JUDGMENT

A.M. Badar, J. (Oral) - By this appeal, the appellant/accused is challenging the Judgment and Order dated 29/04/2017 passed by the learned Assistant Sessions Judge, Kolhapur in Sessions Case No.155 of 2016 thereby convicting him of the offences punishable under Section 498(A) of the Indian Penal Code as well as under Section 306 thereof. On first count, he is sentenced to suffer rigorous imprisonment for two years apart from payment of fine for Rs. 1,000/- and default sentence of rigorous imprisonment for three months. On the other count, the appellant/accused is sentenced to suffer rigorous imprisonment for five years apart from directing him to pay fine of Rs. 1,000/-and to undergo rigorous imprisonment for three months in default thereof. Substantive sentences are directed to run concurrently by the learned trial Court. The appeal is taken up for final hearing in the light of the fact that the appellant/accused is undergoing jail sentence imposed on him from 04/09/2016 and despite Order dated 22/08/2017 releasing him on bail, passed by this Court (Coram : Smt.Anuja Prabhudessai, J.), he could not secure his release as he is unable to furnish surety.

2. Facts leading to the prosecution of the appellant/accused and his resultant conviction can be summarized thus :

(a) Appellant/accused Mohan Kesade married Sushila, who is daughter of First Informant/P.W.No.1 Indu Kamble prior to seventeen years of the incident of commission of suicide by Sushila. After marriage, Sushila started cohabitation with the appellant/accused at village Kini in Hatkanangale Taluka of Kolhapur District. Marriage of Sushila with the appellant/accused was a love marriage. P.W.No.1/Indu Kamble also started residing at Kini thereafter.

(b) According to the prosecution case, the appellant/accused was addicted to liquor. He used to suspect character of his wife Sushila. As such, he used to quarrel with her and frequently used to beat her. Out of this wedlock, the couple was blessed with two daughters namely P.W.No.2 Megha Vadgave and P.W.No.4 Mayuri Kesade. Son of the couple was mentally retarded and he was admitted in the residential Special School.

(c) The incident in question took place on 16/04/2015 at the residential house of the couple. The appellant/accused returned home in the evening hours of that day after consuming liquor. He quarreled with his wife Sushila and uttered that Sushila should get herself incinerated and he no longer requires her company. Being fed up with the constant harassment and beating as a result of suspicion about her character by the appellant/accused, Sushila indulged in effacement by pouring kerosene on her person and setting her ablaze. She sustained severe burns and was then admitted to C.P.R. Hospital, Kolhapur.

(d) Upon getting information about sustaining burns by Sushila, her mother P.W.No.1 Indu Kamble went to the C.P.R. Hospital, Kolhapur and heard dying declaration of her daughter Sushila. P.W.No.1 Megha Vadgave, married daughter of Sushila also visited that hospital and heard dying declaration of her mother Sushila.

(e) On getting intimation about admission of Sushila with burn injuries to C.P.R. Hospital, Kolhapur, P.W.No.6 Anant Gurav, Nayab Tahsildar was summoned and he initially recorded dying declaration (Exhibit 26) of Sushila on 17/04/2015. All these oral as well as officially recorded dying declarations are to the effect that because of constant harassment by the appellant/accused, Sushila got herself burnt by pouring kerosene on her person.

(f) During course of medical treatment, Sushila Mohan Kesade succumbed to burn injuries on 21/04/2015. Her mother P.W.No.1 Indu Kamble then lodged report of the incident on 28/04/2016. Accordingly, Crime No.115 of 2015 for offences punishable under Section 306 and 498(A) of the Indian Penal Code came to be registered against the appellant/accused.

(g) Routine investigation followed. The Investigating Officer collected papers of postmortem examination of Sushila.