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2006 (10) TMI 527
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.... the deceased Revata @ Tai daughter of Dattarao resident of village Umatwadi was married to the appellant Trimukh Maroti Kirkan (for short 'Trimukh') nearly seven years before the incident which took place on 4.11.1996 in village Kikki. Maroti Kamaji Kirkan (for short 'Maroti') is the father and Nilawatibhai Maroti Kirkan (for short 'Nilawati') is the mother of the appellant Trimukh and they are residents of village Kikki. The appellant who is the husband and Maroti and Nilawati used to ill-treat the deceased Revata and used to harass her on account of non- payment of Rs. 25,000/- by her parents for the purpose of purchasing a tempo for the appellant. Whenever, the deceased Revata came to her parental home, she used to disclose to her family members the ill- treatment and harassment meted out to her. She came to her parental home at the time of Panchami festival in the year 1996 and stayed there for about 15 days. During this period also she disclosed that on account of non-fulfilment of demand of Rs. 25,000/- by her father, the appellant and her in-laws (Maroti and Nilawati) used to harass her. She was often beaten and was not provided food. After....
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....e under Section 302 IPC. All the three accused preferred Criminal Appeal No. 158 of 1997 before the High Court challenging their conviction and sentence under Section 498A IPC read with Section 34 IPC while the State of Maharashtra preferred Criminal Appeal No. 220 of 1997 challenging the acquittal of Trimukh under Section 302 IPC. The High Court allowed the appeal preferred by Maroti and Nilawati accused and their conviction under Section 498A IPC was set aside and the appeal preferred by the appellant was dismissed. The appeal preferred by the State of Maharashtra was allowed and the appellant was convicted under Section 302 IPC and was sentenced to imprisonment for life and a fine of Rs. 2,000/- and in default to further undergo six months RI. Both the sentences were ordered to run concurrently. 4. Since the present appeal has been filed under Section 2(a) of the Supreme Court (Enlargement of Criminal Appellate Jurisdiction) Act, 1970 and the High Court has reversed the order of acquittal and has convicted the appellant under Section 302 IPC, it will be appropriate to briefly consider the evidence on record. PW1. Dattarao is the father and PW.2 Rukmabai is the ....
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....purchasing a tempo for the appellant. He has further deposed that in the evening of 4.11.1996 two persons from village Kikki came to his village and informed PW.1 and others that Revata had died on account of snake bite. The witness has further deposed that next day in the morning he went to village Kikki along with several other persons of his village and saw the body of the deceased. There were injury marks around the neck, cheek, hand and other parts of the body. PW.4 Chander is another cousin of PW.1 and is resident of the same village Umatwadi. His statement is almost similar to that of PW.3 Balasaheb. PW.5 Girjabai is a resident of village Kikki and her house is very close to the house of the accused in the same village. She has deposed that the deceased Revata used to visit her and she had often told her that on account of non-fulfilment of demand of money by her parents, she was being ill-treated by her in-laws and husband (appellant). She has further deposed that she used to console the deceased and tell her that the ill-treatment being meted out to her would gradually stop. She has further stated that at about 3-3.15 p.m. on the date of the incident she was informed that ....
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....and PW.12 Nilawati whose agricultural land is situate near the agricultural land of Maroti accused turned hostile. PW.13 Digamber son of Madhavrao who is also a resident of village Kikki, also turned hostile. However, he admitted that he had heard that Revata had died due to snake bite and further that a tempo is owned by Maroti which is plied by the appellant Trimukh. 6. PW.14 Devichand, Assistant Sub Inspector of Police, P.S. Nanded (Rural) has deposed that on the basis of the information given by the Police Patil, an Accidental Death Case was registered at 12.30 p.m. on 5.11.1996 at the police station and he was entrusted with the inquiry of the same. He came to the village Kikki, held inquest on the body of the deceased and sent the same for post-mortem examination. He had prepared the panchnama which was signed by the witnesses. After the report of the post-mortem examination had been received and the FIR had been lodged by PW.1 Dattarao at 4.30 p.m. on 5.1.1996, a case was registered under Section 302 IPC. He had arrested the appellant and while he was in custody some recoveries were made regarding which a panchnama was prepared and was signed by the witnesses. He has furt....
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....ck, about whole of the anterior and lateral aspect of neck (structures i.e. subcutaneous tissue muscles) showed infiltration of blood(ecchymosed). Ecchymoses also seen at sternoclavicular joint, upper part of sternum. No evidence of fracture of hyoid bone/thyroid cartilage or ribs. Lymps nodes in neck region-congested. Thyroid cartilage and trachea showed reddish patches of haemorrhage externally and on opening. The witness has opined that the death was caused due to asphyxia as a result of compression of neck. He deposed that the general and specific chemical testing did not reveal any poison and had there been a snake bite then poison would have appeared in the blood. He further deposed that the injuries present on the neck of the deceased could be caused if the throat is pressed with a shoe with force and the victim is pulled at the opposite direction by holding her hands. The accused did not examine any witness in their defence. Maroti accused admitted in reply to question no. 14 that the dead body was kept resting in sitting position and a strip of cloth was tied to the mouth. 8. From the evidence adduced by the prosecution the following circumstances are clearly establi....
