Almost eight years after the Bombay high court acquitted two brothers charged with murder and outraging a woman's modesty, the Supreme Court reversed the verdict and held them guilty. The apex court sentenced one of them to life imprisonment, and sent the other behind bars for six months.
Almost eight years after the Bombay high court acquitted two brothers charged with murder and outraging a woman's modesty, the Supreme Court reversed the verdict and held them guilty. The apex court sentenced one of them to life imprisonment, and sent the other behind bars for six months.
The accused, Pravin and Pradip Gadekar, have been told to surrender to undergo their imprisonment. As per the prosecution case, Pravin had married one Sadhana in 1990. After staying in the matrimonial home for five years, on November 6, 1995 she was found with burn injuries.
In her dying declaration given to the police, it was stated that a few days before the incident, Pravin had attempted to rape her and when she narrated the incident to Pradip on his return from Nagpur, he poured kerosene on her and set her on fire.
Before the trial court, the prosecution examined nine witnesses, and accordingly, in 2001, acquitted the mother-in-law of the charge of harassment, but convicted Pravin for outraging the victim's modesty. Pradip was held liable for murder. This order was set aside by the high court by an order in 2007.
The high court while acquitting the accused found discrepancies in the four dying declarations made by the victim before different witnesses. The Maharashtra government challenged this order in the apex court.
A division bench of the apex court after going through the arguments noted, "In the circumstances, the dying declaration is absolutely reliable. On the point that Pradip had set Sadhana ablaze, there is no inconsistency in any of the dying declarations and they, in unison, point the finger at him. The high court was in error in discarding them. The view which weighed with the high court was not even a possible view."
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
)
)
)
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}