Judgment

KHANNA, J.:- Khatri Hemraj Amulakh (27) was tried in the court of Sessions Judge Palanpur on a charge under section 302 Indian Penal Code for the murder of his wife Bai Thakari (20) and was acquitted, On appeal filed by the State, the High Court of Gujarat set aside the acquittal of the accused convicted him under S. 302 Indian Penal Code and sentenced him to undergo imprisonment for life. The accused has now come up in appeal to this Court by special leave.

2. The prosecution case is that Bai Thakari deceased was the daughter of Lakhmanji (PW 7). She was married to the accused about two years prior to the present occurrence. After the marriage the accused was not on speaking terms with his father-in-law and did not allow Thakari deceased to visit her father s house. The deceased complained to her father that the accused maltreated her.

3. Till about 20 days before the present occurrence, the accused along with Thakari deceased as well as his younger brother Magan Lal, (PW 3) and the latter s wife Bai Dahi (PW 4) used to live with his elder brother Daya Ram in Sindhi Colony in the town of Deesa. About 20 days before the occurrence the accused and Magan Lal separated from Daya Ram and along with their wives started living in a house in Mata-Sheri, another locality of that town. The accused and Magan Lal jointly ran a small shop at short distance from their house.

4. On September 23, 1967 at about 10 a.m it is stated, Dharamshi (PW 8), whose shop is situated near the house of the accused, saw the accused sitting on a stone opposite Dharamshi s shop. The accused appeared to be in a state of excitement at that time and did not speak to any one. After sitting there for about an hour, the accused met Shiv Lal, whose shop is also near Dharmshi s shop. Shortly thereafter, the accused went to his house. At about 12 noon on that day, the accused was seen running towards the police station by Natvar Lal (PW 5) who has a Paan-Biri shop in Gandhi Chowk Deesa. The clothes of the accused were at that time stained with blood. The police station is at distance of about a furlong from the house of the accused Govind Lal (PW 2) also saw the accused on that day running with blood stains on his clothes towards Gandhi Chowk. The accused arrived at the police station Deesa at about 12.15 p.m. and made confessional statement Ex. 27 to Sub Inspector Rojia. The Sub Inspector prepared first information report Ex. 28 on the basis of statement Ex. 27. The Sub Inspector also took into possession the blood stained clothes of the accused and put them in a sealed parcel. The hands and legs of the accused were found stained with blood. No injuries were noticed on his person. The accused then took the Sub Inspector to his house and pointed to the dead body of Thakari lying there. A knife was also lying near the dead body. The Sub Inspector prepared the inquest report and sent the dead body for post mortem examination. Post mortem examination was performed on the dead body by Dr. Hargovindbhai at 5 p.m. on that day. The clothes of the accused were sent to the chemical analyser whose report showed that they were stained with blood. According to the report of the Serologist, the blood in question was of human origin.

5. At the trial the accused in his statement under section 342 of the Code of Criminal Procedure denied the prosecution allegations about his having murdered his wife or about his having before that maltreated her. The accused admitted that in the day of occurrence he was seen running towards the police station with stains of blood on his clothes and gave the following version.

"At that time I was going to police station. My clothes were stained with blood. At that time I had gone home from my shop and found the door of my house closed. So again I went to my shop, and then again I returned. At that time I thought that my wife might have gone to answer the call of nature and the door must have been closed. Then I opened the door, and my wife appeare