Archana W/O Laxman Maske vs The State Of Maharashtra
2021 Latest Caselaw 12615 Bom

                                                   902-CriAppln-1155-2021
                                    -1-


            IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT BOMBAY
                      BENCH AT AURANGABAD

              902 CRIMINAL APPLICATION NO. 1155 OF 2021
                         IN APEAL/222/2021

                   ARCHANA W/O LAXMAN MASKE
                                VERSUS
                    THE STATE OF MAHARASHTRA
                                  ......
           Advocate for Applicant : Mr. Sudarshan J. Salunke
       APP for Respondent-State : Mr. Shashibhushan P. Deshmukh
                                   .....

                               CORAM : V. K. JADHAV AND
                                       SHRIKANT D. KULKARNI, JJ.
                               DATED : 03rd SEPTEMBER, 2021

 PER COURT:-


  1.      Pending Criminal Appeal No. 222 of 2021 preferred against

 the judgment and order of conviction dated 20.03.2021 passed by

 Additional Sessions Judge, Hingoli in Sessions Trial No. 19/2018,

 convicting thereby the applicant and the co-accused for the offence

 punishable under Section 302 r/w Section 34 of IPC and

 sentencing them to suffer imprisonment for life and to pay fine of

 Rs.3,000/- each, in default, to suffer S.I. for six months, the

 applicant-accused has preferred this application for suspension of

 the sentence and for bail.




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 2.       Learned counsel for the applicant-accused submits that the

 prosecution case rests upon two dying declarations and even the

 parents of the deceased have not supported the prosecution case at

 all. Thus, except the allegations in those two dying declarations,

 there is no evidence about the ill-treatment being extended to the

 deceased by the applicant-accused and the co-accused for the

 reasons as mentioned in the dying declarations. Learned counsel

 submits that the dying declaration Exhibit 19 is the complaint-cum-

 dying declaration recorded by the Police Naik PW-4 Nagnath

 Dipke. Learned counsel submits that PW-4 Police Naik Nagnath

 Dipke has not recorded the complaint-cum-dying declaration of the

 deceased in her words. Learned counsel submits that so far as the

 dying declaration Exhibit 27 recorded by PW-5 Bhagwan

 Hambarde, who is working as Godown Keeper i.e. Naib Tahasildar,

 Nanded, the said dying declaration is in printed format and the

 endorsement of the concerned Medical Officer on it is also in

 printed form. Learned counsel submits that the applicant is a

 woman having two children below the age of 10 years. The

 applicant was on bail during trial. The applicant may be released

 on bail.




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 3.       Learned APP has strongly resisted the application on the

 ground that both the dying declarations are cogent, trustworthy,

 consistent and inspire confidence. The deceased has consistently

 made allegations against both the accused persons. According to

 her, co-accused Deepak had poured kerosene on her person and the

 present applicant had set her on fire with the help of match stick.

 Learned APP submits that considering the role attributed to the

 present applicant, who is wife of the brother of co-accused Deepak,

 she is not entitled to be released on bail by suspending the

 substantive part of the sentence.



 4.       We have carefully gone through the dying declaration Exhibit

 19 and the second dying declaration Exhibit 27. The incident

 allegedly took place on 05.02.2018 at about 11.00 a.m. The first

 dying declaration Exhibit 19 was recorded at about 7.00 p.m. to

 7.30 p.m. and the second dying declaration Exhibit 27 was

 recorded at 9.55 p.m. onward. Since the parents of deceased have

 not supported the prosecution case, prima facie it appears that

 there was no possibility of tutoring. Both the dying declarations are

 consistent on material part. The prosecution has proved both the

 dying declarations by examining the PW-4 Police Naik Nagnath




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                                                     902-CriAppln-1155-2021
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 Dipke and PW-5 Godown Keeper Bhagwan Hambarde and also

 proved the endorsement of the Doctor by examining PW-7 Dr.

 Bhushan Wad. In view of the same, though the applicant was on

 bail during trial, considering the evidence in the form of the dying

 declarations before the trial court, we are not inclined to release

 her on bail pending appeal. Hence the following order.

                                 ORDER

The Criminal Application is hereby dismissed.

(SHRIKANT D. KULKARNI, J.) (V. K. JADHAV, J.)

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