Partly allowed

Pravin Khimji Chauhan v. the State of Maharashtra

Bombay HC15 Feb 2022APEAL/978/2012

Case brief

AI extract

What is this about?

Criminal appeal where the appellant, convicted of murdering his wife, argued provocation and loss of self-control. The High Court reduced the charge from murder to culpable homicide not amounting to murder due to sudden grave provocation and restored the fine.

What did the court decide?

Conviction for murder under Section 302 IPC quashed and set aside; convicted for culpable homicide not amounting to murder under Section 304 IPC Part I and sentenced to rigorous imprisonment for 10 ye

Pravin Khimji Chauhan Vs the State of Maharashtra — Murder and Culpable Homicide | Bombay HC (2022)

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IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT BOMBAY CRIMINAL APPELLATE JURISDICTION

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CRIMINAL APPEAL NO.978 OF 2012

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Pravin Khimji Chauhan
Age 36 years, Occupation : Service,
Residing at “Matoshri” Apartment
Room No.N.D-104, Plot No.37,
Sector 6, Kamotha Colony,
Tal. Panvel, Dist. Raigad, Originally
Resident of Damala Tal. Palitana,
Dist. Bhavnagar Gujarath.
(At present in judicial custody and lodged
at Kolhapur Central Prison)…Appellant

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(Orig. Accused)

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V/s.
The State of Maharashtra
(At the instance of Kalamboli Police
Station in their C.R.NO. 229/2011…Respondent

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Ms. Farhana Shah, Advocate for the Appellant.
Mr. Arfan Sait, APP for the Respondent - State.

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CORAM : SMT. SADHANA S. JADHAV & PRITHVIRAJ K. CHAVAN, JJ. JUDGMENT RESERVED ON : 8^th DECEMBER, 2021. JUDGMENT PRONOUNCED ON : 15^th FEBRUARY, 2022.

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JUDGMENT : (Per Smt. Sadhana S. Jadhav, J.)

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1. The appellant herein is convicted for the offence

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punishable under section 302 of the Indian Penal Code and sentenced

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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, Raigad, Alibaug in Sessions Case No.102 of 2011 vide judgment
and order dated 5th April 2012. Hence, this appeal.

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2.Such of the facts that are necessary for the decision of this
appeal are as follows :-

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(i)On 24th April 2011 at about 4.00 am, Pravin Khimji Chavan
visited Kalamboli Police Station with blood stained clothes on his
person and informed PSI – Dattatray Shankar Khade (P.W.2) 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 Renu in a pool of blood.
There were injuries all over her body.

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(ii)On the basis of the said report, Crime No. 229 of 2011 was
registered. At the trial, the prosecution has examined as many as 11
witnesses to bring home the guilt of the accused. The prosecution rests

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upon the statement of the accused recorded by P.W.2 – Mr. Dattatray
Khade, P.W.4 – Narayan Air, watchman of Matoshri Apartments where
the accused and the deceased lived in Room No.D-103, P.W5. - Vinod
Koli, father of the deceased and P.W.11 – Gulabrao Patil, Investigating
Officer.

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3.The statement of the accused was recorded by the Police on
28th April 2011 to ascertain the background in which the accused had
committed the offence. The accused had disclosed as follows :-

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(I)That, he was working in Bombay Municipal Corporation as
a Labour. He was residing in “Matoshree” Apartment since 2007.

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(II)That, on 7th May 1999 he got married to one Deena. That,
she had expressed her displeasure in marrying him and disclosed that
she was forced to marry him. Thereafter, their marriage was dissolved
before the Caste Panchayat.

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(III) In the year 1999, he got married to one Aruna Khadotra.
She was unable to conceive. Upon clinical examination, the
gynaecologist had opined that Aruna was incapable of becoming a
mother. Once again, the marriage was dissolved before the Caste
Panchayat. Thereafter, he had got married to Renu (deceased). Her

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marriage had also failed on two occasions prior to her marriage with
the accused. In 2008, they were blessed with a daughter. In 2009, they
were blessed with second daughter.

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(IV)One fine day, he had used the cell phone of his wife since
his own cell phone was not in working condition. He had inserted his
own sim card in her handset and had accidentally come across
inappropriate messages which were exchanged prior to their marriage.
Upon inquiry, she had given evasive answers. He had then gifted her
another handset. It was an understanding between the couple that
whenever she wanted to talk to him, she would give him a missed call
and he would call upon her. He had noticed that he had to recharge
the phone quite often. The phone was recharged by the accused and
therefore, he had questioned her about the same. His objection was not
comprehended by the deceased and therefore, there used to be
frequent quarrels between them. She had started deleting the calls and
messages made by her or received by her.

