Bombay high court upholds life sentence of 78-year-old for killing son

The Bombay high court on Tuesday upheld the life imprisonment of a 78-year-old man who murdered his son in 2011.

A division bench of justices VK Tahilramani and BP Colabawalla upheld the conviction of Bhimsha Gurusidha Chendke, who is lodged in Pune's Yerawada prison. The court, while sentencing Chendke, said: "On going through the records, in our opinion, the prosecution has proved its case against the appellant beyond reasonable doubt. Hence, the conviction and sentence of the appellant under section 302 of IPC is maintained, and the appeal is dismissed."

As per the prosecution case, deceased Shivputra was the son of the accused. Shivputra, his wife and son lived together in a village in Solapur. On May 16, 2011, the deceased had visited the village of his
father to attend the funeral of a woman. When the accused and deceased were walking together, a quarrel took place and the accused assaulted the deceased with an axe.

To bring home the guilt of the accused, the prosecution examined eight witnesses. Out of the eight, two were eyewitnesses who reached the spot of the incident hearing the commotion. The trial court also relied on medical evidence which opined that death was due to injuries caused by assaults. Accordingly, the court sentenced him to life imprisonment. This order was challenged in the high court.

The high court, after going through the evidence, noted: "After carefully perusing all the evidence, we are clearly of the view that the prosecution has proved its case beyond reasonable doubt that the appellant assaulted the deceased, Shivputra, with an axe and caused his death."