Supreme Court Upholds Life Imprisonment For Man Accused Of Murdering His Pregnant Wife

The Supreme Court dismissed the appeal filed by a man convicted for murdering his pregnant wife.

According to prosecution, on the night of 29th October, 2005, while he was quarrelling with his wife, the accused picked up a log from the house and beaten her and caused internal injury in her stomach and murdered her. He himself took her to the hospital and made a false statement that she suffered a cardiac arrest but after the autopsy was conducted on the body of the deceased, it was opined that she died out of shock and haemorrhage due to thoracic injuries. The Trial Court convicted him under Section 302 of the Indian Penal Code and sentenced him to life imprisonment. The High Court later upheld the Trial Court judgment.

In appeal, the Apex court bench comprising Justices Ashok Bhushan and Ajay Rastogi observed that the prosecution has established in a chain of events leave no matter of doubt that it is none other than the accused who had committed the crime of murdering his own wife who was at the advanced stage of pregnancy, and taken the dead body to the hospital and made a false statement that she had got a cardiac arrest.

"Initially, the FIR was registered on suspicion but after the autopsy on the body of the 10 deceased was conducted, taking note of the post-mortem report, a case under Section 302 IPC was registered. Such incriminating links of facts could, if at all, have been explained by the appellant and nobody else, they being personally and exclusively within his knowledge. Of late, Courts have, from the falsity of the defence plea and false answers given to Court, when questioned, found the missing links to be supplied by such answers for completing the chain of incriminating circumstances necessary to connect the person concerned with the crime committed.", the court said.

The court observed that the incriminating circumstances pointed out in this case are sufficient with reasonable certainty on the established facts, which connect the accused with the commission of crime of committing the murder of his own wife.

"The present case squarely rests on circumstantial evidence where the death has been caused by homicidal violence and the appellant who had himself taken the deceased to the hospital and made a false statement to the Doctor that she had suffered a cardiac arrest which was found to be false after the postmortem report was received and the nature of injuries which were attributed on the body of the deceased of which a reference has been made clearly establish that it is the case where none other than the accused appellant has committed a commission of crime with intention to commit the murder of his own wife who was at the advanced stage of pregnancy.", the court observed while dismissing his appeal.

CASE: R. DAMODARAN vs. STATE [CRIMINAL APPEAL NO.1008 OF 2010]

CORAM: Justices Ashok Bhushan and Ajay Rastogi

CITATION: LL 2021 SC 108

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