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....menal increase in last few years. Cases are frequently coming before the Courts, where the husband or in-laws have gone to the extent of killing the bride if the demand is not met. These crimes are generally committed in complete secrecy inside the house and it becomes very difficult for the prosecution to lead evidence. No member of the family, even if he is a witness of the crime, would come forward to depose against another family member. The neighbours, whose evidence may be of some assistance, are generally reluctant to depose in Court as they want to keep aloof and do not want to antagonize a neighbourhood family. The parents or other family members of the bride being away from the scene of commission of crime are not in a position to give direct evidence which may inculpate the real accused except regarding the demand of money or dowry and harassment caused to the bride. But, it does not mean that a crime committed in secrecy or inside the house should go unpunished. 11. If an offence takes place inside the privacy of a house and in such circumstances where the assailants have all the opportunity to plan and commit the offence at the time and in circumstances of their cho....
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....re as under: 30. It cannot be disputed that in proceedings for imposing penalties under Clause (8) of Section 167 to which Section 178-A does not apply, the burden of proving that the goods are smuggled goods, is on the Department. This is a fundamental rule relating to proof in all criminal or quasi-criminal proceedings, where there is no statutory provision to the contrary. But in appreciating its scope and the nature of the onus cast by it, we must pay due regard to other kindred principles, no less fundamental, of universal application. One of them is that the prosecution or the Department is not required to prove its case with mathematical precision to a demonstrable degree; for, in all human affairs absolute certainty is a myth, and as Prof. Brett felicitously puts it - ''all exactness is a fake". El Dorado of absolute proof being unattainable, the law, accepts for it, probability as a working substitute in this work-a-day world. The law does not require the prosecution to prove the impossible. All that it requires is the establishment of such a degree of probability that a prudent man may, on its basis, believe in the existence of the fact in issue. Thus, le....
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....e has been approved and followed in Balram Prasad Agrawal v. State of Bihar and Ors., 1997 CriLJ 1640 where a married woman had committed suicide on account of ill- treatment meted out to her by her husband and in-laws on account of demand of dowry and being issueless. 13. The question of burden of proof where some facts are within the personal knowledge of the accused was examined in State of West Bengal v. Mir Mohammad Omar and Ors. 2000 CriLJ 4047. In this case the assailants forcibly dragged the deceased Mahesh from the house where he was taking shelter on account of the fear of the accused and took him away at about 2.30 in the night. Next day in the morning his mangled body was found lying in the hospital. The trial Court convicted the accused under Section 364 read with Section 34 IPC and sentenced them to 10 years RI. The accused preferred an appeal against their conviction before the High Court and the State also filed an appeal challenging the acquittal of the accused for murder charge. The accused had not given any explanation as to what happened to Mahesh after he was abducted by them. The learned Sessions Judge after referring to the law on circums....
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....ime after the abduction the permitted reasoning process would enable the court to draw the presumption that the accused have murdered him. Such inference can be disrupted if the accused would tell the court what else happened to Mahesh at least until he was in their custody. Applying the aforesaid principle, this Court while maintaining the conviction under Section 364 read with Section 34 IPC reversed the order of acquittal under Section 302 read with Section 34 IPC and convicted the accused under the said provision and sentenced them to imprisonment for life. 14. In Ram Gulam Chaudhary and Ors. v. State of Bihar, 2001 CriLJ 4632, the accused after brutally assaulting a boy carried him away and thereafter the boy was not seen alive nor his body was found. The accused, however, offered no explanation as to what they did after they took away the boy. It was held that for the absence of any explanation from the side of the accused about the boy, there was every justification for drawing an inference that they have murdered the boy. It was further observed that even though Section 106 of the Evidence Act may not be intended to relieve the prosecution of its burden to prove the g....
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....ase coupled with absence of any explanation were held to be inconsistent with the innocence of the accused, but consistent with the hypothesis that the appellant is a prime accused in the commission of murder of his wife. In State of U.P. v. Dr. Ravindra Prakash Mittal, 1992 CriLJ 3693 the medical evidence disclosed that the wife died of strangulation during late night hours or early morning and her body was set on fire after sprinkling kerosene. The defence of the husband was that wife had committed suicide by burning herself and that he was not at home at that time. The letters written by the wife to her relatives showed that the husband ill-treated her and their relations were strained and further the evidence showed that both of them were in one room in the night. It was held that the chain of circumstances was complete and it was the husband who committed the murder of his wife by strangulation and accordingly this Court reversed the judgment of the High Court acquitting the accused and convicted him under Section 302 IPC. In State of Tamil Nadu v. Rajendran, 1999 CriLJ 4552 the wife was found dead in a hut which had caught fire. The evidence showed that the accused and his wi....