Dismissed

Popat Bhanudas Mandlik v. the State of Maharashtra

Bombay HC8 Aug 2013APEAL/309/2010

Case brief

AI extract

What is this about?

The High Court dismissed the appeal against a conviction for murder under Section 302 IPC involving a sugarcane cutting labourer. The Court held that the appellant's possession of a blood-stained axe at the scene and subsequent flight conclusely established mens rea, even without eyewitnesses.

What did the court decide?

Appeal dismissed upholding the conviction and sentence of life imprisonment and fine under Section 302 IPC.

Popat Bhanudas Mandlik Vs the State of Maharashtra — Murder and Culpable Homicide | Bombay HC (2013)

¶1

jdk

¶2

1 1.cri.apeal.309.10.sxw

¶3

IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT BOMBAY CRIMINAL APPELLATE JURISDICTION CRIMINAL APPEAL NO.309 OF 2010

¶4

Popat Bhanudas Mandlik ] R/o Halgaon, Taluka Jamkhed ] Dist. Ahmednagar ]

¶5

]..Appellant [Ori. Accused ]

¶6

Vs.

¶7

The State of Maharashtra ] (Through Walchandnagar Police St. ] Dist. Pune ) ]..Respondent

¶8

Shri. Arfan Sait Advocate appointed for the Appellant Mrs. V.R. Bhonsale, A.P.P. for the State

¶9

CORAM : SMT.V.K.TAHILRAMANI & MRS. MRIDULA BHATKAR, JJ.

¶10

DATED : AUGUST 08, 2013

¶11

ORAL JUDGMENT [PER SMT. V.K. TAHILRAMANI, J.] :-

¶12

1 This appeal is directed by the appellant-original accused against the judgment and order dated 16.12.2009 passed by the learned Additional Sessions Judge, Baramati in Sessions Case No. 80 of 2008. By the said judgment and order,

¶13

the learned Sessions Judge convicted the appellant under Section 302 of IPC and sentenced him to RI for life and to pay a fine of Rs. 500/- in default RI for one month.

¶14

Page 1 of 11

¶15

2 1.cri.apeal.309.10.sxw

¶16

2 The prosecution case briefly stated, is as under: Deceased Laxman was married to PW-4 Manisha. At the time of the incident, they were residing at village Pimple, District Pune. They were residing in a hut. Around the hut, there were six other huts situated in a circular fashion at a distance of 2 to 3 feet away from each other. The huts were of labourers who were doing work of cutting sugarcane. On 9.5.2008, all the labourers returned back to their respective huts after cutting sugarcane. They all had dinner and went to sleep. As it was summer season, everybody was sleeping outside the huts. Deceased Laxman and his wife PW-4 Manisha also slept outside their hut. At about 2.30 a.m. PW-4 Manisha heard sound of Thud. Therefore, she got up. She took torch which was kept near her head and flashed the light of the torch. In the light of the torch, she saw that the appellant was standing near her husband. He was having an axe in his hand. She saw that her husband did not make any movement. She asked the appellant "what have you done ?". She raised shouts. All neighbouring labourers including PW-3 Dildar and PW-6 Dada came there. They saw the appellant standing on

¶17

Page 2 of 11

¶18

3 1.cri.apeal.309.10.sxw

¶19

the spot of the incident with an axe in hand. The appellant then dropped the axe on the spot and ran away from the spot. They saw that Laxman had sustained injuries. PW-4 Manisha lodged F.I.R. Thereafter investigation commenced. The dead body of Laxman was sent for post-mortem. PW-5 Dr. Thorat performed post mortem on the dead body of Laxman. He found the following injuries on the dead body of Laxman:

¶20

"(i) Incised wound behind right ear around 10 x 2 x 4 cm in dimension extending deep in to skull exposing underlying brain matter;

¶21

(ii) Right ear lobule cut at its lower end. Blood through ear (dried blood present)."

¶22

On external examination, Dr. Thorat noted the following injuries:

¶23

"(i) Fracture of right parietal bone;

¶24

(ii) Fracture of right mastoid process of skull".

¶25

On internal examination, Dr. Thorat noticed the

¶26

following injuries:

¶27

“Fracture of right parietal bone and fracture of right mastoid process.”

¶28

Page 3 of 11

¶29

4 1.cri.apeal.309.10.sxw

¶30

On examination of brain, it was found that brain cavity was filled with blood and brain matter was congested. In the opinion of Dr. Thorat, Laxman Waman Dhotre died “due to hemorrhagic shock due to skull injury”.

