Sukhram vs State Of Maharashtra

3. Marriage between appellant A-1 and the deceased was solemnized on 21st April, 1986. At the time of marriage some amount in cash, a gold ring and other articles are stated to have been given by way of dowry. It is alleged that not being satisfied with the same, the appellants started ill treating her, and further appellant A-2 had an evil eye on the deceased and he insisted that she should have illicit relations with him which, she resisted. She is stated to have complained to her parents, brother and other relatives about the ill treatment.

4. On 18th February, 1987, the deceased was reported to be missing. The appellants searched for her and found her body in a nearby well. Appellant A-2 registered a report at the police station. On receipt of the information, the then P.S.I. conducted enquiry; visited the place of incident i.e. the well wherefrom the body of the deceased was retrieved; drew panchnama and sent the dead body of Meerabai for post mortem examination. Investigations were taken over by PW-14, who recorded the statements of various persons; conducted house search of the accused but nothing incriminating was found; prepared spot panchnama and seized certain articles from the brother of the deceased (PW-13). In the meantime, Bisan (PW-6), father of the deceased and other relatives reached deceaseds place and lodged a complaint at the police station, suspecting that his daughter had been killed by the appellants and then thrown in the well. Post mortem report was received on 19th February, 1987, in which the cause of death was mentioned as Asphyxia due to throttling and smothering and not due to drowning. On receipt of the report and after collecting evidence, an FIR was registered against the accused under Sections 498-A, 302, 201 read with Section 34 IPC and both the accused were arrested. On completion of the investigation, charge-sheet was filed against the accused in the Court of Judicial Magistrate, who in turn committed the case to the Sessions Court.

6. The prosecution examined a number of witnesses to prove its case which mainly included panch witnesses concerned with various panchnamas, relatives of the deceased, her mother-in-law (PW-12) and the neighbour. In their statements recorded under Section 313 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, the accused denied the commission of the offence. Their plea in defence was that of alibi, claiming that on the fateful night they had gone to their fields. It was only on the next day in the morning that they learnt that the deceased was not in the house; they searched for her and found her body in the well. Appellant A-2 reported the matter to the police, inter alia, stating that he had learnt that on the previous night the deceased had a quarrel with one Shrawan Thakare, who was staying in their house as a guest and had an evil eye on her. On conclusion of the trial, the Trial Court found that there was no eye-witness to the incident and, therefore, the case of the prosecution rested only on circumstantial evidence. It was observed that although Indira Kisan Tiwade (PW-11) and Bhagirathabai (PW-12), sister and mother of the appellant, A-1, respectively were in the house, but they had not uttered anything against A-1. On the contrary they had tried to implicate one Shrawan who had come to their house as a guest. They also denied having seen the appellants throttling the neck of the deceased and that she was crying. Both the said witnesses were declared hostile. Nevertheless, the Trial Court observed that there were two circumstances against appellant A-1, namely, (i) motive and (ii) last seen together.

8. As noted above, both the appellants as well as the State preferred appeals to the High Court against the said verdict of the Trial Court. On going through the evidence, the High Court found that the allegations as regards demand of Rs.500/- and that appellant A-2 had an evil eye on the deceased was a material improvement made by all the witnesses in their evidence before the court; on which they were confronted with their statements under Section 161 of Cr.P.C. The High Court held that the prosecution had not been able to establish the charge against both the appellants for having committed offences under Sections 498-A, 304-B IPC and, therefore, the Trial Court was not justified in convicting them for these two offences. However, the High Court noted that from the evidence of PW-12 it was borne out that on the fateful night both the accused, the deceased and PW-12 were present in the house; though this witness did not wholeheartedly support prosecutions case, but she had in her evidence admitted that on the fateful night they were present in the house. The High Court observed that the factum of the deceased residing with her husband and in-laws on the fateful night stood established by the evidence of PW-12, who had also admitted her own presence in the house, which was quite natural being the wife of appellant A-2. Relying on the said evidence, the High Court felt that by this evidence, the prosecution has established that appellant A-1 and the deceased were sleeping together in one room on the fateful night which was specifically denied by appellant, A-1, who had taken the plea that he and his father had gone to the field and his maternal uncle was a guest in the house and his mother was also in the house. According to the High Court, evidence of PW-12 by itself was sufficient to establish the fact that both the appellants were present in the house. As regards the cause of death, the High Court relied on the evidence of PW-8, who had performed the post mortem on the dead body and had found multiple bruises on both sides of the neck; bruises on nose and lips and rupture of carotid. According to the opinion of PW-8, the injuries were anti mortem and the deceased had died due to throttling and not for any other reason. Relying on the evidence of PW-8 and the Investigating Officer (PW-16), the High Court came to the conclusion that the appellants had opportunity to commit the crime. The High Court was of the view that the fact that the deceased was throttled to death and then thrown in the well, read with established circumstances that on the fateful night she was sleeping in the room along with her husband and even appellant A-2 was present in the house, to which there was no explanation given by both the appellants, the chain of circumstances stood completed. According to the High Court, all these facts taken together were conclusive to establish that it was the appellants who in furtherance of their common intention had committed murder of deceased Meerabai by throttling her to death and then thrown her dead body in the well so as to cause disappearance of evidence. Consequently, as noted above, both the appellants were convicted for having committed offences punishable under Sections 302 and 201 read with Sections 34 IPC and were sentenced as aforementioned. Hence the present appeal by the appellants.

if punishable with imprisonment for life.-and if the offence is punishable with imprisonment for life, or with imprisonment which may extend to ten years, shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to three years, and shall also be liable to fine;

if punishable with less than ten years' imprisonment.-and if the offence is punishable with imprisonment for any term not extending to ten years, shall be punished with imprisonment of the description provided for the offence, for a term which may extend to one-fourth part of the longest term of the imprisonment provided for the offence, or with fine, or with both.

20. In the light of the above discussion, conviction of appellant A-2 (Sukhram) cannot be sustained. Accordingly, we allow the appeal to the extent it pertains to appellant, A-2 and set aside the conviction and sentence passed on him. He shall be set at liberty forthwith unless required in any other case.