CRI. APPEAL NO.598.14.odt 1
IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT BOMBAY
NAGPUR BENCH : NAGPUR
CRIMINAL APPEAL NO.598 OF 2014
Sanjay s/o Sitkura Meshram,
Aged about 29 years,
R/o. Navargaon,
Tahsil and District-Gadchiroli,
(Presently in Jail). .. APPELLANT
.. VERSUS ..
State of Maharashtra,
Through P.S.O. Gadchiroli,
District-Gadchiroli. .. RESPONDENT
..........
Mrs. Pranita P. Chobe, Advocate [Appointed] for Appellant,
Shri R.S. Nayak, Additional Public Prosecutor for Respondent.
..........
CORAM : KUM. INDIRA JAIN, J.
DATED : APRIL 03, 2017.
ORAL JUDGMENT Being aggrieved by the judgment and order dated 3.4.2014 passed by the learned Sessions Judge, Gadchiroli in Sessions Case No.68/2011, original accused no.1 has preferred this appeal. By the said judgment and order, ::: Uploaded on - 06/04/2017 ::: Downloaded on - 08/04/2017 00:48:19 ::: CRI. APPEAL NO.598.14.odt 2 appellant-accused has been convicted of the offences punishable under sections 307 and 309 of the Indian Penal Code and sentenced as under :
Sr. Conviction under Punishments Nos. sections
1. 307, IPC Rigorous imprisonment for 5 years and fine of Rs.1000/-
in-default Simple Imprisonment for 1 month.
2. 309, IPC Simple imprisonment for 1 year and fine of Rs.500/- in-default Simple Imprisonment for 15 days.
2] Prosecution case which can be revealed from the charge-sheet and connecting papers thereto may be stated in brief as under :
(a) Victim Archana is daughter of Bhaiyyaji resident of Kelzar, Tahsil-Mul, District-Chandrapur. She was married to accused Sanjay on 30.4.2008. Accused is resident of village Navargaon, Tahsil and District-Gadchiroli. After marriage, Archana started residing with her husband and in-laws at her matrimonial house. For about one year, everything went well. Thereafter, accused Sanjay used to assault her under the influence of liquor. She disclosed about ::: Uploaded on - 06/04/2017 ::: Downloaded on - 08/04/2017 00:48:19 ::: CRI. APPEAL NO.598.14.odt 3 the harassment to her father many times on phone.
(b) On 4.11.2010, Archana was blessed with a female child. That time she was at the house of her father. After one month, accused Sanjay brought Archana back and she stayed with him for about 15 to 20 days.
(c) According to prosecution, accused used to raise quarrel with Archana and so, her father Bhayyaji took her back to his house. In February 2011, Sanjay with Police Patil of village and others had been to the house of complainant to bring back his wife. However, father of Archana refused to send daughter. On 23.3.2011, Sanjay had been to the house of his father- in-law. That time complainant sent Archana with him. She stayed with the accused for 8-10 days. On 30.4.2011, complainant Bhayyaji received a phone call from Archana that she was subjected to ill-treatment.
(d) On 1.5.2011, Bhaiyyaji and his brothers Waman and Sainath and son-in-law Yeshwant came to the house of accused. Accused Sanjay was not present at the house. They went to Police Patil of Navargaon. At 5.30 pm, they came back to the house of accused. Sanjay was present there. Complainant told the accused that he would take back Archana as he was treating her with cruelty. Accused insisted complainant ::: Uploaded on - 06/04/2017 ::: Downloaded on - 08/04/2017 00:48:19 ::: CRI. APPEAL NO.598.14.odt 4 to give in writing that he is taking away his daughter with him. The writing of undertaking was going on. That time, accused Sanjay entered the house, brought a knife in the pocket of his pant and delivered 2-3 blows of knife on abdomen of Archana. Thereafter, Sanjay assaulted himself and inflicted 2-3 knife blows on his person. Police were informed. Archana and accused were taken to General Hospital, Gadchiroli.
(e) FIR was lodged by father of Archana. On the basis of FIR, Crime No.68/2011 came to be registered against the accused. PSI Jaishree Chivadshetti took over investigation. She visited the place of occurrence and recorded spot panchanama. Simple earth, earth mixed with blood lying on the spot came to be seized. A knife was also seized from the spot. Executive Magistrate was summoned to record dying declaration of Archana. Accordingly, her dying declaration came to be recorded. Investigating Officer sent letter to T.I.L.R. for preparing map of the spot. The clothes of accused and victim Archana were seized. Their medical certificates were collected. Seized articles were sent to Chemical Analyser. During investigation, statements of several witnesses were recorded. On completing investigation, charge-sheet was submitted to the Chief Judicial Magistrate, Gadchiroli, who in turn, committed ::: Uploaded on - 06/04/2017 ::: Downloaded on - 08/04/2017 00:48:19 ::: CRI. APPEAL NO.598.14.odt 5 the case for trial to the Court of Sessions.
(f) On committal, Sessions Court framed charge against the accused vide Exh.30. The parents of accused Sanjay were acquitted by the trial court. Accused pleaded not guilty and claimed to be tried. His defence was of total denial and false implication. He submitted that during scuffle Archana fell down on a forked spade and received injuries.
