DAULATRAO TULARAO Vs. STATE

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THE appellant, a mill labourers of about 35 years of age was sent up and convicted on a charge of murder of his own wife, a middle -aged woman and mother of four children, the eldest of whom is the main witness (a girl aged 11 or 12 years). She was stabbed 19 times with a knife on deferent parts of the body and several of the wounds are such that each by itself would result in death. The lesser sentence of imprisonment for life has been imposed. The only question of fact is as to the origin of the fatal quarrel, of which there are two accounts of law; whether the words used by the wife during the quarrel can, in this context, be treated as grave and sudden provocation extenuating the offence and reducing it to culpable homicide not amounting to murder. The unfortunate couple lived in the outskirts of the city of Indore, the husband working as a mill labourers and often in need of money as he had a weakness for liquor. The wife was also earning as a cook in a hospital and was supplementing it by rolling bidis. As often happens, the wife and the appellant used to quarrel the latter disappearing for days together. On the one hand, the daughter's evidence is that this was after unsuccessful demand of money which the wife could not spare as she had to look after the children. The appellant's own account, on the other hand, is that she used to turn him out. In this background, the husband developed an obsession that the wife was living an immoral life and was having improper intimacy with different men. Whether it was a justifiable suspicion or just a delusion of a drunkard, he had charged the wife on several previous occasions with immorality and always got the answer that she had been living as a loyal wife and his suspicions and charges were baseless.

(2.) THE common ground in this case is that on the afternoon or evening of the 27th March, 1960, both husband and wife at their house as also the eldest child -a girl named Sushila (P.W.I) aged about 11 or 12 years. The woman had been rolling bidis when there was a quarrel and the girl came out shouting that her mother was being killed. The wife came outside and soon fell down in front of the house with as many as 19 stab injuries on her and the husband standing nearby with a knife of which the blade was broken. The neighbors collected, but too late to be of any help to the woman. The direct evidence is from the girl, to the following effect; her father had been away for several days and on that day he returned at about 4 P.M. and as usual demanded money from the mother. She refused with her usual reply that she wanted money for the children. This led to an exchange of strong language. The appellant sat on the verandah while the girl went out for a short time to bring some lemons or some fruits. On her return, the appellant asked the girl to go to his mother, i. e., the girl's grandmother and bring some money and tried to persuade her to do so by offering 2 annas. But the girl scented some imminent trouble and refused to go, while the younger boy was sent on that mission. After this, the appellant walked into the house again, caught hold of his wife who was rolling bidis, and started stabbing her. Having received five or six stabs, she tottered outside and fell on the verandah, the girl meanwhile running out and shouting for help. The point to note about the evidence of this girl as well as of the neighbors who gathered the story from her, is that the quarrel starts with a demand for money without the least reference to any immoral conduct. But it has been brought out in the cross -examination that the girl herself and those who derived the evidence from her, stated to the police that the quarrel started with the husband charging the wife with immorality. Not that there could not have been quarrels on other occasions regarding money, but on this occasion, the quarrel certainly started with the charge -justified or otherwise of immorality, and the girl as well as the neighbors were trying to suppress it in the Court, most probably, because of an understandable sense of delicacy. The appellant himself was at the Thana very shortly after the incident, it being immaterial whether he went there of his own accord or was being persuaded or dragged by the neighbors. Later on, he gave a confession before the Magistrate which was recorded in the usual manner. He admits having attacked his wife but his account is that he had reasons to suspect her of infidelity and had on previous occasions asked her to behave more properly and always met with a rebuff: On the 27th, I had my roti with my mother, but went to my wife to persuade her. I talked to her for an hour and a half, but she paid no heed. Then she said, "I have not done it till now; bat now I shall go and take another man, I did not go to call you and you may go away". Thereupon, I became very angry. In fact, four days before this, I bad Been her at Siyaganj talking to another man whose Dame I do not know. When I came near them, they separated.

(3.) IN the present case, there is neither proved past conduct of this nature, nor any persistence shown by the wife. But there is the surprise and revulsion. In re Chervirala Narayan, AIR 1958 A P 235, a young man's wife had just joined him; but already he had vague suspicions about her past conduct. She confessed to him that she had illicit intimacy with a third man and was already pregnant by him. There again we find the surprise and revulsion. Both these precedents apply to the instant case by way of broad analogy. In this case, the wife does deny the charge and as the husband had really nothing very definite to go upon, he should not have been infuriated by the denial. But she continues it by threatening thereafter to do the very act with which he was charging her; in other words, she has created a sudden moral revulsion in the man. In addition, she insults him by saying that she wants him no more. We would, therefore, alter the conviction to one under section 304, Fart I, Indian Penal Code and reduce the sentence to one of seven years rigorous imprisonment. With this modification, the appeal is dismissed.