TITLE : Santosh Gunaji Dudhmal v State of Maharashtra
CORAM : Hon’ble Justice Smt. Vibha Kankanwadi and Hon’ble Justice Abhay S. Waghwase
DATE : 19th December, 2023
CITATION : Criminal Appeal No 152 of 2019
FACTS
An appeal was filed against the Additional Sessions Judge for the offence punishable under Section 302 of IPC and sentencing him to suffer life imprisonment and to pay a fine of Rs. 1000 in default of set rigorous imprisonment of one month. The accused was alleged of murder on the instance because of a dispute that arose between the deceased and him. It was contended by the appellant that there is no convincing evidence and motive was not sufficient.
LAWS INVOLVED
Section 302 of IPC states that :
Whoever commits murder shall be punished with death or [imprisonment for life], and shall also be liable to fine.
ISSUES
Whether the Additional Sessions judge passed an order for conviction of murder through lack of evidence?
JUDGEMENT
The autopsy surgeon was considered to be the best witness and evidence. The doctor noted that the injuries occurred are not sufficient in ordinary course of nature to occur. It was also observed that the informant had contradicting statements as a witness. Further it was noted that the wife of the deceased herself was not cooperating with the narrative of the prosecution. However, the court held that reason for her hostility to be that of the shock of losing her husband. One of the independent witnesses were also in the vicinity of the location when the murder occurred.
In lieu all of the statements passed by the witnesses, the court dismissed the appeal claiming that there was sufficient evidence to prove the appellant has actually committed the act of murder.
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Written by- Sanjana Ravichandran
