Balu S/O Onkar Pund & Ors vs The State Of Maharashtra

2. Accused Nos. 5, 8, 9 & 10 have filed appeal @ SLP(Crl.) No. 8715 of 2014 whereas appeals @ SLP(Crl.) Nos.10109-10110/2014 are filed by accused Nos.1 and 4 and appeals @ SLP(Crl.) Nos. 9524-9525/2014 are filed by accused Nos. 2, 3 and 6.

3. By impugned judgment, the High Court confirmed the conviction and sentences awarded to the appellants by the learned trial Judge. Suffice it to state here that the appellants, apart from other offences were convicted under Section 302 read with Section 149 of the IPC and sentenced to suffer life imprisonment and to pay fine of Rs.10,000/- each, in default of payment of fine, to undergo further six months rigorous imprisonment. The sentences imposed in respect of other offences are of below 7 years and all the sentences have been directed to run concurrently.

5. In order to appreciate the issue involved in these appeals, it is necessary to state the relevant facts in brief.

7. In course of time, both entered in politics and formed their respective panels to contest the elections for the post of Sarpanch of the village. In the election, panel led by Madhavrao Range won whereas panel led by Apparao Pund lost. Due to this event, the relations between them were not as cordial as they used to be in the past. Thereafter Apparao started pressurizing Madhavrao Range to vacate the land and hand over the possession of cattle shed else he was threatened to face the dire consequences.

-5), who were also present on the spot, intervened and resisted the appellants from removing the sheets. This led to scuffle between Apparao ( A-1), Sachin-( A-4), Achyut (A-3) and Madhavrao (PW-3). Accused Nos. 1, 3 and 4 beat Madhavrao with fist blows and leg kicks and threw him out of cattle shed. Apparao(A-1), who was having bottle containing kerosene, poured the entire kerosene on cattle shed and Sachin ( A-4) set the cattle shed on fire. Savitribai, who was resisting the appellants, caught in contact of fire and received severe burn injuries. On noticing this, Madhavrao tried to enter in cattle shed to save his wife-Savitribai. Gopal (A-2) then inflicted an axe blow on Madhavrao's head due to which he sustained bleeding injury. When Madhavrao cried for help, Navnath and other persons reached there and tried to extinguish the fire. Thereafter they wrapped Savitribai in a piece of cloth and took her to the civil hospital around 10 A.M.

10. Annasahab Gholap - Assistant Police Inspector (PW-16) then registered the crime being Crime No. 6 of 2008 and started investigation. On the same day, five accused were arrested, panchnama (Ex-P-58) was prepared and several articles were recovered from the spot. On 16.01.2008 at 6.15 a.m., Savitribai succumbed to her injuries while in the Hospital. This led to arrest of some other accused persons and also led to registration of case of offence punishable under Section 302 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 (hereinafter referred to as "IPC") along with other offences punishable under Sections 147, 148, 323, 324, 436, 440, 448, 506 all read with Section 149 IPC against the appellants and other accused persons. The case was then committed to Sessions for trial. The accused abjured their guilt and claimed trial. The prosecution examined 16 witnesses. The statements of the accused persons were recorded under Section 313 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973.

11. The Sessions judge convicted the appellants-accused and imposed punishment to each appellant as specified above. Challenging the said order, the appellants filed appeals in the High Court against their conviction. The High Court, by impugned judgment, dismissed their appeals and confirmed the conviction and sentence awarded by the trial Court to each of the appellants. Against the said order, the appellants have preferred these appeals by way of special leave before this Court.

20. In the light of foregoing discussion, we allow the appeals in part. The appellants are accordingly convicted for an offence punishable under Section 304 Part-I IPC instead of Section 302 IPC and each of the appellants is hereby awarded 7 years RI.

21. So far as the conviction and sentence awarded by the courts below under various other sections, as specified above, are concerned, they are upheld calling no interference. All the sentences shall run concurrently.

February 2, 2015.