MAHIDEETA SINGH Vs. STATE OF RAJASTHAN

JUDGEMENT

(1.) MAHIDEETASINGH the appellant was convicted under Section 302, I.P.C. and sentenced to imprisonment for life with a fine of Rs. 300/ - in default of the payment of fine to further undergo two months rigorous imprisonment by the learned Sessions Judge, Sri Ganganagar by his judgment dated November 4, 1981. He has come -up in appeal and challenges his conviction.

(2.) PUT briefly, the prosecution case is that the accused and his wife Smt. Gurtej Kaur (the deceased -victim) were residents of Chak 54 -F. The accused and PW 1 Roopsingh were sharers -crop with Balbirsingh and were working in his field situated in Mauja Maceasar PS Padampur district Sri Ganganagar in the year 1981. Smt. Gurtej Kaur, aged about 22 years at the time of the incident, also, used to work along with her husband in the fields of Balbirsingh. The accused suspected his wife having illicit relations with Balbirsingh. Five days before the incident, while the accused and his Wife were working in the field of Balbirsingh, he noticed Balbirsingh talking merrily and cracking jokes with Smt. Gurtej Kaur. Smt. Gurtej Kaur was then plucking cotton bolls in the field. She was running here and there and Balbirsingh was following her. This further strengthened the accused's suspicion. In the evening, he asked her as to what was the matter. She confessed before him that she was in illegal intimacy with Balbirsingh for the last five months. She did not disclose this fact to him as she was threatened by Balbirsingh that in case she disclosed this intimacy to the accused, he would put her and the accused to death. The accused asked her to get Balbirsingh caught red handed with her. She promised to do so. However, she did not keep her words. This enraged the accused. In the noon of February 7, 1981, while the accused and his wife Smt. Gurjet Kaur were in their Kotha, he picked up an axe and inflicted blows with it on her neck. As a result, Smt. Gurjet Kaur met instantaneous death on the spot. The accused closed the Kotha, locked it and went to PW I Roopsingh, who was then working in the field of Bilbirsingh. The accused narrated the incident to him and stated that he had killed his wife. He sought his advice as to what he should do. Roopsingh PW 1 advised him to go to the Police Station and report the matter there. The accused thereafter went to Police Station, Padampur and verbally lodged report Ex. P 24 at about 3.30 p.m on the same day. The police registered a case under Section 302, I.P.C. and took tip the investigation. The accused produced two keys which were seized and sealed by the Investigating Officer. The accused was also wearing Lungi (Article 1) which had stains of blood. It was also seized and sealed. The Investigating Officer Balwant Rai PW 7 arrested the accused. The accused made a disclosure statement, recorded in Ex. P 26, to the effect that he had placed his blood -stained shirt which he was wearing at the time of the incident and the axe with which he inflicted the blows near the cot of the deceased in his Kotha. The Investigating Officer took the accused to his Kotha where the lock was opened. The axe (Article 3) and the blood stained shirt were found near the cot on which was lying the victim's dead body. All these articles were seized and sealed. The investigating officer prepared the inquest report and Panchnama of the dead body. The post -mortem examination over the victim's dead body was conducted by PW 4 Dr. Iqbalsingh the then Medical Officer Incharge, Government Dispensary, Padampur. He noticed the following injuries on the victim's dead body: External

(3.) MR . Garg has not challenged the opinion of PW 4 Dr. Iqbalsingh about the cause of death of Smt. Gurtej Kaur We, therefore, need not discuss the medical evidence in details. We have gone through the testimony of PW 4 Dr. Iqbalsingh and find no good or cogent reasons to distrust his opinion. Suffice it to say that the death of Smt. Gurtej Kaur was not natural but homicidal.