The Bombay High Court (Aurangabad Bench) has dismissed the appeal of a man, confirming his conviction and life sentence for murdering his wife by striking her on the head with a hammer, and for attempting suicide by slitting his own throat with a marble cutter.
A Division Bench of Justices Nitin B. Suryawanshi and Sandipkumar C. More upheld the 2019 judgment of the Additional Sessions Judge, Aurangabad, which had convicted the accused under Sections 302 and 309 of the Indian Penal Code.
According to the prosecution, the accused, a mason by profession, frequently quarreled with his wife, a hospital sweeper, suspecting her chastity. On the intervening night of October 4–5, 2017, after an argument, he fatally assaulted her with a hammer while their children were in the house. He then attempted to cut his throat with a marble cutter but survived. Kalpana succumbed to her injuries in Ghati Hospital.
During trial, the couple’s daughter, initially an eyewitness, turned hostile. The defence argued lack of direct evidence, unreliable witness testimony, and raised alternative possibilities. However, the High Court held that the prosecution had proved a complete chain of circumstantial evidence, including seizure of the blood-stained hammer and cutter, medical testimony confirming fatal head injuries caused by a blunt object, and the accused’s own injury consistent with suicide attempt.
The Court noted that the incident occurred within the four walls of the matrimonial home, and the accused failed to offer a plausible explanation for his wife’s fatal injuries. His defence that his wife inflicted the injuries herself or that an intruder attacked was found highly improbable.
Finding no illegality in the trial court’s reasoning, the High Court affirmed the conviction and dismissed the appeal.
Appearances:
Mr. S.G. Ladda, Advocate holding for Mr. Sagar S. Ladda, Advocate for the appellant.
Mrs. Uma Bhosale, A.P.P. for respondent – State.
