Judgment

FAZAL ALI, J. - It is strange that supersititious beliefs should still persist in an age where science has made such progress and rationalism dominates over thinking. Yet we find a few stray cases where baseless and unfounded superstitions entertained by an educated person may lead to a family disaster. One such case forms the subject of this appeal filed in this Court after obtaining special leave.

2. The appellant Ashok Laxman Sohoni has been convicted under S.302. I.P.C. and sentenced to death, whereas another appellant Vijaya has been convicted under S.302/34, I.P.C. and sentenced to imprisonment for life. The facts of the present case lie within a narrow compass. Laxmans family was residing in House No.622. Ravivar Peth in the town of Nasik. Prabhakar Sohoni who was the grandfather of appellant No.1 had five sons, namely, Ram, Pandua, Laxman, Bharat and Raghunath. We are not concerned with the branches of Pandua, Bharat and Raghunath. The appellant Ashok was one of the sons of Laxman by his wife Prabhavati. Usha and Vijaya appellant No.2 were the daughters of Laxman and sisters of Ashok. Shyam was another son of Laxman. In the branch of Ram, we have P.W.1 Suresh who is married to one Sabita. Suresh was, therefore, the first cousin of appellant No.1. According to the prosecution Suresh used to reside on the second floor of the house and Ashok on the first floor of the house which consisted of a few rooms, some of which were converted into a kitchen, bedroom and a Baithak. The ground floor was occupied by a tenant. Appellant No.1 Ashok Sohoni, for short to be referred to as "Ashok" was married to Shubhangi on June 22, 1973. Ashok appears to have joined the Army in 1962 and left the same in 1969 and took a job in the State Transport Department as a mechanic at Nandgaon 40 miles away from Nasik. The family of Ashok was a typical middle-class family which had just sufficient means to meet their two ends. Ashok and Vijaya lived in the first floor of the house along with their father. Ashok used to stay with his wife in a part of the kitchen which was converted into a bed room. Shyam was married to Shelpa on June 27, 1974 about six months before the occurrence. Appellant No.2 Vijaya was a primary school teacher but was unmarried. The other son Shyam was working as an electrician in Ozar a locality about 8 miles away from Nasik. It appears that soon after the marriage of Ashok and Shubhangi their relations became strained and the happiness of the couple was marred by a superstitious belief entertained by Ashok and other members of the family that Shubhangi was a witch and was practising sorcery with the aid of beads, wooden snakes and other articles. It is also alleged and in fact admitted by the accused that Vijaya appellant No. 2 appears to have been possessed of by a spirit of Meeravali Baba. Meeravali Hills situated at a short distance from the place of occurrence contained a Muslim Dargah where an old saint Syed Ishaque Ali Shah had been buried since 1565. It appears from the evidence that Ashok and other members of the family were the devotees of this saint and so deep was the devotion of Vijaya appellant No.2 that she got possessed with the spirit of Meeravali Baba himself. From a letter produced by the prosecution Ext. 55 dated June 10, 1974, the deceased Shubhangi whose maiden name was Pushpa had written to her brother for bringing certain presents on the forthcoming marriage of Shyam. This letter has been used by the prosecution in order to build a suggestion that the family of Ashok tried to make heavy demands for presents and money from the father of the deceased and that may have led to the death of the deceased at the hands of the appellants. We are, however, unable to find any clear or cogent evidence to prove this suggestion. Some stray observations in Ext. 55 cannot lead to the inescapable conclusion that there was any kind of unusual demand by the family of Ashok. We might also mention that few months bef