Bombay High Court

Satish Dada Londhe vs The State Of Maharashtra on 8 June, 2017

Bench: V.K. Tahilramani

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          IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT BOMBAY

                   CRIMINAL APPELLATE JURISDICTION

                CRIMINAL APPEAL NO.892 OF 2014


Satish Dada Londhe                            ......Appellant
Age: 28 Years,
R/O: Gondawale Khurd,
Tal: Man, Dist. Satara
At Present: Kolhapur Central Prison,
            Dist: Kolhapur, Kalamba,
            Maharashtra- 416 007.
V/s.

The State of Maharashtra
At the instance of Dahiwadi
Police Station, Tal: Man,
Dist. Satara                                  .......Respondent


Mrs. Nasreen S.K. Ayubi appointed for Appellant.
Mrs. G.P.Mulekar , APP for Respondent-State.


                          CORAM : SMT. V.K. TAHILRAMANI, &
                                  SANDEEP K. SHINDE, JJ.

DATE : 8th June, 2017.

ORAL JUDGMENT: (Per Smt. V.K.TAHILRAMANI, J.)

The Appellant/Original Accused has preferred

this appeal against the judgment and order dated

27.2.2014 passed by the learned Additional Sessions Judge,

Vaduj in Sessions Case No.50 of 2013. By the said

Shivgan

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judgment and order, the learned Additional Sessions Judge

convicted the Appellant under Section 302 of the IPC and

324 of the IPC. For the offence under Section 302 of IPC,

the Appellant was sentenced to suffer life imprisonment

and to pay a fine of Rs.500/- in default to undergo rigorous

imprisonment for three months. For the offence under

Section 324 of the IPC, the Appellant was sentenced to

suffer rigorous imprisonment for three years and to pay a

fine of Rs.500/- in default to undergo rigorous

imprisonment for three months.

2 Prosecution case briefly stated is as under:

Deceased Shilpa was the wife of the Appellant. Their

marriage took place on 18.12.2011. The Appellant used to

consume liquor and used to assault his wife Shilpa

everyday as he had suspicion regarding her chastity. A

meeting was held of the community members wherein the

Appellant was persuaded to live happily with his wife

Shilpa. However, he continued illtreating and harassing his

wife Shilpa. As the Appellant was illtreating and harassing

Shilpa, P.W.10-Savitra Chimaji Avghade, who was grand-

Shivgan

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mother of Shilpa was residing with Shilpa and the

Appellant.

The incident occurred on 12.4.2013 at about 8.30

p.m. At that time P.W.10-Savitra, Shilpa and the Appellant

were in the house. The Appellant told P.W.10-Savitra to

bring tea powder, sugar and eggs from shop. Accordingly,

she went to the shop and brought the said articles. When

P.W.10-Savitra returned home, Shilpa prepared tea.

Thereafter, Shilpa cooked dinner. They all had dinner. After

taking dinner, the Appellant demanded water. Then he

went out of the house and within a few minutes, he

returned and stood in the door way. He then demanded

water from Shilpa. Shilpa went to take water from pot. At

that time, the Appellant took out knife and inflicted two

blows with knife on the chest of Shilpa. Then, he took out

an axe and dragged Shilpa to the front room. He then

assaulted Shilpa with the handle of the axe. P.W.10-Savitra

tried to intervene, however, the Appellant hit P.W.10-

Savitra on the hand and thigh causing bleeding injuries.

The Appellant then ran away. P.W.1-Pushpa Avghade, who

was the mother of Shilpa lodged F.I.R. Thereafter,

Shivgan

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investigation commenced. Dead-body of Shilpa was sent

for post-mortem. The Appellant was arrested. At the time of

arrest, blood stained clothes were found on his person.

After completion of investigation, charge-sheet came to be

filed. In due course, the case was committed to the Court

of Sessions.

3 Charge came to be framed against the Appellant

under Section 302, 498-A, 324 and 326 of IPC. The

Appellant pleaded not guilty to the said charge and claimed

to be tried. Defence of the Appellant is that of total denial

and false implication. After going through the evidence

adduced in this case, the learned Additional Sessions

Judge, Vaduj convicted and sentenced the Appellant as

stated in paragraph 1 above. Hence, this Appeal.

