ANANTGIR Vs. STATE

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THIS appeal and reference arise out of prosecution of Anantgir appellant on a charge under sec. 302 I. P. C.

(2.) THE appellant has been convicted under that section and sentenced to death by the learned Additional Sessions Judge of Sirohi, by judgment dated 23rd October 1952. THE appeal is by the accused, while the reference is by the learned Additional Sessions Judge for confirmation of the sentence of death.

(3.) IN the present case, Mst. Likhmi had developed illegal intimacy with Anantgir, and had been carrying on with him secretly with the knowledge of her husband. As stated above, there is nothing to show that she was in any way cognisant of the design of Anantgir to murder her husband. There is no reason to disbelieve her statement that she became afraid of Anantgir after she had seen her husband being killed by Anantgir and she herself was threatened to be killed, if she raised an alarm. There was none else whom she could call upon for assistance at the time and therefore her action in taking the head of her husband to a place pointed out by the accused would not make her an accomplice. Her subsequent conduct in accepting Anantgir in place of her husband is also not an act which would be inconsistent with that of a woman of her standing. Having lost her husband, and having no parents, she must have easily fallen in with the overtures of Anantgir and agreed to give a false reason for the disappearance of her husband as suggested by Anantgir. When she gave her first statement to the police she was living with Anantgir. She has explained that she did not reveal the true story to the police as she was afraid of the appellant who was also present at that time. She however did not hesitate to give the true story to the police when Anantgir himself was taken in the custody of the police and perhaps when Anantgir also gave in while he and Mst. Likhmi were brought from Ahemedabad in the first week of November. Her statement thereafter has been forthright. Her previous conduct is fully explained from the circumstances in which she was placed. She had reason to avoid implicating Anantgir in the crime on account of fear and perhaps also as he was her paramour.