2026:CGHC:5683-DB NAFR ROHIT KUMAR HIGH COURT OF CHHATTISGARH AT BILASPUR CHANDRA Digitally signed by ROHIT KUMAR CRA No. 443 of 2021 CHANDRA Santkumar Dhidhi S/o Late Namdev Dhidhi, aged about 37 years R/o Satnamipara Village Amsena, P.S. Arang, District Raipur Chhattisgarh ... Appellant versus State of Chhattisgarh, Through P.S. Arang, District Raipur Chhattisgarh.

... Respondent For Appellant : Mr. Saurabh Dangi, Advocate For Respondent/State : Mr. Priyank Rathi, Govt. Advocate Hon'ble Shri Ramesh Sinha, Chief Justice Hon'ble Shri Ravindra Kumar Agrawal , Judge Judgment on Board Per Ramesh Sinha , Chief Justice

02 . 02 .202 6

1. This criminal appeal preferred under Section 374(2) of the Cr.P.C.

is directed against the impugned judgment of conviction and order of sentence dated 12.02.2021 passed by the learned Sessions Judge, Raipur, District – Raipur (C.G.) in Sessions Trial No. 118 of 2019, by which the appellant has been convicted for offence punishable under Section 302 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and sentenced to undergo life imprisonment and fine of Rs.1,000/-, in default of payment of fine, additional rigorous imprisonment for 03 months.

2. The prosecution's case, in brief, is that the accused, Santkumar Bidhi, resides in the village of Amsena, Police Station Arang, District Raipur, with his wife, Sunita Bidhi, son Vivek Bidhi, and daughter Jharna Bidhi. He is an alcoholic and frequently quarrels with his wife after drinking. He objected to his wife Sunita Bidhi talking on the mobile phone and doubted her character. In connection with this incident, about a year prior to the incident, during Diwali, the accused assaulted his wife Sunita with a stick, causing Sunita to move to her maternal uncle's house in Birgaon, Raipur, where she stayed for about a year. During that time, the accused's son and daughter lived with their grandfather, Santosh, and subsequently began living with the accused. On 26.03.2019, around 8:00 p.m., after dinner, the family and their children had gone to sleep. At that very moment, a fight broke out between the accused, Santosh Dhidhi, and his wife, Sunita. The accused, armed with an axe, was threatening his wife, Sunita, by threatening to slit her throat or slit her throat. His son, Vivek, and daughter, Jharna, were terrified and sleeping in bed. At around 3:00 a.m., the accused threatened his wife, Sunita, by striking her in the stomach and then in the neck with the handle of the axe. Vivek and Jharna were then threatened and chased away by the accused, who then went to their grandmother, Urmila, to tell her about the incident. Later that morning, they along with their elder father, Ubaran, and other villagers went to their home and found their mother, Sunita, lying dead in a pool of blood, with injuries to her neck and head. The incident was reported to the police, who then arrived at the scene.

3. Subsequently, on the information by the accused's son, Vivek Beedhi regarding death of deceased Sunita, a Dehati Nalishi (Ex.P-16) and an unnumbered Merg Intimation (Ex.P-17) were registered at the scene. In this regard, a case regarding untimely and accidental death was registered under Section 174 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC), inquest number 35/2019, at Police Station Arang, which is Ex.P-23. After summoning the witnesses vide notice (Ex.P-1) inquest over the dead body of the deceased was prepared in the presence of witnesses vide Ex.P-2. The deceased's body was sent to the Community Health Center, Arang, for an autopsy. The application for the inquest is Ex.P-10, and the postmortem report is Ex.P-13. Blood-soaked soil, plain soil, a blood-soaked bedsheet, a blood-soaked lungi, and pieces of a bangle worn by the deceased were seized from the place of incident in the presence of witnesses, as per the seizure memo (Ex.P-5). In this regard, First Information Report (FIR) Ex.P-22 was registered in Police Station Arang for bearing Crime No.

199/2019, under Section-302, 506 of IPC.

4. During t