4 We have heard the learned counsel for the

Appellant and the learned APP for the State. We have

carefully considered their submissions, judgment and order

passed by the learned Additional Sessions Judge, Vaduj

and the evidence in this case. After carefully considering

Shivgan

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the matter for the below mentioned reasons, we are of the

opinion that there is no merit in the appeal.

5 Conviction of the Appellant is mainly founded

on the evidence of P.W.10-Savitra who is an eye witness.

P.W.10-Savitra has stated that Shilpa was her grand-

daughter. Shilpa was married to the Appellant. After

marriage, Shilpa and the Appellant were residing at

Gondawale Khurd in the house of P.W.10-Savitra. The

Appellant was suspecting chastity of Shilpa. On that count,

there were frequent quarrels between the two. P.W.10-

Savitra has stated that incident occurred at about 8.30

p.m. in her house in her presence. At that time P.W.10-

Savitra, Shilpa and the Appellant were in the house. The

Appellant told P.W.10-Savitra to bring tea powder, sugar

and eggs from shop. Accordingly, she went to the shop and

brought the said articles. When P.W.10-Savitra returned

home, Shilpa prepared tea. Thereafter, Shilpa cooked

dinner. They all had dinner. After taking dinner, the

Appellant demanded water. Then he went out of the house

and within a few minutes, he returned and stood in the

Shivgan

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door way. He then demanded water from Shilpa. Shilpa

went to take water from pot. At that time, the Appellant

took out knife and inflicted two blows with knife on the

chest of Shilpa. Then, he took out axe and dragged Shilpa

to the front room. He then assaulted Shilpa with the handle

of the axe. P.W.10-Savitra tried to intervene, however, the

Appellant hit P.W.10-Savitra on the hand and thigh causing

bleeding injuries. Nothing has been elicited in the cross-

examination of P.W.10-Savitra to cause us to disbelieve her

evidence. We are of the opinion that her testimony inspires

implicit confidence, hence, we have no hesitation in relying

on the same.

6 It is the prosecution case that the motive for the

Appellant to murder his wife Shilpa was that he suspected

her chastity. This has been brought out not only in the

evidence of P.W.10-Savitra but also in the evidence of

P.W.1-Pushpa, P.W.6-Sanjay Avghade, P.W.9-Lalita Sanjay

Avghade and P.W.11-Pravin Avghade. All these witnesses

have stated that the Appellant was suspecting chastity of

his wife Shilpa.


                                                                      Shivgan



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7                In addition, the prosecution has relied upon the

circumstance that P.W.6-Sanjay and P.W.9-Lalita had seen

the Appellant running away from the house with an axe in

his hand. In fact, P.W.6-Sanjay and P.W.9-Lalita have both

identified axe Article "I".

8 It is the prosecution case that the Appellant

assaulted his wife Shilpa with knife and axe and caused her

death. This has been borne out by medical evidence. P.W.7-

Dr. Sadashiv Parisa Desai conducted post-mortem on the

dead-body of the deceased Shilpa. On external

examination, he found the following injuries:

"1 Incised wound over left breast lateral aspect. Transversely placed, size about 4 cm x 1 cm. X deep x chest cavity. Bleeding present. 2 Incised wound over right breast laterally placed, transversely size about 4 cm x 1 cm till ribs. Bleeding present.

3 Multiple bluish patches over back size about 3 cm x 1 cm to 5 cm x 3 cm"

Further Dr. Desai found fractures to ribs on left side.

According to Dr. Desai, these injuries were ante-mortem.



                                                                             Shivgan



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On internal examination, Dr. Desai found following injuries:

"1 Penetrating injury on left ribs of 5 and 6 at anterior axillary fold just lateral to sternal. Bleeding present and haematoma present. 2 Ruptured lungs at lateral to medial side, bleeding present. Haemothorax present. 3 Pericardium ruptured at apical region. (Outer side of the heart).