LAXMIDHAR NAIK Vs. STATE OF ORISSA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) JUDGMENT of Learned Sessions Judge, Mayurbhaj at Baripada in S.T. Case No. 34 of 1995 is under challenge. Appellant was the sole accused to face that trial for the offence under Section 302, Indian Penal Code on the allegation that in the occurrence night of 25.8.1994 at about 10 p.m. he committed murder of his wife by dealing axe blows. Learned Sessions Judge, on completion of the trial, found the Appellant guilty under Section 302, Indian Penal Code and sentenced him to undergo imprisonment for life, wrongly mentioning it to be R.I. for life. Appellant has challenged that order of conviction from the jail and has claimed innocence against the charge framed.

(2.) AS it appears from the materials on Trial Court's record and the impugned judgment, relationship between the accused and the deceased Arati as husband and wife is not in dispute. The prosecution case that Bijayananda Naik (P.W. 9) is their son and besides that the accused and deceased had two daughters by the date of occurrence is also not in dispute. Similarly the contention that Mohan Dehuri (P.W. 1) is their adjoining neighbour is also not in dispute.

(3.) LEARNED Sessions Judge framed the charge for the offence under Section 302, Indian Penal Code. To substantiate the charge, prosecution relied on the evidence of ten witnesses, out of whom P.W. 9 is the solitary eye -witness to the occurrence and P.W. 4 is the Doctor who conducted post -mortem examination and proved the post -mortem report, Ext. 5. Accused took the plea of denial and examined D.W. 1 in support of that plea that by the time of occurrence he was absent in the house and when he returned to his house, his wife was lying dead with injuries. Learned Sessions Judge disbelieved the said defence plea and appreciated and accepted the evidence of P.W. 9 to record the finding that Appellant is guilty of the offence punishable under Section 302, Indian Penal Code.