A man convicted of murdering his wife and awarded the life sentence was given a breather by the Bombay High Court which reduced his punishment to 10 years, observing that the act was a result of provocation which had left his “pride wounded”.
The accused had killed his wife using a knife inflicting 26 stab and incised wounds.
A Bench of Justices Sadhana Jadhav and Prithviraj Chavan noted that before the crime, the couple indulged in a quarrel, their tempers were high and they had also consumed alcohol, Bar and Bench reported. “The statement of the accused recorded by the police would show that he was left with a feeling of mortification. According to him, he was left with a wounded pride, which resulted in the brutal death of his wife”, the court said.
It, therefore, set aside his conviction for murder under Section 302 of Indian Penal Code (IPC) and instead convicted him for culpable homicide not amounting to murder under Section 304 IPC.
While hearing the case, the Bench also remarked that in every alternate case, they were dealing with the murder of a wife by the husband who violently attacked his wife in the moment of grave and sudden provocation by the wife.
“There is physical violence, there is sexual violence, however, this sort of physical violence is less seen amongst women even in a moment of anger and in all probabilities, it is the mother in a woman which supersedes her element of physical violence. There could be psychological violence by women,” the Bench observed.
According to the report, accused Pravin Khimji Chauhan was convicted under Section 302 of the IPC and sentenced to life by the Raigad Sessions Court.
After committing the crime, he had voluntarily confessed to the police and identified his wife’s body. He later challenged the order in appeal before the High Court, arguing that he lost self-control after being provoked by his wife and hence assaulted her.
According to Chauhan, his wife had held a knife against him, and his attack on her was an act of self-defence.
The prosecution however opposed the appeal by stating that the number of injuries inflicted on the deceased were as many as 26 blows and hence he deserved no sympathy.
Noting that both parties had acted in a fit of anger, the Bench remarked that they almost forgot their children during the incident.
The Court also noted that the marriage of the accused, as well as the deceased, had failed on two occasions before they got married to each other.
Further, after examining the phone call records he had started suspecting the honesty of his wife in their marital relationship.
“At the time of incident, they were quarreling. The tempers were high. It is the case of the accused that the conduct of his wife at the relevant time was beyond reproach. According to him, he had maintained his cool for quite sometime. However, he lost it when she brought the knife from the kitchen and provoked him to hurt her if he could. Probably, the chauvinism in him has arisen. She had expressed disgust and abhorrence at his very manliness and had forgotten for a moment that he is a father of their two daughters,” the Court said.
The Bench also appreciated the conduct of the accused as he made no attempt to cause disappearance of evidence. He voluntarily called upon his family and relatives and admitted the guilt before he approached the police station.
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