Offence of Murder: burden of proving the manner in which the death is caused: section 106 of Evidence Act
accused is duty bound to explain the manner in which the death of his father was caused
Criminal Appeal No. 2057 of 2010
Bench: Chief Justice Of India, T. S. Thakur, Justice, R. Banumathi
Case Brief: In the Present case, an appeal before the Apex court is preferred by the accused in the concerned case, challenging the judgment of the Bombay High Court, Nagpur Bench, where the conviction and punishment of accused under section 302 of Indian Penal Code, 1860 was affirmed by it. In the facts of the case PW-1 and complainant had filed a complained in the Police station that the he heard an altercation between Accused and his father at around 8.30 of 7th day of April, 2002 and also the said father was wailing till about 10 PM at the same night. Moreover, as per complainant the incidents of altercation and assault were frequent in the house of the accused and the next day to it, in the morning PW-4 informed PW-1 that a father found dead in the pool of blood inside his house. Thus, a complaint was registered by the PW-1 under section 302 of the Code, moreover, the accused was arrested and while in police custody he gave confession statement which led to the recovery of blood stained clothes of accused inside his house. Thus, the accused was chargesheeted under the relevant provisions of the Code and Trial Court, upon the appreciation of oral evidence and circumstances and the conduct of the accused in not giving the explanation for the homicidal death of his father, convicted and sentenced him to undergo the imprisonment for life and penalty of Rs. 1000 with default clause. Further, the High Court also confirmed the conviction and sentence of the accused and dismissed his challenge. Considering the facts and earlier decision of the learned lower courts, the concerned Bench of the Apex court held that, as the prosecution has well proved the present of Accused in the House (spot) at the same time, thus, the accused is duty bound to explain the manner in which the death of his father was caused. Moreover, it is observe by the Court that the when murder is committed in secrecy inside the house, the initial burden to establish the case would undoubtedly be upon the prosecution, however, such burden will be upon the inmates of the house to give cogent explanation as to how the crime was committed, as per section 106 of Evidence Act. Thus, when accused could not offer any explanation as to homicidal death of deceased, then it is strong circumstance against him that he is responsible for the commission of the crime. Thus, the court after considering the evidences and the circumstance of recovery of blood stained clothes of accused; also after considering the ruling and also looking towards the conduct of the accused, concurrently ruled that the findings of the Trial Court and High Court had rightly held accused convict of offences of murder and also rightly sentenced for.
Read the Judgement: Gajanan Dashrath Kharate Vs. State Of Maharashtra