RAMDAS Vs. STATE OF MAHARASHTRA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This is an appeal under the Supreme Court (Enlargement of Criminal Appellate Jurisdiction) Act. 1970. The appellant Ram Das was tried on a charge of murdering his wife Mst. Shanta Bai on September 12, 1972, by forcible administration of poison to her. The learned Sessions, Judge, after considering entire evidence on the record, acquitted the appellant on the ground that the evidence led by the prosecution was not sufficient to bring home the charge against the accused. Thereupon the State of Maharashtra filed an appeal before the High Court of Bombay. The High Court reversed the order of acquittal passed by the learned Sessions Judge in favour of the appellant and has convicted the appellant under Section 302 I. P. C. and sentenced him to imprisonment for life. Hence this appeal before us.

(2.) This is rather an unfortunate case where shortly after the marriage of the deceased shantabai with the appellant Ram Das certain unforeseen circumstances came into existence which led the appellant to suspect the fidelity of his wife culminating in her death by poison. The sole question to be determined by us in the present appeal is whether the accused had caused the death of his wife by administering her poison or the wife had herself, due to complete frustration, taken the poison and thus committed suicide. Had the husband not come across some letters written by his wife to one Chhotelal, perhaps the happy married life of the deceased and Ram Das would not have been marred by this tragedy.

(3.) Put briefly, the prosecution case is as follows. Shantabai used to live with her father Vishwanath Pardhe at Delhi and stayed there for about 1 1/2 years before her marriage. It is alleged by the prosecution that during her stay at Delhi she had picked up some sort of intimacy with one Chhotelal with whom she was sometimes in correspondence. She however, did not prosecute her studies in her school and was therefore, sent to her uncle Mahadeo Pardhe at Pinpalkhota where she stayed with her uncle until her marriage. She was married to the appellant some time in May 1972 and after the marriage she came back to her uncle's place and was later again taken by her husband, to his house in Achalpur according to the family custom. It appears that soon after her return to her husband's house the appellant discovered some letters which suggested that the deceased has some intimacy with Chhotelal and that she had asked him not to disturb her after her marriage. Ram Das, therefore,started suspecting the fidelity of his wife and he accordingly wrote several letters to Mahadeo Pardhe meant for his father-in-law Vishwanath Pardhe asking him to take away his wife, otherwise he would seek a divorce. The letters showed that the appellant was rather anxious that his wife should leave the house and go to her uncle and thereafter the marriage may be dissolved either by agreement or through the Court Mahadeo Pardhe on receiving the letters came to Achalpur and met Ram Das when the appellant again insisted that Shantabai should be taken away by him. In the course of the evidence Mahadeo Pardhe alleged that the appellant went to the extent of giving a threat that if he did not take Shantabai, then the accused was going to murder her. Mahadeo Pardhe, however, did not think it advisable to take Shantabai without the consent of her father and he returned to his village Pimpalkhota and wrote a detailed letter to his brother Vishwanath Pardhe at Delhi. On September 12, 1972, there appears to have been some sort of a domestic dispute between the appellant and the deceased as a result of which the appellant beat her up with a stick. On the same day the deceased became seriously ill and had vomitted near about 2-00 P.M. The appellant at once took her to the Civil Hospital at Achalpur where the Doctor gave the deceased full treatment, but unfortunately she could not survive and died in the afternoon. The Doctor then informed the police station and the Investigating Officer arrived at the hospital and registered a case of death by accident. The Investigating Officer visited the house of the accused at Achalpur on the same day, but did not find anything incriminating. The body of the deceased was sent for post-mortem and thereafter it was handed over to the appellant who got her cremated in due course. The father of the deceased Shantabai came to know of the death after she had been cremated. It was further alleged by the prosecution that as Mahadeo Pardhe refused to take away Shantabai with him, the appellant decided to kill her and for that purpose he secured rat poison, namely, parathion, from one of his covillagers Ramdas Lakhode and forcibly administered the said poison to his wife which ultimately resulted in her death. During the course of investigation the appellant is said to have produced a bottle of poison as also the Godadi (matress) which contained vomit matter and vomit stains of the deceased which on being sent to the Chemical Analyser were found to contain parathion poison. It was further alleged that near about the time of occurrence the appellant and Shantabai were alone in the house and no one else other than the accused could have caused the death of Shantabai. The medical evidence clearly shows that Shantabai had died of asphyxia due to administration of poison and had excluded the possibility of death by strangulation. The defence of the accused was that he was completely innocent and that he had been falsely implicated on pure suspicion.