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(V) On 23rd April 2011, at about 8.00 pm when he was
ascending the staircase leading to his house, he saw a stranger leaving
his house hurriedly. He inquired with the deceased about the same.
She lost her temper and started abusing him and making indecent

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gestures. She had not cooked food. They had ordered food from
restaurant. Thereafter, they both had consumed alcohol to large extent.
She had lost her control and had started babbling and hurling abuses
at him, at his mother and other family members. She referred to him
as a transgender and pimp. He had tried to maintain his mental
balance since his daughters were present. He then fed his daughters
and put them to sleep.

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(VI)In the meanwhile, Renu had become extremely aggressive.
She created a ruckus, went into the kitchen and brought a kitchen
knife, directed towards her husband. She reiterated her slang abuses in
reference to his mother and offered him the knife challenging him to
show as to whether he had the courage to assault her. It was at this
juncture that he lost his mental balance and being totally deprived of
his self-control, he mounted assault with the same knife and ventilated
his anger by stabbing her about 20 to 25 times. He washed the knife
and the blood that had spurtedon his face and went into the room to
put his children to sleep. He switched on the television to put his
children to sleep. After the children slept he called upon the father of
Renu. However, the call was not replied. He also called upon the elder
sister of Renu but there was no response. Finally, he called his sister

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and informed her about the whole episode. His sister and her husband
visited the building after an hour, but he did not allow them to come to
his house and met them in the premises of the building. Thereafter, he
went to the Police and divulged the whole episode.

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4.P.W.2 – Khade is the complainant. He has deposed before
the Court that the accused had approached the Police Station at about
4.00 am in blood stained clothes and admitted his guilt voluntarily.
The accused led the police to his house. He then identified the dead
body to be that of his wife. Thereafter, the accused led the Police to the
house of the parents of the deceased at Kamothe. The Police informed
the father-in-law of the accused about the death of his daughter. The
parents of Renu accompanied the Police to Matoshree Apartment. They
were in no mood of visiting the Police Station and lodge a report and
therefore, P.W.2 lodged the report on behalf of them. He has proved the
contents of the said FIR which is marked at Exh.25. It is categorically
admitted in the cross-examination that the knife with which the
accused had assaulted his wife was lying on the spot. It is also
admitted that the crime was registered on the basis of the disclosure
statement made by the accused. The station diary entry is at Exh.26.

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5.P.W.4 – Narayan Kumar Navasir Air was working as a

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watchman in Matoshree Apartment, Kamothe for about more than 9
months. He was therefore, acquainted with the accused and his wife.
According to him, he was on night duty on the day of incident. At
about 3.00 am, the sister, brother-in-law and paternal aunt of accused
had visited the building. They expressed their desire to visit the house
of the accused, however, the aunt of the accused was unable to climb
the staircase and therefore, she did not go to his house. The sister and
brother-in-law had been to the house of the accused, however, after 10
minutes all of them descended the staircase and went outside the
building. The accused then requested P.W.4 to open the gate and then
proceeded on his motorcycle, wearing blood stained clothes. After half
an hour, Police had visited the building. Being the watchman, he
reiterated the said fact to the Secretary of the building. There is no
material omission or contradiction in his depositions.

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6.P.W.5 – Vinod Koli happens to be the father of the deceased.

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He has admitted that he learnt about the death of his daughter at 4.00
am when the Police accompanied by the accused visited his house and

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informed him about the same. After post-mortem, the dead body was
handed over to the father of the deceased to perform last rites upon
the deceased. He has admitted that there were disputes between his
daughter and his son-in-law.

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7.P.W.6 – Dr. Basavraj Lohare had performed autopsy on the

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dead body of Renu. He had noticed 26 incised and stab wounds. The
cause of death was “multiple stab injuries with injury to both lungs,
liver and spleen”. The accused was examined on 24th April 2011 by
P.W.6 at about 10.45 am at Rural Hospital, Panvel.It is pertinent to

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note that the accused had also sustained incised wounds on his right
hand palmer aspect ulnar border, right hand dorsal aspect over thenar
eminence and between the web spaces of thumb and index finger.The
said certificate is at Exh.36 and the post-mortem notes of Renu are at
Exh.37.

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8.The learned counsel for the appellant has submitted that in
fact, the act committed by the accused was not premeditated and he
was provoked by his wife and therefore, he had lost his self-control and
amounted assault upon her and the same shall be considered with a

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sympathetic view. It is also submitted that the deceased had pointed
the knife towards the accused, in the course of avoiding the attack, he
had sustained injuries on his palmer aspect. Therefore, it can be said
that the act was committed in self-defence.

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9.Per contra, the learned APP has submitted that the number
of injuries caused to the deceased by themselves would show the
brutality and the violent mind of the accused who deserves no
sympathy. It is submitted that the defence of the accused is an
afterthought and requires no consideration.

