Karnataka HC acquits man accused of murdering drunken wife
Bengaluru, Oct 17: A man who killed his drunken wife for not preparing food did not commit murder but culpable homicide, the Karnataka High Court has held and passed an order for his release from jail.
The High Court modified a lower court order by saying, "The prosecution is not able to explain the intention of the accused to commit the murder."
However, there was provocation which enraged the accused to club his wife to death.
"As found from the prosecution evidence, the woman did not prepare the food, that prompted and enraged the accused to take such a drastic step all of a sudden and removed a club from the house and inflicted injuries as part of punishment and there was no intention on his part to cause death," said the High Court.
Therefore, the court held that "the alleged act of the accused comes within the purview of exception-1 to Section 300 of IPC where the death of the woman was 'culpable homicide not amounting to murder.'
Suresha from Mudigere in Chikkamagaluru district approached the High Court with the appeal in 2017.
A Division Bench of Justice K Somashekar and Justice T G Shivashankare Gowda heard the appeal.
The trial court convicted Suresha of murder and sentenced him to life imprisonment in November 2017. Suresha was living separately from his first wife Meenakshi. Another woman Radha, too, had separated from her husband Nanjaiah. Subsequently, Suresha and Radha ended up getting married and had two children.
In 2016, Suresha came back from work on a festival day to find she had not celebrated at that time. She had not cooked food either. She was addicted to drinks and was sleeping. Angry over this, Suresha fatally hit her with a club.
Modifying the conviction and order of sentence of the trial court, the High Court convicted him under section part-II of IPC (culpable homicide not amounting to murder) instead of section 302 of IPC (murder).
The period of six years, 22 days undergone by the accused in incarceration is sufficient for the offence punishable under section 304 part-I of IPC, the High Court said and directed the jail authorities to "set him at liberty forthwith, if he is not required in any other case."
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Mamata’s decision not to quit part of her protest against Centre, EC: Raut
Mumbai (PTI): Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut on Wednesday backed West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s decision not to quit after her defeat in the assembly polls, calling it a part of her protest against the Centre and the Election Commission of India.
Talking to reporters, Raut asserted that it is necessary to unite against the “dictatorship of the Centre and partisan behaviour of the Election Commission”. He said the poll body has become “slaves” of the Centre.
The Opposition has to decide whether it has to contest the polls or not, he said.
“Mamata Banerjee is not resigning is part of her agitation against the government (Centre), the Election Commission (EC) and a series of acts against democracy,” Raut said.
It has to be seen what direction the agitation takes, he added.
Alleging that the West Bengal assembly poll verdict was “not a people's mandate but a conspiracy”, Banerjee on Tuesday refused to resign as chief minister.
The BJP sealed a landslide victory with 207 seats in the 294-member assembly, ending the TMC’s uninterrupted 15-year rule. Banerjee dismissed the outcome as “engineered” and asserted that her party was fighting the Election Commission, not the BJP. The TMC could only manage 80 seats.
In a post on Facebook, Raut said Banerjee’s decision not to quit is fully justified. He also sought to draw a parallel with the 2022 Maharashtra political crisis.
The then Chief Justice of India had observed during hearings on petitions seeking the disqualification of rebel MLAs of the undivided Shiv Sena that Uddhav Thackeray, who headed the party at the time, could have been reinstated as chief minister had he not resigned, Raut said.
The Rajya Sabha MP said Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray had called up Banerjee after the polls and extended support. Almost all INDIA bloc leaders have called Banerjee and extended their support to her.
“We have to come together if we have to unite against the dictatorship of the Centre and the partisan behaviour of the EC or the way the poll body has become slaves of the government,” Raut said.
He claimed that even many in the government do not agree with the “degradation of democracy”.