¶31

According to Dr. Thorat, injury no.1 mentioned in Column no. 17 can be sustained by single attack by axe. Injury was extending upto the skull and the injury was sufficient to cause the death in ordinary course. The appellant came to be arrested at 9.15 a.m. on 11.5.2008. After completion of investigation, the charge sheet came to be filed against the appellant.

¶32

3 Charge came to be framed against the appellant under section 302 of IPC. The appellant pleaded not guilty to the said charge and claimed to be tried. The defence of the appellant is that of total denial and false implication. After going through the evidence adduced in this case, the learned Sessions Judge convicted and sentenced the appellant as stated in para 1 above. Hence, this appeal.

¶33

¶34

We have heard the learned Advocate for the

¶35

Page 4 of 11

¶36

5 1.cri.apeal.309.10.sxw

¶37

Appellant and the learned A.P.P. for the State. After giving our anxious consideration to the facts and circumstances of the case, arguments advanced by the learned Advocates for the parties, the judgment delivered by the learned Sessions Judge and the evidence on record, for the reasons stated below, we are of the opinion that the appellant assaulted Laxman with an axe on the head and caused his death.

¶38

5 It is not disputed by the defence that Laxman died a homicidal death. The stand taken on behalf of the appellant is that someone else caused death of Laxman. Looking to the evidence on record and the evidence of PW-5 Dr. Thorat who conducted the post mortem, we have no manner of doubt that the death of Laxman was homicidal in nature.

¶39

6 There is no eye witness in the present case and the case is based on circumstantial evidence. The prosecution has relied on the evidence of PW-3 Dildar, PW-4 Manisha and PW-6 Dada. The evidence of PW-4 Manisha who is the wife of deceased Laxman, shows that they had come to village Pimpale for doing the work of sugarcane cutting two months

¶40

Page 5 of 11

¶41

6 1.cri.apeal.309.10.sxw

¶42

prior to the incident. They were residing in a hut. Around their hut, there were six other huts situated in a circular fashion. Each of the hut was about 3 to 4 feet away from the other hut. As it was summer season, all of them slept infront of their huts. PW-4 Manisha has stated that the appellant was her husband. She has stated that on 9.5.2008, all the labourers returned back to their respective huts after cutting sugarcane during the day. They all had dinner and went to sleep. As it was summer season, everybody was sleeping outside the huts. Deceased Laxman and his wife PW-4 Manisha also slept outside their hut. At about 2.30 a.m. PW-4 Manisha heard sound of Thud, therefore, she got up. She took torch which was kept near her head and flashed the light of the torch. In the light of the torch, she had seen the appellant standing near her husband. He was having an axe in his hand. She saw that her husband did not make any movement. She asked the appellant "what have you done ?". She raised shouts. All neighbouring labourers including PW-3 Dildar and PW-6 Dada came there. They saw the appellant standing on the spot of the incident with an axe in hand. The appellant then dropped the axe on the spot and ran away from the spot. Manisha lodged F.I.R.

¶43

Page 6 of 11

¶44

7 1.cri.apeal.309.10.sxw

¶45

7 The evidence of PW-3 Dildar shows that he was residing in one of the huts close to the hut of the complainant and the deceased. On the night of 9.5.2008, he had also slept infront of his hut. The hut of the deceased Laxman was situated at a distance of 3 to 4 feet from his hut. Seven huts were situated in a circular fashion at a distance of 3 to 4 feet between each hut. At about 2.00 a.m. to 2.30 a.m. he heard shouts of Manisha. Therefore, he got up and rushed to her hut. PW-6 Dada flashed his torch. He had seen the appellant standing with an axe in his hand. The axe was blood stained. The appellant left the axe on the spot and ran away on seeing all of them. He saw Laxman had received blow with axe on right side of neck and he had received bleeding injury. PW-6 Dada has stated that he was working as a labourer. The hut of this witness, was also situated near the hut of the deceased. On the night of 9.5.2008 after taking dinner, he went to sleep outside his hut. All the persons had slept outside their respective huts on the day of the incident. There was a distance of 5 feet between him and where the deceased Laxman was sleeping. At about 2.30 a.m. he heard sound of

¶46

Page 7 of 11

¶47

8 1.cri.apeal.309.10.sxw

¶48

shouts. He got up. He took torch and flashed it and in the light of the torch, he saw the appellant was standing near the head of the deceased with an axe in his hand. On hearing the shouts, all the labourers came to the spot. The appellant went away. This witness noticed injury near the left ear of Laxman. Thus, the evidence of PW-3 Dildar, PW-4 Manisha and PW-6 Dada shows that on the night of the incident, on hearing a noise, they saw the appellant was standing with blood stained axe in his hand near the head of deceased Laxman. The appellant ran away from the spot and they noticed that Laxman had injuries on his ear.

