Bombay High Court: A Division Bench comprising of B.R. Gavai and Sarang V. Kotwal, JJ. dismissed an appeal filed against the judgment passed by the trial court whereby the appellant was convicted under Section 302 IPC.
The allegation against the convict was that he had murdered his wife. On a fateful day, the appellant himself came to the Police Station and informed about the death of the deceased. The investigation was completed and charge-sheet was filed. The Sessions Judge framed the charge against the appellant under Section 302 to which he pleaded not guilty. The appellant was tried and convicted under the said section. The appellant challenged the decision of Sessions Judge while submitting that the deceased had committed suicide.
The High Court perused the material available on record including the post-mortem report and evidence of the medical expert. It was noted that motive behind the commission of the crime could be gathered from the FIR; the deceased was not doing the work as told by the appellant, they had a regular quarrel, and the appellant was angry with her. The Court was of the view that the nature of injuries and the deposition of the medical expert proved beyond reasonable doubt that the death was homicidal. Death of the deceased occurred in suspicious circumstances. The appellant gave an explanation that the deceased committed suicide, which was wholly falsified by the medical evidence. Relying on the Supreme Court decision in Sharad Birdichand Sarda v. State of Maharashtra, (1984) 4 SCC 116: 1984 SCC (Cri) 487, the High Court held that a non-explanation or a false explanation given by the accused can be used to fortify the finding of guilt already recorded; the false explanation by the appellant was an additional circumstance in fortifying his guilt. Thus, the appeal was dismissed. [Nazim Rashid Tamboli v. State of Maharashtra,2018 SCC OnLine Bom 1423, dated 28-06-2018]
