THAKURLAL Vs. STATE OF M P

JUDGEMENT

(1.) BY this appeal, the appellant assails the legality, validity and propriety of the judgment dated 8-8-2001 passed by the learned Special Sessions Judge, mandleshwar in Sessions Trial No. 77/2001 by which the appellant has been convicted for an offence punishable under Section 302 of the Indian Penal Code and sentenced to Rigorous Imprisonment for life and fine of Rs. 7,000/ -. In default of payment of fine, the judgment directs the appellant to undergo simple imprisonment for 2 years. The appellant has also been convicted under Section 201 of the Indian Penal Code and sentenced to Rigorous Imprisonment for 3 years and fine of Rs. 2,000/ -.

(2.) THE appellant was prosecuted for having voluntarily caused death of his second wife Sunita on the night of 31st December, 2000 at about 9. 00 p. m. The marriage of Sunita was solemnized with the accused in the month of April in the year preceding her death while first wife of the accused namely shakuntala (P. W. 3) was living and accused, through the said nuptial had five children. It was not disputed that both, Sunita and Shakuntala, were living in the same house but in different rooms but they had separate kitchens. According to the prosecution, on 31-12-2000 at about 8. 00 or 9. 00 p. m. , accused Thakurlal reported to the police vide Exh. P-25 that his wife had a quarrel with his first wife and when he returned home, he found that his second wife Sunita had died of burns. On the basis of this information, a case of sudden death was registered and after summoning the witnesses, inquest was held on the body, of which memo Exh. P-2 was prepared. After inspecting the spot, spot map (Exh. P-14)was prepared and the statements of the witnesses were recorded. During the said investigation, the accused was made to remove his clothes, which were seized as they were smelling of kerosene. The investigation revealed that because the deceased Sunita had not cooked for Shakuntala and her children, the accused had quarrelled with the deceased and during the course of the said quarrel, he had poured kerosene on her and set her on fire. It was also stated that the accused had made extra-judicial confession in this behalf before the witnesses.

(3.) THE dead body of Sunita was forwarded to hospital for post-mortem examination and after examining the body, the Autopsy Surgeon Dr. Basant kanungo (P. W. 6) gave autopsy report (Exh. P-13 ). According to the report, the mode of death was asphyxia due to respiratory failure as a result of extensive burns. It was stated that the extent of burn was 100% varying from 2nd to 3rd degree. The details of the burns were mentioned in the autopsy report (Exh. P-13), which read as under:-