The main legal point established in the judgment is the application of Exception 4 to Section 300 of IPC and the determination of the appropriate conviction under Section 304 Part-I of IPC based on the nature of the assault and the intent of the appellant.

V.K. Tahilramani, J.

1. This appeal is preferred by the appellant-original accused against the judgment and order dated 20.12.2010 passed by the learned Adhoc Additional Sessions Judge, Islampur in Sessions Case No. 39 of 2009. By the said judgment and order, the learned Sessions Judge convicted the appellant under Section 302 of IPC and sentenced him to R.I. for life and fine of Rs.5000/- in default R.I. for six months.

2. The prosecution case, briefly stated, is as under:

The appellant was a wrestler. Deceased Ramchandra alias 'Kondya' was also a wrestler. The incident took place on 31.5.2009 in front of Government godown at Islampur, Dist. Sangli. At about 7.15 p.m. a quarrel took place between the appellant and the deceased on account of loan given by the appellant to the deceased. During the course of quarrel, the appellant picked up a "Rapi" from the shop of Cobbler which was at the spot. Thereafter, the appellant assaulted Ramchandra with the "Rapi" on the neck and other parts of the body. Ramchandra died due to the said assault. F.I.R. was lodged by PW 9 Manik Bhauso Patil who is the brother of the deceased Ramchandra. Thereafter investigation commenced. The dead body of Ramchandra was sent for post-mortem. Though a number of injuries were found on the body of Ramchandra, in the opinion of Dr. Madane who conducted the post-mortem, the cause of death was "due to hemorrhagic shock due to incised wound on neck cutting carotid trunk on left side". After completion of investigation, the charge sheet came to be filed.

3. Charge came to be framed against the appellant under Section 302 of IPC. The appellant pleaded not guilty to the said charge and claimed to be tried. The defence of the appellant is that of total denial and false implication. After going through the evidence adduced in the present case, the learned Judge convicted and sentenced the appellant as stated in para 1 above, hence, this appeal.

4. We have heard the learned counsel for the appellant and the learned A.P.P. for the State. After giving our anxious consideration to the facts and circumstances of the case, arguments advanced by the learned counsel for the parties, the judgment delivered by the learned Judge and the evidence on record, for the below mentioned reasons, we are of the opinion that the appellant assaulted Ramchandra with "Rapi" which led to the death of Ramchandra.

5. In order to support the conviction, the prosecution has relied on the evidence of PW 8 Shrirang Patil who is an eye witness to the incident. Though three other eye witnesses have been examined by the prosecution, their evidence is of no use to the prosecution as they have not supported the case of prosecution. Thus, as far as the actual assault is concerned, we have to rely only on the evidence of PW 8 Shrirang. Shrirang has stated that the appellant and the deceased were both wrestlers. On 31.5.2009, he purchased vegetables from the Bazar. When he came infront of Govt. godown, he saw that exchange of words was going on between the appellant and the deceased. He went to the spot to see. He saw that a quarrel was going on between the appellant and the deceased. He asked the appellant what has happened, but the appellant did not answer. Thereafter, the appellant picked up "Rapi" from the stall of a Cobbler. Then the appellant gave blow with the "Rapi" on the neck of Ramchandra. Blood started oozing from the neck. PW 8 Shrirang got frightened and left the spot. Nothing has been elicited in the cross-examination of PW 8 Shrirang to cause us to disbelieve his evidence. We are of the opinion that his evidence is trustworthy, hence, we have no hesitation in relying on the same.

6. That the appellant assaulted deceased Ramchandra with "Rapi" and caused his death, is further corroborated by the evidence of PW 11 Dr. Madane who performed postmortem on the dead body of Ramchandra. The main three injuries noted by Dr. Madane, are as under:

"(1) Incised wound left side of the neck, in the