The appellate court upheld the trial court's discretion in sentencing, affirming that the findings were just and proper, with no grounds for interference.

JUDGMENT :

Vimal K. Vyas, J.

1. The present appeal has been preferred by the appellant – State under Section 377 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (for short, ‘Cr.P.C.’) and is directed against the judgment and order of conviction and sentence dated 27.12.2023 passed by the learned Sessions Judge, Bhavnagar, in Sessions Case No.11 of 2023.

2. By the aforesaid judgment and order of conviction and sentence, the trial court, after appreciating the evidence on record, held the present respondent-accused guilty and convicted him for the commission of offence punishable under Section 304 Part-II of the Indian Penal Code instead of one under Section 302 of the Indian Penal Code, for which the respondentaccused was charged. Consequently, the trial court sentenced the respondent-accused to suffer rigorous imprisonment for seven years with a fine of Rs.20,000=00, and in default of payment of fine, to undergo further simple imprisonment for one year.

3. The case of the prosecution, in nutshell, is that, on 24.07.2022 at about 2:30 in the afternoon at Derasarvali Sheri Chowk, Nodhanvadar, the present respondent-accused, keeping a grudge over an earlier dispute where a rape case was filed against him by the daughter of the deceased, assaulted the deceased mother of the complainant, namely Manjuben, by giving fisticuffs and caused her death.

4. A complaint (Exh.27) in this regard came to be lodged by the complainant (PW-7) Ramdevbhai @ Ramo Dhudhabhai Gohil, who is the son of the deceased, and on the strength of the complaint, an FIR came to be registered against the present respondent-accused before the Palitana Rural Police Station, Palitana, vide I-CR No.11198041220285 of 2022 for the offence punishable under Section 302 of the Indian Penal Code.

5. Pursuant to the FIR, the investigation was carried out, and during the investigation, the necessary panchnamas were drawn and the statements of the witnesses conversant with the incident were recorded. After the completion of the investigation, chargesheet came to be filed against the present respondent-accused for the offence punishable under Section 302 of the Indian Penal Code before the learned Chief Judicial Magistrate, Palitana. Thereafter, the case was committed before the Sessions Court, Bhavnagar, which was numbered as Sessions Case No.11 of 2023. The learned Sessions Judge framed the Charge vide Exh.7 against the respondent-accused, whereupon the respondentaccused pleaded innocent and claimed to be tried.

6. To bring home the charge, the prosecution has examined 15 witnesses and adduced 29 documentary evidence in support of their case, which are as follow :