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10.With the help of the learned counsel for the appellant and
the learned APP, we have gone through the papers meticulously. The
first and foremost observation is that the incident has been brought to
light by none other than the accused himself who had gone to the
Police Station and set the law into motion because the reality was
staring at his face and he was sure that there was no escape. The
accused is indeed the author of the 26 injuries caused to Renu. It is
surprising that at the trial, the accused has pleaded not guilty and his
contention in his statement under section 313 of Cr.P.C. is that he has

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been falsely implicated. In the facts of the case, the said defence would
recede into background. It is surprising that the Investigating Agency
has made no efforts to get the statement of the accused recorded under
section 164 of Cr.P.C. It is also not known as to how the prosecution
has not recorded the substantive evidence of the sister and brother-in-
law of the accused. In fact, the statement made to his sister would
amount to extra-judicial confession and therefore, it was necessary to
examine the sister of the accused. The accused had set the law into
motion. It was a case of custodial death. He had even led the Police to
the house of his father-in-law and had disclosed about the death of his
wife at his hands.

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11.Now coming to the circumstances in which the incident
had occurred, it would be necessary to see that in fact the marriage of
the accused as well as the deceased had failed on two occasions before
they got married to each other. After examining the phone call records
he had started suspecting the honesty of his wife in their marital
relationship. At the time of incident, the accused as well as the
deceased had consumed alcohol. It is true that the Police has not
investigated this statement made by the accused, as if to say that it was

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an open and shut case. That, at the time of incident, they were
quarreling. The tempers were high. It is the case of the accused that
the conduct of his wife at the relevant time was beyond reproach.
According to him, he had maintained his cool for quite sometime.
However, he lost it when she brought the knife from the kitchen and
provoked him to hurt her if he could. Probably, the chauvinism in him
has arisen. She had expressed disgust and abhorrence at his very
manliness and had forgotten for a moment that he is a father of their
two daughters.

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12.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.

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13.At the same time, it is necessary to consider the submission

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of the learned APP. The number of injuries inflicted on the deceased
were as many as 26 blows. In every alternative case, where we are
dealing with a murder of the wife at the hands of her husband in a
moment of grave and sudden provocation by the wife, the husband
violently attacks his wife. There is physical violence, there is sexual
violence, however, this sort of physical violence is less seen amongst
women even in a moment of anger and in all probabilities, it is the
mother in a woman which supersedes her element of physical violence.
There could be psychological violence by women. In the present case,
in that moment of anger, both the spouses had almost forgotten the
two children who were hardly three year and 1½ year old at the time
of incident. The mother died and the father was thrown to the gallows
by his own act.

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14The Indian Penal Code would define such an act in the
given circumstances not as murder but as culpable homicide not
amounting to murder. The offence was committed in a heat of passion
but the accused had acted in a cruel and unusual manner.

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15The statement of the accused given to the Police before

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registration of crime inspires the confidence of the Court and the
circumstances spelt out by him in which the incident has occurred
needs to be taken into consideration.

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16Section 304 part I of the Indian Penal Code reads as

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under :

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304. Punishment for culpable homicide not amounting to
murder.—Whoever commits culpable homicide not
amounting to murder shall be punished with
1[imprisonment for life], or imprisonment of either
description for a term which may extend to ten years, and
shall also be liable to fine, if the act by which the death is
caused is done with the intention of causing death, or of
causing such bodily injury as is likely to cause death, or
with imprisonment of either description for a term which
may extend to ten years, or with fine, or with both, if the
act is done with the knowledge that it is likely to cause
death, but without any intention to cause death, or to cause
such bodily injury as is likely to cause death.

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17The fact that the accused has sustained incised injury on
his right palmer aspect would show that he had indeed held the knif
on the sharper side, when there was an attempt to attack him. A
defence injury cannot be ruled out.

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18The conduct of the accused also needs to be appreciated
under section 8 of the Indian Evidence Act. He had made no attempt
to cause disappearance of evidence. He had called upon the father and
sister of the deceased. He has also called upon his aunt, sister and
brother-in-law and admitted the guilt before he approached the police
station.

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19Taking 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. Hence, we pass the following order:-

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ORDER

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(i) The Appeal is partly allowed;

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(ii)The conviction of the appellant for the offence punishable

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under section 302 of the IPC passed by the learned
Sessions Judge, Raigad, Alibaug in Sessions Case No.102 of
2011 vide judgment and order dated 5th April 2012 is

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quashed and set aside;

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(iii)The appellant is convicted for the offence punishable under

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section 304(I) of the Indian Penal Code and is sentenced to
suffer Rigourous Imprisonment for 10 years. Fine is
maintained.

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(iv)The appellant is entitled to set off for the period already

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undergone;

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(v)Appeal is disposed of on above terms.

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 (PRITHVIRAJ K. CHAVAN, J) (SMT. SADHANA S. JADHAV, J)

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Digitally signed by PALLAVI PALLAVIMAHENDRAWARGAONKAR MAHENDRAWARGAONKARDate:2022.02.15 13:33:26 +0530

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Pravin Khimji Chauhan v. the State of Maharashtra

Case brief

What is this about?

What did the court decide?

Pravin Khimji Chauhan v. the State of Maharashtra

Case brief

What is this about?

What did the court decide?

What the court decided

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