Case: Attar Singh Vs. State Of Maharashtra

that the intensity with which he hit his wife after abusing her is indicative of the fact that he was not oblivious of the consequence which would have resulted from his violent act of beating his wife with a log of wood. Thus, it will have to be inferred that he had sufficient knowledge about the consequence of his heinous act at least to the extent that it was sufficient in the ordinary course of nature to cause death of his wife. He was thus fully aware of the consequence that this would result in a serious consequence and in fact it did result in the said manner since the wife died as a result of the injury inflicted on her. In fact, when the village Kotwal reached the incident, the deceased did not even expressed any remorse for what he had done to his wife nor he appeared to be repentant of the incident. This clearly reflects his state of mind that he committed the crime with full knowledge to kill his wife Nagibai on account of his deep seated grudge which he was carrying since long. Therefore, the submission of the counsel for the appellant that the charge under Section 302 I.P.C. should be converted into one under Section 304 Part-II I.P.C. is fit to be rejected and accordingly we do so. 19. The matter, however, do not set at rest at this stage as the evidence on record and the surrounding circumstances compels us to consider further, whether the offence would be made out under Section 302 I.P.C. or the same would fall under Section 304 Part-I of the I.P.C. since the appellant-accused and his wife-Nagibai had been married for a long time and were having nine children as also the manner of occurrence and the circumstance under which the incident happened does indicate that the incident of hot exchange of words between the accused-appellant and his deceased-wife got precipitated and as the appellant was already aggrieved of his wife suspecting her character, he hit his wife severely with whatever was available without caring for the consequence. Thus, the intention to kill his wife and the knowledge that she would be killed due to the hard hit blow by the log of wood surely cannot be ruled out. We take assistance from the observations of this Court quoted hereinabove that in all cases it cannot be said that when only a single blow is given, Section 302 I.P.C. is made out. Yet it would depend upon the factual scenario of each case more particularly nature of the offence, background facts and the part of the body where injury is inflicted and the circumstances in which the assault is made. 20. Taking assistance from these apt and relevant considerations when we examined the case of the appellant, we have noticed that the appellant was living with his deceased wife day in and day out, but none of the witness has deposed that she was abused and beaten earlier. Thus, there is lack of evidence that on the fateful day the appellant-husband had the pre-meditated intention to kill the deceased with a log of wood due to which he inflicted the fatal blow on the deceased. The anger and frustration no doubt was acute in the mind of the appellant on account of his suspicion which aggravated due to hot exchange of words and abuses resulting into loss of mental balance as a consequence of which he hit his wife with such intensity that she died on the spot itself. In view of this the appellant will have to be attributed with the knowledge that his act was sufficient in the ordinary course of nature to kill the victim-wife. 21. Thus, in our view, the accused-appellant although might not be attributed with the intention to kill his wife, sufficient knowledge that his act would result into killing her was definitely there in the appellants mind and he in fact gave vent to his feeling by finally killing her when he hit her with a woodenlog to take revenge for her alleged infidelity without realising that suspicion of her fidelity was not proved and even if it did, that gave no right to him to kill his wife in a brutal manner by hitting her hard enough with a log of wood with such intensity which was sufficient in the ordinary course of nature to kill the victim. 22. There are no dearth of incidents referred in the case laws where the husband has gone to the extent of shooting his wife and many a times a paramour shoots the husband or the husband shoots the paramour on account of suspicion founded or unfounded. But if the evidence discloses that the accused killed the victim in a pre- meditated manner as for instance by using a firearm, the same might be a clear case under Section 302 of the I.P.C. But the facts and circumstances of the incident in which the appellant has been convicted, indicate that the accused-appellant was not armed with any weapon or a firearm. As already noticed the evidence do not disclose in any manner that the appellant had come with a pre-meditated mind to kill his wife, but it was only in course of hot exchange of words and abuses which mindlessly drove him to take the extreme step of beating his wife with a log of wood with such force and intensity that she sustained head injury, profusely bled and finally died on the spot. 23. We are, therefore, of the considered view that although the conviction and sentence of the appellant might not be sustainable under Section 302 I.P.C., it cannot also be scaled down to Section 304 Part-II I.P.C. But we are surely of the view that the appellant is fit to be convicted and sentenced under Section 304 Part-I of the I.P.C. in view of the evidence on record, the surrounding circumstance and the factual scenario in which the incident occurred.

Decision (1 = appeal accepted, 0 = rejected): 1

Explanation:
1[ds]our view, the accused-appellant although might not be attributed with the intention to kill his wife, sufficient knowledge that his act would result into killing her was definitely there in the appellants mind and he in fact gave vent to his feeling by finally killing her when he hit her with a woodenlog to take revenge for her alleged infidelity without realising that suspicion of her fidelity was not proved and even if it did, that gave no right to him to kill his wife in a brutal manner by hitting her hard enough with a log of wood with such intensity which was sufficient in the ordinary course of nature to kill the victim23. We are, therefore, of the considered view that although the conviction and sentence of the appellant might not be sustainable under Section 302 I.P.C., it cannot also be scaled down to Section 304 Part-II I.P.C. But we are surely of the view that the appellant is fit to be convicted and sentenced under Section 304 Part-I of the I.P.C. in view of the evidence on record, the surrounding circumstance and the factual scenario in which the incident occurred.