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IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT BOMBAY

CRIMINAL APPELLATE JURISDICTION

CRIMINAL APPEAL No. 594 OF 2007

Baliram Madhukar Dalvi, )

Appellant

Convict No. 10514, Age

)

( Original

45 years,

)

Accused No.3)

Circle : 1/7 YCP, Pune-6. )

(Through Jail)

Vs.

State of Maharashtra

)

Respondent

Kum. Rebeca Gonsalves, advocate appointed for

appellant.

Smt. U. V. Kejariwal, APP for the for

Respondent.

CORAM : SRI R.M.S. KHANDEPARKAR &

SRI A. A. SAYED, JJ.

DATE : DECEMBER 5, 2007.

ORAL JUDGMENT [Per Sri R.M.S. KHANDEPARKAR, J.]

.

This is an appeal filed from jail by a

person

who

was

made

to

face

the

trial

without

assistance

of

any

lawyer

or

any

sort

of

legal

aid

before

the

Sessions

Court,

in

spite

of

full

knowledge

about

the

same

to

the

concerned

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presiding

officer

of

the

Sessions

Court

as

well

as

the

learned

prosecutor

before

the

Sessions

Court.

The

appellant

has

been

convicted

under

Section

302

of

I.P.C.

and

has

been

sentenced

to

undergo

imprisonment

for

life

and

to

pay

fine

of

Rs. 2,000/-, in default to suffer rigorous

imprisonment for six months.

2.

The appellant was sought to be charged

under

Section

302,

323,

120-B

read

with

section

34

of

I.P.C.,

on

the

ground

that

he

along

with

three

others

on

10th

February

1997

at

about

5

p.m.

within

the

limits

of

village

Mhasewadi,

taluka

Manegaon,

district

Raigad,

in

furtherence

of

common

intention

committed

murder

by

intentionally

or

knowingly

causing

death

of

one

Shankar

Babu

Shelar

and

voluntarily

causing

hurt

to

Chandana

Chandrakant

Shelar.

The

charge

in

that

regard

was

framed

by

Shri

S.D.

Mohod,

then

Sessions

Judge

at

Raigad-Alibag

in

Sessions

Case

No.

96

of

1997

on

14th

February

1998.

The

appellant

was

in

fact

arrested

on

13th

February

1997

itself.

The

appellant

pleaded

not

guilty

to

the

charge.

Recording

of

evidence

commenced

on

20th

April

1998

The

prosecution

examined

9

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witnesses

and

the

recording

of

last

witness

was

concluded

on

17th

July

1998,

while

same

judicial

officer

was

presiding

over

the

Sessions

Court

Raigad

all

throughout.

By

judgment

dated

15th

February

1999,

the

same

Sessions

Judge

acquitted

other three accused, while convicting the

appellant herein under Section 302 of I.P.C.

3.

The appellant preferred appeal through

Jail.

When

the

same

came

up

for

hearing

on

admission

24th

August

2007,

as

the

appellant

was

not

represented

by

the

advocate,

the

registry

was

directed

to

appoint

an

advocate

from

the

panel

of

advocates

prepared

for

legal

aid

service.

Accordingly

Shri

Rajan

Salvi

advocate

came

to

be

appointed

as

advocate

for

the

appellant

from

the

legal

aid

pannel.

The

matter

was

thereafter

fixed

for

admission

on

5th

October

2007.

Accordingly,

when

the

matter

came

up

for

hearing

on

5th

October

2007,

none

appeared

for

the

appellant.

Since

the

record

disclosed

that

Shri

Rajan

Salvi,

advocate,

was

appointed

and

as

he

had

failed

to

appear

for

the

appellant,

the

office

was

directed

to

appoint

Kum.

Rebeca

Gonsalves

to

represent

the

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appellant. Matter was then adjourned to 19th

October 2007.

4.

When the matter came up for hearing on

19th

October

2007,

since

the

R

&

P

was

received

at

that

time,

in

order

to

enable

the

advocate

for

the

appellant

to