IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT BOMBAY CRIMINAL APPELLATE JURISDICTION CRIMINAL APPEAL NO.410 OF 2018 Balasaheb Maruti Baswant …..Appellant Versus The State of Maharashtra .….Respondent …..

WITH INTERIM APPLICATION NO.490 OF 2023 IN CRIMINAL APPEAL NO.410 OF 2018 …..

INTERIM APPLICATION NO.5341 OF 2024 IN CRIMINAL APPEAL NO.410 OF 2018 -----

Ms. Nasreen Ayubi, Advocate for the Appellant.

Mr. Avinash A. Naik, APP for the Respondent-State.

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CORAM : SARANG V. KOTWAL &

SHYAM C. CHANDAK, JJ.

DATE : 13^th JUNE, 2025 ORAL JUDGMENT : [PER SARANG V. KOTWAL, J.]

1. The Appellant has challenged the judgment and order dated 9.1.2018 passed by the Additional Sessions Judge, Thane in Sessions Case No.356/2014. The Appellant was convicted for commission of the offence punishable under Section 302 of IPC and he was sentenced to suffer life imprisonment and to pay a fine of

Deshmane(PS)

Rs.10,000/- and in default to suffer RI for three months. The amount of fine, if recovered, was directed to be paid to the children of the victim.

2. Heard Ms. Nasreen Ayubi, learned counsel for the Appellant and Mr. Avinash A. Naik, learned APP for the Respondent-State.

3. The prosecution case is that the Appellant was residing with his wife Shobha and two sons Ashish and Atul. The Appellant was addicted to liquor. On 21.12.2013, when the Appellant came back to his house, he started scolding his elder son regarding his non-attendance in the school . The Appellant’s wife Shobha tried to intervene. The Appellant then tied both his sons with dupattas. He poured kerosene on Shobha and set her on fire. He ran away from the house. The sons somehow untied the dupattas and tried to extinguish the fire. One of them, went to their maternal uncle’s place, who was residing in the neighborhood and informed him about the incident. He came to the spot. They took Shobha - first to the police station, and then, to the civil hospital. She was admitted to the hospital in the midnight. The Police Inspector tried to record her statement in the night but at that time she was not in a position to give any statement as she was unconscious. She regained her consciousness the next morning. The Police Inspector then informed the S.E.M. Waghmare and requested him to record the statement. The Police Inspector as well as the Special Executive Magistrate recorded her dying declarations in the afternoon. She had suffered injuries to the extent of 94%. Ultimately she succumbed to her injuries. The statement recorded by the police was treated as an FIR and the investigation was carried out. The appellant had absconded. The postmortem examination was conducted. The cause of death was mentioned as ‘Septicemic Shock in a case of 94% superficial to deep burns’. The spot panchnama was conducted. The statements of the witnesses were recorded. The Appellant was arrested after a few days from Barshi, District- Solapur. At the conclusion of the investigation, the charge sheet was filed.

4. The prosecution examined 10 witnesses during the trial. There was direct evidence in the form of depositions of the Appellant’s sons who were the eyewitnesses. There were two written dying declarations – one was recorded by the Police Officer; and the other was recorded by the S.E.M.. The doctor, who had examined the deceased before recording of the dying declaration was examined by the prosecution during the trial . The medical officer who had conducted the postmortem examination was examined. The articles were sent for Chemical Analysis. The C.A. reports were produced on record. The investigating officer was also examined.

5. The defence of the Appellant was of total denial. In answer to a question put under Section 313 of Cr.P.C. he stated that he was sleeping in the house at the time of the incident after consuming liquor. Due to shouts he woke up and saw that his wife was set on fire. Therefore, he made an attempt to extinguish the fire and in that attempt had sustained burn injuries to his hand. Apart from that, the