The prosecution must prove the accused's intent to kill beyond reasonable doubt to secure a conviction under Section 307 IPC, which was not met in this case.

JUDGMENT :

MAULIK J. SHELAT, J.

1. The present appeal has been filed by the State under Section 378 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973, against the judgement and order dated 4th December, 2003 passed by the 2nd Fast Track Judge, Amreli (hereinafter referred to as “Trial Court”) in Sessions Case No. 40 of 2003. By way of the impugned judgement and order, the accused has been acquitted under Section-307 of the INDIAN PENAL CODE , 1860 (hereinafter referred to as “IPC”) by the Trial Court.

2. The short facts of the prosecution case are as under:

3. It is the case of the prosecution that on 29.05.2003, the parents of complainant-Madhaviben Rameshbhai Pandya, had gone to Dhari Kharkhare while her brother Mehul was at his shop and only her elder mother Kashiben and the complainant were present at home at that time, as her two other sisters had gone to their maternal uncle's house in Visavadar.

4. On the same day at about 10:30 in the morning, while the complainant was working in the courtyard and her elder mother Kashiben was inside the house, the accused Sanjay Laxmishankar alias Babubhai Joshi came and asked about the whereabouts of Vandana, who is the sister of complainant. When the complainant replied that Vandana had gone to their uncle's house and further informed that her parents had gone to Dhari, the accused suddenly locked the main door of the house. He then took out a sickle from his bag and inflicted two cuts on the complainant's neck - one on the left side and another on the right side, with the left side injury also affecting her ear. On hearing her screams, her elder mother came and opened the door while raising an alarm, following which neighbors including Vijayaben, Kailasben and Manjuben gathered and took the complainant to the hospital in an auto-rickshaw. Meanwhile, the accused hid himself in a room of the house which was subsequently locked from outside by neighbor Kailasben. The incident allegedly occurred because the accused was previously engaged to the complainant's sister Vandana, but such engagement was cancelled.

5. The complainant has lodged the complaint against the accused in Amreli City Police Station, registered Ist C.R. No.69/2003. After recording statement of the complainant and other witnesses and upon completion of investigation, the accused was arrested and charge-sheeted for the alleged offence committed by him under Section-307 of IPC. Later on, the case was committed to the Trial Court for conducting the trial as per provisions of Cr.P.C. and charge (Exh.2) was framed by the Trial Court.

6. To prove the case against the accused, the prosecution led the following oral and documentary evidence:

Oral Evidences of Prosecution

Documentary Evidences of Prosecution