3] Prosecution examined in all 12 witnesses in support of its case. Considering the evidence of prosecution witnesses and submissions made on behalf of parties, trial court convicted the accused Sanjay, as stated in para 1 above. 4] Heard Mrs. Pranita Chobe, learned counsel for appellant and Shri R.S. Nayak, learned Additional Public Prosecutor for respondent-State. With the assistance of learned counsel for parties, this court has gone through the evidence of prosecution witnesses. Considering the evidence and submissions made on behalf of learned counsel for parties, this court, for below mentioned reasons, is of the view that prosecution has succeeded in proving the guilt of accused Sanjay beyond reasonable doubt.
5] PW-9 Archana is the star witness and an injured. She ::: Uploaded on - 06/04/2017 ::: Downloaded on - 08/04/2017 00:48:19 ::: CRI. APPEAL NO.598.14.odt 6 stated that her marriage with accused Sanjay took place on 3.4.2008 and after marriage she was residing with Sanjay and his parents in the same house. It can be seen from the evidence of Archana that at the instigation of her mother-in-law, Sanjay used to assault her without verifying the correctness of the allegations. She was tolerating the ill-treatment with a hope that one day everything will be alright. disputes would be resolved. She informed about harassment to her father on phone. 6] Regarding incident, it is stated by Archana that her father, uncles and other relatives had come to the house of accused in the noon. Sanjay was not at home. They all had been to the house of Police Patil. They came back at 5.30 pm. That time her father told Sanjay that he is ill-treating his daughter and so he would take her back. Sanjay insisted to give in writing. When writing was going on, accused went inside the house. He came out and assaulted her with a knife on her abdomen. She states that after giving her knife blows, Sanjay also inflicted injuries to him by knife. She was admitted to the hospital and she was inpatient for 15 days. The evidence of Archana is consistent throughout. Nothing could be elicited in her cross- examination to disbelieve her testimony. 7] The testimony of Archana is corroborated by medical evidence. PW-3 Dr. Manish Meshram was the Medical Officer, ::: Uploaded on - 06/04/2017 ::: Downloaded on - 08/04/2017 00:48:19 ::: CRI. APPEAL NO.598.14.odt 7 who examined Archana and found the following injuries :
(i) Four stab wounds on upper left side of abdomen, size 1x2 c.m.
(ii) Two wounds on left dorsal aspect of wrist, size 1x2 c.m. each.
(iii) One incised wound on left side of her chest 1x2 c.m.
Medical Certificate proved by doctor is at Exh.44.
8] On the same day, Archana was examined by PW-11 Dr. Madhuri Kinnake, a Medical Officer attached to General Hospital, Gadchiroli. On examination, Dr. Kinnake also noticed the following injuries on the person of Archana.
(i) stab injury on left side of chest, lateral to sterno costal margin about 1x1 c.m.
(ii) stab injury over right hypo condric region medially about 1.5 x 2.5 x 3.5 cm.
(iii) stab injury medially below hypo condric region about 1.5 x 2 x 1 cm.
(iv) stab injury over left side of lower chest 8th inter costal space in mid clavicular line about 1.5x1x3 c.m. The injury had perforated the stomach.
(v) stab injury on left side of lower chest in 9th intercostal space in mid clavicular line about 1.5x2x3 c.m.
(vi) incised wound on left wrist ulner border.
(vii) incised wound on left wrist on dorsally redial border about 1.5 x 1 x fat deep.
::: Uploaded on - 06/04/2017 ::: Downloaded on - 08/04/2017 00:48:19 ::: CRI. APPEAL NO.598.14.odt 8 9] From the evidence of both the medical officers, it is apparent that injuries received by Archana were caused by knife recovered from the spot. The evidence of both the medical officers is consistent, cogent and believable. They are the independent witnesses and there is no reason to discard their testimonies.
10] The learned counsel for appellant vehemently submitted that material contradictions and omissions are brought on record in the evidence of father of victim and those omissions and contradictions would indicate that victim had suppressed the true facts and her evidence cannot be relied upon. 11] On going through the evidence of Bhaiyyaji (PW-8), it can be seen that on the manner of incident of assault with a knife on Archana, he fully corroborates the testimony of his daughter Archana. This court did not notice any material contradiction or omission in the evidence of Bhayyaji, as submitted by the learned counsel for appellant. 12] So far as Section 309 of the Indian Penal Code is concerned, accused Sanjay was examined by Medical Officer PW-3 Dr. Meshram. On examination of accused Sanjay, following injuries were noticed on his person.
(i) self attempted stab wound on left ::: Uploaded on - 06/04/2017 ::: Downloaded on - 08/04/2017 00:48:19 ::: CRI. APPEAL NO.598.14.odt 9 lumber area of size 1x2 c.m. (ii) One stab wound on epigastric area of size 1x2 c.m. 13] According to Archana, Sanjay caused self inflicted
injuries with a knife after assault on her. Exh.45 is the medical certificate. Evidence of medical officer is not shaken in the cross- examination and it is apparent from the evidence of victim, eyewitnesses and medical evidence that accused attempted to put an end of his life and commit suicide after assaulting his wife. 14] In the above premise, this court finds that prosecution has legally proved the charge against the accused beyond all reasonable doubt. Appeal is thus devoid of substance and merits. Hence, the following order :
ORDER
(i) Criminal Appeal No.598 of 2014 stands dismissed.
(ii) No costs.
(iii) Fees of the learned counsel appointed on
behalf of the appellant are quantified at Rs.5,000/-.
(Kum. Indira Jain, J.) Gulande, PA ::: Uploaded on - 06/04/2017 ::: Downloaded on - 08/04/2017 00:48:19 :::