IN THE HIGH COURT OF GUJARAT AT AHMEDABAD R/CRIMINAL APPEAL (AGAINST CONVICTION) NO. 1326 of 2014 FOR APPROVAL AND SIGNATURE:

HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE ILESH J. VORA and HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE R. T. VACHHANI ==========================================================

Approved for Reporting Yes No Yes --

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MAHENDRAKUMAR NARANBHAI JADHAV Versus STATE OF GUJARAT ==========================================================

Appearance:

HCLS COMMITTEE(4998) for the Appellant(s) No. 1 MR MIHIR H PATHAK(5261) for the Appellant(s) No. 1 MR RONAK RAVAL, APP for the Opponent(s)/Respondent(s) No. 1 ==========================================================

CORAM:HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE ILESH J. VORA and HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE R. T. VACHHANI Date : 15/12/2025

ORAL JUDGMENT

(PER : HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE ILESH J. VORA)

1. This conviction appeal is filed by the appellant sole accused-Mahendra Jadav, against the judgment of conviction and order of sentence dated 2.11.2012, passed by the City Sessions Court, Ahmedabad, in Sessions Case No.308 of 2011, wherein, the appellant came to be tried for the offences punishable under Sections 302, 307 of Indian Penal Code and Section 135 of the Bombay Police Act. The appellant came to be convicted and sentenced as tabulated hereunder:-

Conviction Punishme Fine In default under Section nt of

302 of IPC Life Rs. 500/- 3 month RI Imprisonm ent

324 of IPC 1 year RI Rs. 500/- 3 month RI

2. Brief facts which are necessary to dispose of the present appeal are in nutshell as under:-

3. The appellant-accused had killed his father-in-law Meghram, when the deceased was cultivating his farm. According to prosecution case, the deceased was harassing the accused saying that he did not sincerely worked of his office and used to remain absent. The accused keeping the grudge in his mind about the conduct and attitude of his father-in-law, on 18.2.2011, stabbed multiple times the deceased with the knife. The brother of the deceased, PW-5, Magan Maheria, after seeing the incident, rushed to the place and when he intervened to save the deceased, he also stabbed by the accused-appellant on his head and other parts of the body. The incident was also seen by neighbour, PW-4, Vinu Makwana, who was present in his house and from the backyard of the house he could see the incident. In such circumstances, the deceased was immediately taken to the nearby hospital and he was declared dead. The injured, PW-5 was also treated by the concerned doctor of the hospital. The FIR came to be lodged by the brother of the deceased, PW-5. The IO of the Vatva Police Station, Ahmedabad, (PW-7), during the course of investigation, drew the panchnama of place of occurrence and collected necessary samples for forensic science analysis, sent the dead body of postmortem, recorded the statements of the witnesses, arrested the accused and sent the seized articles to the FSl for analysis and after completion of investigation, he led the charge sheet before the Metro Court, Ahmedabad, who committed the case to the Sessions Court, Ahmedabad.

4. After framing of the charge and upon the accused pleaded not guilty, the trial commenced before the Additional City Sessions Court, Ahmedabad.

5. In order to prove the charge, the prosecution has examined as many as seven witnesses and relied upon the following exhibited documents.

Oral evidence:-

Documentary evidence:-

6. After closure of the prosecution evidence, the appellant accused was questioned under Section 313 of Criminal Procedure Code, in which he stated that he was innocent and being falsely implicated in the offence. He has further claimed that he sincerely performed his duty and he never come into confrontation with his father-in-law, wife and other family members. On his mental illness, he has stated that he is on medication.

7. Though opportunity was extended, no evidence being tendered from the side of the appellant-accused.

8. The learned Sessions Judge, after hear