Sanjay S/O Sitkura Meshram (In ... vs State Of Maharashtra Through ...
2017 Latest Caselaw 1379 Bom

 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,

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

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

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

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

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,

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.

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





                  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