshaw, they asked her as to how she was injured. At that time, she told them that the accused had assaulted her with knife because he was suspicious about her character. PC Pawar and PN Shinde asked Shantabai and Annapurna to take the deceased to the Civil Hospital, Solapur. Accordingly, they went to the Civil Hospital with the deceased. Unfortunately, the deceased died on the way. PC Pawar and PN Shinde went to the house of the accused, but he was not there. They told the daughter of the deceased that the deceased was admitted in the hospital. PC Pawar and PN Shinde then went to the Civil Hospital, Solapur. They came to know that the deceased was dead. PC Pawar lodged the report of the alleged incident with the Faujdar Chawadi Police Station. The said report is at Ex17. On his report, Crime No.5/2002 came to be registered under sections 302 and 504 of the IPC. PSI Sonawane took over the investigation. After completion of the investigation, the accused came to the charged as aforesaid.