Bombay High Court Upholds Conviction Of Man Who Allegedly Killed Wife By Hammer & Tried To Cut His Own Throat With Marble Cutter Machine

The Bombay High Court has upheld the conviction of a man who was accused of killing his wife by hitting hammer on her head and trying to cut his own throat with marble cutter machine.

A Criminal Appeal was filed by the accused husband before the Aurangabad Bench, challenging his conviction by the Additional Sessions Judge (ASJ).

A Division Bench of Justice Nitin B. Suryawanshi and Justice Sandipkumar C. More observed, “… motive is the emotion to do a particular act and many murders have been committed without any known or prominent motive. There are number of judgments indicating that motive is hidden in the mind of perpetrator, and therefore, it is very difficult for the prosecution to adduce evidence about the same. However, in this case, the fact come on record that there were disputes between the appellant and deceased since the appellant used to doubt on character of deceased. Under such circumstances, it can safely be inferred that the appellant was having grudge against her wife.”

The Bench reiterated that failure of accused to give plausible explanation about the circumstance itself is an additional link against him in the chain of circumstantial evidence.

Advocate S.G. Ladda represented the Appellant/Accused while APP Uma Bhosale represented the Respondent/State.

Facts of the Case

As per the prosecution case, one report was lodged in 2017 by a woman (informant) alleging that her younger daughter (deceased) got married with the Appellant-accused in 2004 and gave birth to two daughters and one son. The deceased was residing with the accused and children in a rented premises. The accused was Mason by profession and the deceased was Sweeper in a hospital. It was alleged that the accused used to suspect about chastity of his deceased wife.

Allegedly, one night, the informant received a telephonic call from her granddaughter who told her that the accused hit hammer on the deceased’s head and also tried to cut his own throat by means of marble cutter machine. When she rushed to the spot, she saw her daughter and son-in-law lying in injured condition on the bed. The deceased died in the hospital and hence, the case was registered against the accused. The Trial Court convicted the Appellant for the offences punishable under Sections 302 and 309 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 (IPC). Being aggrieved, he approached the High Court.

Reasoning

The High Court in the above regard, said, “… in cases resting solely on the circumstantial evidence, the prosecution must establish a complete chain of circumstances consistent only with the guilt of accused.”

The Court noted that the evidence on record in this case indicates that the Appellant and deceased were in the house where the incident took place and it is settled that part of the evidence of hostile witness can be considered if found beneficial to the prosecution.

“Under such circumstances and in view of the observation of the Hon’ble Apex Court in the case of Balvir Singh (supra), the appellant is under obligation to offer plausible explanation as to how the deceased Kalpana sustained fatal injury to her head”, it added.

The Court remarked that even if it is presumed that some intruder might have entered in their house, but that must be with an intention of theft; however, nothing is there on record to indicate that somebody had committed theft of articles kept in their house, especially in cupboard.

“In view of such evidence, the possibility of cutting his own throat by the appellant with marble cutter machine, can be inferred, especially when no other plausible explanation is coming from the appellant himself about the same”, it concluded.

Accordingly, the High Court dismissed the Appeal and upheld the conviction.

Cause Title- Hariomdas Govinddas Bainade v. The State of Maharashtra (Neutral Citation: 2025:BHC-AUG:27327-DB)

Appearance:

Appellant: Advocates S.G. Ladda and Sagar S. Ladda.

Respondent: APP Uma Bhosale

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