Judgment

MATHEW, J.:- Sheralli Wali Mohammed was charged with offences under S. 302 of the Indian Penal Code for having caused the death of his wife Saifulla and his female child Shama in his chawl at Mazagaon, Greater Bombay, on March 8, 1968, and was tried for the offences by the Sessions Judge for Greater Bombay. The accused was found guilty of the offences and he was sentenced to imprisonment for life on each of the counts; the two sentences were to run concurrently.

2. The accused filed an appeal against the convictions and sentences before the High Court of Bombay. The High Court dismissed the appeal.

3. This appeal, by special leave, is directed against the judgment of the High Court.

4. The prosecution case was as follows. The accused was residing in Room No. 16 of Noorudin Ibrahim Baithi Chawl at Sitafali Wadi Road in Mazagaon, with his wife and four children. At about 4 A.M. on March 8, 1968, P. W. 4, Hyderali Wali Mohammed, a brother of the accused, who was staying in the opposite Chawl, was awakened from his sleep and was informed that his brother Sheralli was shouting. He, therefore, went to the room of the accused and found the accused outside the room, beating his head with his hands and shouting "Save my wife, save my children, call the police . P.W. 4 went to the Byculla Police Station in a taxi and gave information as to what he saw and heard to Constable Dhandiba Jotiba Vallam, P. W. 7 who was on duty. The said constable accompanied by constable Shankar Sundar Ubale, P. W. 9 and P.W. 4, proceeded to the spot. When they reached the room of the accused, they saw a crowd of 15 to 20 persons on the verandah attached to the Chawl. The crowd was asking the accused to open the door of the room. As the room was not opened, a person from the crowd broke open the door with an axe. When the door was opened, the accused was standing near the door with a chopper in his hand and his wife Saifulla and female child Shama were lying on the ground with bleeding injuries. The chopper was stained with blood and so also were the hands and the clothes worn by the accused. At that time, P. W. 6, the mother of the accused, came to the room and took the injured persons out of the room. By the time, P. W. 2 disarmed the accused and the chopper was handed over to P. W. 7, who in turn, gave it to constable Ubale, P. W. 9. Very soon, a police van arrived and P. W. 9 took the accused in the van to the police station. The accused was produced before P. W. 26, the Investigating Officer. Thereafter, the Investigating Officer recorded the first information statement of P. W. 2.

5. The injured persons were taken to J. J. Hospital by P. W. 7, Constable Dhandiba, P. W. 16, the Medical Officer at J. J. Hospital, examined the wife and the child at about 5.30 A.M. and he found certain fresh injuries on their persons. He described the nature of the injuries in his notes in the Casualty Register (Exhibits 28 and 29).Saifulla died at 6.40 A.M. and Shama at about 7 A.M. on the same day. The post-mortem examination of the body of the wife of the accused was conducted by P. W. 14 and that of the body of the child by P. W. 20. P. W. 14 found 8 external injuries including an incised wound on the scalp. They were all ante-mortem. P. W. 20 found 5 external injuries on the body of the child. They included an incised wound starting from middle of nose going vertically upwards on frontal region. They were all fresh and ante-mortem. P.Ws. 14 and 20 have stated that the injuries were sufficient in the ordinary course of nature to cause death.

6. The plea of the accused at the trial was that at the time when the injuries were alleged to have been caused by him, he was not in the room but was sleeping on the terrace of the nearby house of his sister and that he did not know anything about the incident.

7. All the witnesses for the prosecution except P. Ws. 7 and 9, the Police Constables, and the doctors, turned hostile. The trial Court discussed the evidence of P. Ws.