JUDGMENT :

(Urmila Joshi-Phalke, J.)

1. By this appeal, appellants have challenged the judgment and order of conviction dated 20.3.2019 passed by learned Additional Sessions Judge, Pusad (learned Judge below) in Sessions Trial Case No.59/2015 whereby trial court convicted the appellants of the offence punishable under Section 302 read with Section 34 of the Indian Penal Code. The appellants are also convicted and sentenced to suffer imprisonment for life. The Appellants are also convicted of the offence punishable under Section 201 read with Section 34 of the Indian Penal Code, and sentenced to suffer simple imprisonment for six months and to pay fine Rs.1000/- by each of them and in default of payment of the fine amount to suffer simple imprisonment for two months. The Appellants are further convicted of the offence punishable under Section 203 read with Section 34 of the Indian Penal Code, and sentenced to suffer simple imprisonment for three months and to pay fine Rs.500/- by each of them and in default of payment of the fine amount to suffer simple imprisonment for one month.

Learned Judge below also given the benefit of set-off under Section 428 of the Code of Criminal Procedure since they were in jail.

However, learned Judge below acquitted appellants of offences punishable under Sections 498-A and 304-B read with Section 34 of the Indian Penal Code.

2. Facts of the prosecution case in brief are as follows:

Deceased Ashvini, wife of accused No.1, is daughter of informant Madhukar Bhika Jadhav. The marriage of the deceased with accused No.1 was solemnized two months prior to the incident dated 6.7.2015. Accused No.2 Chaya is also elder daughter of the informant and sister-in-law of accused No.1. Her marriage with accused No.1’s brother namely Suresh was performed in the year 2011.

3. On 6.7.2015, in the morning, at about 10:00 am, the first informant had been to his agricultural field along with his elder son-in-law Suresh (husband of accused No.2 Chaya). When he was returning from his field, at about 6:00 pm, daughter of one Vasanta Tara Rathod of his village informed him that his daughter is lying on bed and nobody knows what happened to her. Immediately, he reached at the house of accused No.1 and saw the deceased lying on the bed. One electric wire was also lying near her body. The Elder daughter of the informant i.e. accused No.2 informed him that accused No.1 Prem, his parents and uncle in collusion, must have killed the deceased for illegal demands of money. It is alleged by the informant that after 7-8 days of marriage of the deceased with accused No.1, she complained about beating by demanding money from parents. They gave understanding to accused No.1 not to ill-treat the deceased, but even after 15 days, she was assaulted by accused No.1. The Members of the Gram Panchayat also gave understanding to accused No.1, but there was no change in the behaviour of accused No.1. After noticing the death of the deceased, he lodged the report against accused No.1.

4. Before lodging of the report by the informant, The Police Officer of Pusad Rural Police Station received a death memo from Medical Officer Bhelonde who informed about the death of the deceased. The said memo was delivered to the police station by ward boy Nandu Tukaram Sarane. As per the memo, the deceased was brought dead to the hospital by her husband Prem Rathod, that is accused No.1. On the basis of the said memo, initially merg report bearing No.22/2015 was registered. After registration of the merg report, on the next day, inquest panchanama was drawn on the dead body of the deceased. During inquest panchanama, the Investigating Officer and panchas noticed injuries on left cheek, left neck, injury below right ear, and middle portion of the neck. They also noticed the blackish mark on the body of the deceased. The Investigating Officer also visited the alleg