The importance of proving guilt beyond all reasonable doubt in cases relying on circumstantial evidence.

JUDGMENT :

V.G.BISHT, J.

1. This appeal has been preferred against the judgment of conviction and order of sentence passed by the learned Additional Sessions Judge, Mangaon, District – Raigad in Sessions Case No. 22 of 2015 convicting the appellant-accused for the offence punishable under Section 302 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and sentencing him to undergo imprisonment for life and to pay fine of Rs.1,000/- (Rupees One Thousand Only), in default, to further suffer simple imprisonment for one month. However, the learned Additional Sessions Judge acquitted the appellant-accused of the offence punishable under Section 304-B of the IPC.

2. In short, the prosecution case runs as under :-

(a) Informant’s daughter, namely, Khairunisa Parvez Dalvi (since deceased) was married to the appellant. It is the case of the prosecution that on 6th March, 2015 at about 9.30 pm., the brother-in-law of deceased called informant and informed him that his daughter had been to his house but did not return. However, informant-father replied that the deceased had not come to his residence. The informant alongwith his wife immediately went to the matrimonial house of the deceased, which was locked. From there, they went to the house of in-laws of the deceased.

(b) According to the prosecution, the informant later on visited Masaba Police Station and from there went to Shrivardhan Government Hospital and saw the dead bodies of the deceased and grandson Abdul Aziz. The informant lodged an FIR against the appellant, which was registered by Shrivardhan Police Station under C.R. No. 11 of 2015 for the offences punishable under Sections 302 and 304-B of the IPC.

(c) The prosecution alleges that the appellant often used to torture the deceased in order to compel her to bring monies and also used to threaten to kill her. Considering the conduct of the appellant, the informant alleged that it was the appellant, who had killed the deceased and his grandson with the help of some of his associates at Shrivardhan beach by drowning them in water.

(d) After registration of the above crime, the investigation was taken up by PW-7 Maheshwar Reddy, the then Additional S.P. Gadchiroli. PW-7 investigating officer got autopsy done over the dead bodies of the deceased and her son, recorded statements of the prosecution witnesses and also conducted Test Identification Parade of the appellant. PW-7 investigating officer also collected the Chemical Analyzer Reports, CDR and CCTV footages. According to him, during the course of investigation, it transpired that the appellant had murdered both the victims i.e. wife and his son. After completion of investigation, he forwarded the chargesheet against the appellant-accused under Sections 302 and 304 -B of the IPC and the case was committed to the Court of Sessions, Mangaon, District Raigad.

(e) To substantiate the charge against the appellant-accused, the prosecution has examined as many as eight witnesses and exhibited number of documents. The accused was questioned under Section 313 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (Cr.P.C.)about the incriminating evidence and circumstances and the appellant-accused denied all of them as false and pleaded that a false case has been filed against him and that on the ground of suspicion, he has been arrested. According to him, he did not commit the murder of his wife and son. Upon appreciation of the oral evidence and the circumstances, the trial Court convicted the appellant-accused for the offence punishable under Section 302 of the IPC and sentenced him in the manner stated hereinabove. Hence, this appeal.

3. At the outset, Mr. Vagal, learned Counsel for the appellant-accused, submits that the delay in filing the FIR has not been explained by the prosecution and therefore, on this ground alone, the prosecution case is liable to be rejected. Learned Counsel then next submits that the only ground for conviction of the appellant is the testimony of PW-6, who claimed of having seen the deceased persons