KHAMAN Vs. THE STATE OF RAJASTHAN

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This is an appeal filed by Khaman against the judgment of the learned Sessions Judge, Udaipur, dated Oct. 26, 1972, by which the appellant was convicted under section 302, IPC, and sentenced to undergo imprisonment for life.

(2.) The incident that led to the prosecution of the appellant may be briefly described as follows:-

(3.) Mst. Aeji, deceased, was legally married wife of Khaman appellant. Both husband and the wife used to live in a house in village Sagodia along with Nanda. Some time on June 5, 1972, in the afternoon Nanda, father of the appellant, was sitting outside the house while Khaman appellant and his wife Aeji were inside it. No other person was present in the house. All of a sudden, Nanda heard cries of Mst. Aeji such as "run, run I am being beaten." On hearing the cries, Nanda went in and saw Mst. Aeji lying dead in the house and the appellant having a Musal in his hand. Nanda kept his hand on the chest of Aeji with a view to ascertaining whether her heart was palpitating. He noticed blood coming out of the head and mouth of Mst. Aeji, deceased. There was a haematoma on her head which was about the size of an orange and was bleeding. Nanda asked the appellant as to what had happened to Mst. Aeji? The appellant gave him a reply that Mst. Aeji had been bitten by a snake. After some time Nanda with the assistance of Vardha, Chuna and the appellant carried away the dead body of Mst. Aeji on a bier to the cremation ground and burnt it there. In the evening Nanda asked his son Khaman to search out the snake and to kill it but the latter informed the former that he had killed his wife and there was no need to search out the snake. Nanda asked his son why he had killed his wife. Khaman further disclosed that he asked his wife to give him a coconut as he was going to visit a saint. Mst. Aeji refused to give him the coconut so he killed his wife.