TIKKA RAM Vs. STATE OF H.P.

JUDGEMENT

(1.) APPELLANT has appealed against the judgment of Sessions Court whereby he has been convicted of offence under Section 302, I.P.C. and sentenced to undergo life imprisonment and to pay a fine of Rupees 10,000/ - in default of payment of fine, to undergo simple imprisonment for a further period of six months, for allegedly murdering his wife on the night intervening 19th and 20th November, 2002.

(2.) PROSECUTION case as it emerges from the record is like this. Deceased Leela Devi was married to appellant about eleven years prior to her death. Four years after the marriage, the appellant brought another wife named Chhuma Devi. This led to quarrel and estrangement between the deceased and the appellant. Some time in the year 1996, the deceased was beaten up by the appellant. She lodged a report to the Police. Police challaned the appellant for an offence under Section 498 -A, I.P.C. The Magistrate, who conducted the trial, convicted the appellant of the said offence and sentenced him to imprisonment for one year.

(3.) AGAIN there had been a quarrel between the deceased and the appellant and the deceased left the matrimonial home and went to her parents place in May, 2001, there was a meeting of the Panchayat and on the appellant giving undertaking to maintain the deceased and her children, Panchayat sent the deceased and her children with the appellant. Thereafter, the deceased started living in village Tatiana where the appellant has his landed property, while appellant some time lived with her in the aforesaid village and sometime with his second wife Chhuma Devi in another village. About a month prior to the occurrence, the appellant increased the number of his visits to the deceased. This he did with a view to winning her confidence.