EMPEROR Vs. MOTI KHODA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The accused and the deceased were Bhils, who lived with their families in adjacent -houses in the village of Visrampura.

(2.) On February 23, 1923, both the accused and the deceased with their wornan- kind went from Visrampura to the village of Sandheli in order to do some shopping. After the shopping the women came home-but aceeused and deceased remained behind to drink. They both drank and that is deposed to by the liquor shop-keeper Ganesh Harakha Ex. No. 7. They were both seen drunk and quarrelling in Sandheli. This quarrelling was deposed to by the witness J)adamia Nauumia Ex. 9, who saw them between the Musjid and his house. The accused had bought a pair of shoes, and witness Ex. 9 saw the deceased snatch the shoes from him, and when the accused asked for the return of the shoes the deceased told that he would not return them unless accused supplied him with more liquor. This was the occasion of the quarrel, and there is curious corroboration of this in the fact that this new pair of shoes were found tied round the corpse of the deceased. After this quarrel in Sandheli, the accused and the deceased were seen going towards Visrampura from Sandheli by witness Ex. 8, who says they were drunk and abusing each other.

(3.) That night the accused came back to the village alone. When he came back alone he gave no information as to what had happened to the deceased either to his own wife or to the wife of the deceased, who came to make enquiries.