JUDGMENT :

GOUTAM BHADURI, J.

1. This criminal appeal is filed under Section 374 (2) of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 by the appellant against the impugned judgment of conviction and order of sentence dated 30.11.2019 passed in Session Trial No. 21/2019, by the learned Sessions Judge, Jashpur, District Jashpur (C.G.) whereby the appellant has been convicted for the offence punishable under Section 302 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 (for short ‘the IPC’) and sentenced to undergo imprisonment for life and to pay fine of Rs. 500/- in default of payment of fine to further undergo R.I. for 1 month.

2. As per the case of prosecution on 06.03.2019 a report was lodged at Police Station-Jashpur by Kartik Ram (PW-3), on the basis of information received from Shivcharan Ram, Sandeep Ram and Sankar Ram that the Suganti Bai (since deceased) along with her husband Durga Prasad had gone to graze goats towards Kumbhighat Hill on 5.03.2019 at about 2:00 p.m. but, deceased did not return till late night. So when they went to search for them, Suganti Bai was found dead on the road, she had injuries on her neck; back; and right arm by way of axe which caused profuse bleeding. They stated that the appellant accused Durga Prasad suspecting the fidelity of his wife, as such, he has killed his wife. After such report, inquest was prepared and during inquest, map was also prepared and subsequently post-mortem was conducted wherein the death was found to be homicidal in nature. The appellant/accused was apprehended and on his memorandum, the concealed axe near the incident along with the broken handle was recovered. Another axe was also recovered on the basis of memorandum of accused. On a query being made, the Doctor confirmed that the injury could have been caused by such weapon i.e. axe and since the axe was stained with blood it was sent to F.S.L. along with plain soil, clothes of deceased for examination. According to the FSL report, human blood was found in all items i.e. blood stained weapon recovered at the instance of accused and the clothes of deceased and the blood group on weapon matched with that of deceased. On the basis of medical evidence, FSL report apart from the evidence of last seen theory along with the other evidence, the charge sheet was filed. During the course of trial, the appellant denied his guilt and prayed for trial.

3. On behalf of the prosecution, as many as 14 witnesses were examined and the learned Sessions Judge after evaluating the facts and evidence convicted and sentenced the accused/Appellant as stated above.

4. Learned counsel for the Appellant would submit that there is no full proof evidence to convict the accused and it is only on presumption the appellant has been convicted. He would further submit that on the basis of last seen, statement of father of the deceased Mathura Ram (PW-7) and the recovery of the weapon, the accused has been convicted but the statement of PW-7, the father of the deceased, would show that he has not seen the accused and deceased together before the incident. He would also submit that the weapon was found in open space, therefore, the recovery of weapon cannot also be relied upon and on that basis if the conviction has been made, the same is bad in law, which needs to be corrected by acquittal.

5. Per contra, learned counsel appearing for the State went through the statements of the witnesses, Ravi Prakash Ram (PW-5) and Kaleshwar Ram (PW-6) before whom seizure of incriminating articles was made and would submit that as per the witnesses, at the instance of the accused, the axe was recovered from a nearby place of incident. He further submits that witness Mathura Ram (PW-7) father of the deceased also affirmed the fact that his daughter (deceased) and the appellant accused (husband) together went to graze the goats. He contends that according to the FSL report, the weapon recovered at the instance of accused, presence of human blood was affirmed which matched with the blood group of