¶49

8 The defence of the appellant is that some other person committed murder of Laxman and it was not possible for the witnesses to identify him in torch light. All the huts were situated within a few feet from each other. Thus, it is very much possible to observe the appearance of the assailant from a distance of 4 to 5 feet in the light of a torch. PW-6 Dada was sleeping just five feet away from Laxman. PW-3 was sleeping nearby. The appellant was known to these witnesses prior to the incident. In such case, there would be no difficulty

¶50

Page 8 of 11

¶51

9 1.cri.apeal.309.10.sxw

¶52

for any of the witnesses to identify the appellant. PW-4 Manisha and PW-6 Dada have stated that on hearing noise, they put on torch and in torchlight they saw the appellant. Hence, we find no merit in this submission. The evidence of PW-3, PW-4 and PW-6 establishes that it is the appellant alone who is responsible for the injury on Laxman. If the appellant was not the assailant, he would not have dropped the axe on the spot and run away. This shows mens rea on the part of the appellant. It is pertinent to note that axe was blood stained. The axe was seized from the spot and sent to the Chemical Analyst. The axe was found stained with human blood. No explanation has been furnished by the appellant for the finding of human blood stains on the axe seized from the spot. In this connection, we may usefully refer to the decision of the Supreme Court in the case Gura Singh Vs. State of Rajasthan¹ , wherein it has been observed as under :

¶53

"In view of the authoritative pronouncement of this Court in Teja Ram Case [ (1999) 3 SCC 507] we do not find any substance in the submissions of the learned

¶54

1 (2001) 2 SCC 205

¶55

Page 9 of 11

¶56

10 1.cri.apeal.309.10.sxw

¶57

Counsel for the appellant that in the absence of the report regarding the 'origin of the blood, the trial Court could not have convicted the accused. The Serologist & Chemical Examiner has found that the chadar seized in consequence of the disclosure statement made by the appellant was stained with human blood. As with lapse of time the classification of the blood could not be determined, no bonus is conferred upon the accused to claim any benefit on the strength of such a belated and stale argument. The trial Court as well as the High Court were, therefore, justified in holding the circumstance as proved beyond doubt against the appellant.”

¶58

9 Thus, on going through the record, we find that there is sufficient evidence to connect the appellant with the murder of Laxman. Hence, we find no merit in the appeal. Appeal is dismissed.

¶59

10 Office to communicate this order to the appellant and to the Jail Superintendent in which Jail, the appellant is lodged. 11 At this stage, we must record our appreciation for Mr. Arfan Sait appointed from the High Court Legal Services Committee Bombay to represent the appellant. We found that

¶60

Page 10 of 11

¶61

11 1.cri.apeal.309.10.sxw

¶62

he had meticulously prepared the matter and he has very ably argued the matter. We quantify legal fees to be paid to him by the High Court Legal Services Committee at Rs. 2500/-.

¶63

[MRS. MRIDULA BHATKAR, J.] [SMT.V.K.TAHILRAMANI, J.]

¶64

kandarkar

Popat Bhanudas Mandlik v. the State of Maharashtra

Case brief

What is this about?

What did the court decide?

Popat Bhanudas Mandlik v. the State of Maharashtra

Case brief

What is this about?

What did the court decide?

What the court decided

A compact analysis

Issues for consideration

Cases cited

Statutes considered

Parties & counsel

Coram

Case details

Similar cases

Nayana Chandrakant Kamble Vs the State of Maharashtra

Mumtaz Shamshuddin Khan Vs State of Maharashtra

The State of Maharashtra Vs Santosh Gangaram Sutar @ Lohar

Vilas Namdeo Kalamkar Vs the State of Maharashtra

Vinayak Arjun Satpute Vs the State of Maharashtra

Vinayak Arjun Satpute Vs the State of Maharashtra