KASHIRAM Vs. STATE

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The appellant Kashiram has been convicted by the Sessions Judge of Guna under S. 302, I. P. C. for the murder of his wife Kalindari and has been sentenced to transportation for life. He has now appealed to this Court against his conviction.

(2.) According to the prosecution the appellant used to live in village Mahana with his wife and children Onkar Singh, Mayabai, Sarjubai and Gitabai. Sometime before the occurrence he began showing symptoms of insanity and used to act abnormally and violently. He was twice detained in the Mental Hospital at Lashkar. After his discharge from the Hospital second time, the appellant remained normal for sometime but soon thereafter he again started behaving abnormally and violently. On account of this behaviour of the accused, he was usually kept chained in a room. On the morning of 13th May 1953 at about 8 a.m., while Kalindari was sweeping the courtyard of the house and when the appellant's daughters Maya and Sarju had gone to a well to fetch water and Onkar Singh had gone to visit a neighbour, Kashiram managed to free himself, came out of the room where he was kept, picked up an axe lying in the house and with it inflicted fatal injuries on his wife's head, neck and shoulders. Kalindari died immediately on the spot. At this time Maya and Sarju returned from the well. They found the door of the house, which was open when they had left, closed. Maya, therefore, called her mother and asked her to open the door. Thereupon the accused opened the door and stood there silently. Maya then again called out her mother to help her to relieve her of a water vessel which was on her head. When Kalindari did not respond, Maya went inside the house and found her mother dead with her throat cut. She then went out of the house and shouted. On hearing her cries, Gajraj Singh, Karan Singh and Onkar Singh came to the appellant. On seeing Kalindari lying dead, they questioned the accused Kashiram as to what he had done and why he had killed Kalindari. It was said that Kashiram replied Gajraj Singh, Karan Singh and Onkar Singh found Kashiram's hands, feet and clothes besmeared with blood. They then tied Kashiram to a Nim tree and directed Ajabshad Chowkidar to lodge a report with the police. The Chowkidar made a report in the police station Pachhar, on 13th May 1953 at about 10 a.m. that Kashiram had killed his wife with an axe. The police then took up the investigation, put the accused under arrest, prepared the usual Panchnamas and sent his clothes for chemical examination. The clothes were found to be stained with human blood. The post-mortem examination of the body of Kalindari was conducted by Dr. Pawar on 14th May 1953. The doctor found six incised wounds on the neck, the trachea and Aesophagus cut and the cervical spine fractured. In his opinion Kalindari's death was due to these injuries.

(3.) The accused was not sent up for medical examination immediately after his arrest. He first appeared before the committing Magistrate on 25th May 1953 when the Challan was presented. The Magistrate found him to be of unsound mind and incapable of making his defence. He, therefore, stayed the proceedings and sent the accused to the Civil Surgeon of Guna for examination. On the report of the Civil Surgeon, Kashiram was sent to Mental Hospital Lashkar and detained there from 27th July 1953 upto 21st October 1954. He was then brought before the Magistrate on 3rd November 1954 and the committal proceedings began on 9th November 1954 when the Magistrate considered him capable of making his defence. Before the committing Magistrate the accused said that he had deliberately killed his wife because she had sent him to the Mental Hospital declaring him to be a lunatic, and because she used to give away articles belonging to his house-hold to Shankarlal and Pran Singh. He added that he gave to Kalindari only one axe blow and not several. In the Sessions Court he said that he did not know that he had murdered his wife; that at that time he was mad. He also denied having made the statement before the committing Magistrate that he had deliberately killed his wife.