AMBADAS RAJAYYA JINDAM Vs. STATE OF MAHARASHTRA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THE appellant has challenged his conviction for offence punishable under section 324 of the Indian Penal Code wherein he has been sentenced to suffer R. I. for six months and pay a fine of Rs . 1000/ and in default R. I. for three months. The appellant was tried for offence under section 307 I.P.C. along with offence under section 37 of the Bombay Police Act. During the trial the charge under section 326 IPC was added. The appellant has been acquitted of other charges and his conviction is only for offence punishable under section 324 IPC. In brief the prosecution case is as under :

(2.) THE accused Ambadas Rajayya Jindam was a friend of Narsayya Ambaji Irabatti , P.W. 1 and Kishore Ramdas Karankot , P.W. 3 and on the date of the incident i.e. on 22 1 1990, all the three friends together in the afternoon were chitchatting and at about 3.30 p.m. they went to the canteen which was in the premises of Sahakari Rugnalaya and had tea there. After chitchatting for a while, all the three proceeded towards Jodbasavanna Chowk where there is a shop in which an intoxicating drink known as Janardhan Kada is sold. It appears that the name of Janardhan Ayurvedic Kada is a fake medicinal name, and in fact it appears that the same is regularly used as an intoxicant and in any case the accused and his friends abovenamed had gone to the shop of Janardhan Kada not for taking any medicine, but to consume the intoxicant and they had been in the shop for quite sometime, say for about 3 to 4 hours and consumed sufficient quantity thereof. Thereafter they were returning home. They did not return by the straight road, but they preferred to pass through an open space which is referred to as jungle as there may be some bushes and trees therein. When they reached in front of a bidi factory, there was some quarrel between them in which the accused assaulted his friend Narsayya and Kishore with knife and inflicted injuries on their person. The two injured persons rushed to their respective houses and narrated the incident to their family members and they were removed to two different hospitals. Kishore was taken to the Solapur Civil Hospital while Narsayya was admitted to Sahakari Rugnalaya . Statement of Kishore was also recorded in Solapur Civil Hospital as he appeared to be serious and in case of his death, the same could have been used as his dying declaration. However, since he survived that statement was of no use to the prosecution even then recording Magistrate was examined in the trial Court. At Solapur Sahakari Rugnalaya statement of Narsayya was recorded by P.I. More and on the basis of the same offence was registered. It is also worth pointing out here that when Kishore Karankot reached home, he had informed his mother about the incident stating that the accused had assaulted him and his friend. His mother Ambubai , P.W. 8, thereupon shouted and called for rickshaw and at that time constable Hiremath came there. They brought a rickshaw and took Kishore to the hospital and constable Hiremath also accompanied them to Hospital. The mother of Kishore , Ambubai had told the Police Constable that her son was assaulted by the accused and even while taking him to hospital in rickshaw, Kishore also disclosed the name of the assailant. However, admittedly in the report which the Constable had given to the Police Station on phone, he did not name the assailant and in fact stated that some unknown person has caused injuries to Kishore . However, from the Civil Hospital information was given by Dr. Dixit to the Police, on the basis of which an entry was recorded in the station diary.

(3.) FURTHER investigation was carried in the usual manner and blood stained clothes of the injured persons as well as the clothes of the accused were seized. Statements of witnesses were recorded and the charge sheet came to be filed before the learned Magistrate, who as usual committed the accused to the Sessions Court to stand trial.