Evidentiary value of eyewitness testimony can support a conviction even if the witness is related to the victim, provided the testimony is credible and corroborated by additional evidence.

JUDGMENT :

(RAJESH RAI K., J.)

This appeal is directed against the judgment of conviction dated 06.02.2023 and order of sentence dated 07.02.2023 passed in Sessions Case No.393/2017 by the VII Addl. Sessions Judge, Belagavi, Sitting at Chikkodi (hereinafter referred to as the ‘learned Sessions Judge’), whereby the learned Sessions Judge convicted the accused for the offences punishable under Section s 341 , 504 and 302 of IPC and sentenced him to undergo simple imprisonment for a period of one month and to pay a fine of Rs.500/-, in default of payment of fine, to undergo simple imprisonment for a period of five days for the offence punishable under Section 341 of IPC . He further sentenced to undergo simple imprisonment for a period of six months and to pay a fine of Rs.2,500/-, in default of payment of fine, to undergo simple imprisonment for a period of three months for the offence punishable under Section 504 of IPC . The accused was also sentenced to undergo imprisonment for life and to pay fine of Rs.15,000/-, in default of payment of fine, to undergo simple imprisonment for a period of one year for the offence punishable under Section 302 of IPC . It is directed that all the substantive sentence shall run concurrently.

2. Briefly stated, the facts of the case are as follows :

The deceased-Annappa in the instant case is the husband of PW.3-complainant. The deceased-Annappa and accused- Bhimanna Bharamu Chipparagi were working in a glass factory at Gujarat. The accused was addicted to alcohol. Later, on one day the accused sustained head injury during the course of his employment in the said glass factory. The deceased provided medical aid to the accused to recover from his injury. Thus, the deceased became close with the family of accused. As days passed, the accused started suspecting that the deceased had illicit affair with his wife. Thus on several occasions, the accused called the deceased and threatened him with dire consequence and threatened to kill him. On 18.07.2017, the deceased-Annappa and his wife-PW.3 along with their children had been to their native Jayasingpur and on the following day i.e., on 19.07.2017, the deceased and his wife were returning to their house on a motorcycle bearing Registration No.MH-09- EN-3716 after visiting their land. Whey they reached near the land of accused, he stood in the middle of the road with an axe in hand and intercepted the motorcycle ridden by the deceased and abused him in filthy language and assaulted him on his head with the axe-M.O.3. As a result, the deceased and his wife-PW.3 fell on the road. Thereafter, accused gave repeated blows to the deceased with the axe. Though PW.3 attempted to rescue her husband, the accused angrily gazed at her. On hearing her grief and painfulness, PWs.7 and 8 came to the spot. The accused fled away from the spot after seeing PWs.7 and 8. Due to the assault, the deceased succumbed to the injuries on the spot. Later, PW.3 lodged the complaint against the accused before the respondent-Police as per Ex.P5 on the same day i.e., on 19.07.2017 at about 02:00 p.m. On the strength of Ex.P5, FIR came to be registered against the accused in Crime No.290/2017 dated 19.07.2017 for the offences punishable under Sections 302 , 341 and 504 of IPC as per Ex.P12. Subsequently, Investigating Officer-PW.17 investigated the case by drawing relevant mahazars, recording the statement of witnesses and on obtaining necessary documents from the concerned authorities, laid the charge- sheet against the accused before the committal Court for the aforementioned offences.

3. Post committal of the case before the Sessions Court, the learned Sessions Judge framed charges against