The demon in you may awake for a single moment or then you may have reached that penultimate stage where you can ignore and forgive, this was opined by the court, in the recent matter of Pravin Khimji Chauhan v. The State Of Maharashtra [CRIMINAL APPEAL NO.978 OF 2012], at listed Bombay High Court, Criminal Appellate Jurisdiction. The judgement was pronounced on February 15th 2022, and the said proceedings were presided by a coram comprising of Justice SMT. Sadhana S. Jadhav & Justice Prithviraj K. Chavan.
The facts, as presented before the court of law, are as follows. The appellant herein was convicted for the offence punishable under section 302 of the Indian Penal Code and sentenced to suffer imprisonment for life and fine of Rs.1,000/- in default to suffer simple imprisonment for 3 months by the learned Sessions Judge. Hence, this appeal.
On 24 April 2011 at about 4.00 am, the appellant visited Kalamboli Police Station with blood stained clothes on his person and informed PSI that he suspected the character of his wife. There was a quarrel on that count at about 12.30 midnight, after which he killed her by assaulting her with a knife. First information was recorded in the station diary. The said information was further conveyed to the patrolling officers of the said area. The informant led the police to his house. Upon entering the house they saw the dead body of his wife in a pool of blood. There were injuries all over her body. He went to the Police and divulged the whole episode.
Court, after perusal of facts and evidences, opined that “It is rightly said that ‘if you are patient in one moment of anger, you will escape hundred days of sorrow’. Anger is that element of human psychology that may express itself in many ways. The demon in you may awake for a single moment or then you may have reached that penultimate stage where you can ignore and forgive. The statement of the accused recorded by the police would show that he was left with a feeling of mortification. According to him, he was left with a wounded pride, which resulted in the brutal death of his wife.” The court related the case with the principle and held that “Taking into consideration the circumstances in which the incident has occurred, it cannot be said that it is a case of murder but it is a case of culpable homicidal and actual imprisonment for 10 years would meet the ends of justice.”
Judgment reviewed by Pranav Sharma
