1 2025:CGHC:59455 NAFR HIGH COURT OF CHHATTISGARH, BILASPUR CRA No. 641 of 2025 Mangrita @ Sunita W/o Satyaprakash Aged About 29 Years R/o Village Puranga, Raikera P.S. Bagicha, District Jashpur Present R/o Rented House Of Sukhlal Yadav Navagarh Ambikapur P.S. And Tahsil Ambikapur District Surguja Chhattisgarh. ... Appellant versus State Of Chhattisgarh Through Station House Officer, P.S. Ambikapur, District Surguja Chhattisgarh. ---- Respondent For Appellant : Mr. Nishi Kant Sinha, Advocate For State/Respondent : Ms. Nupur Trivedi, Panel Lawyer Hon'ble Shri Justice Arvind Kumar Verma Judgment On Board 08/12/2025 1. With the consent of counsel for the parties, the matter is heard finally. 2 2. This appeal has been preferred by the appellant being aggrieved by the judgment of conviction and order of sentence dated 22.02.2025 passed by learned Second Additional Sessions Judge, Ambikapur, District Surguja (C.G.) in Sessions Trial No.164/2022 whereby, the trial Court has convicted the appellant for the offence punishable under Section 304 Part-II of the Indian Penal Code, rigorous imprisonment for 07 years and fine amount of Rs.500/-, in default of payment of fine amount, she shall undergo additional rigorous imprisonment for 01 month. 3. According to the case of prosecution in brief is that a charge-sheet under Section 302 of IPC was filed against the appellant alleging that on 05.08.2022, while the appellant was sleeping after her husband left the house for his work, the deceased Gopal entered her house and slept alongside her and started touching her body inappropriately to which she resisted and pushed the deceased from the bed and suddenly gave a blow on the head of the deceased with a spade to which the deceased succumbed to injuries. Thereafter the neighbourr came to her house and incident was reported. Hence this offence. 4. Charges were also framed under Section 302 of I.P.C. to which the appellant had denied. It was stated in his statement recorded U/S 313 of Cr.P.C. that she has falsely been implicated in this case and she is 3 innocent. 5. Te prosecution has examined as well as 15 witnesses in support of the case however no defense witnesses were examined for defense. 6. The learned Sessions Judge, after recording the evidence of the witnesses, held the appellant guilty of the offences under Section 304 part-II of I.P.C. and sentenced her to undergo sentence as mentioned above. 7. Learned counsel appearing on behalf of the appellant submits that he does not wants to press this appeal on merits and confines his argument to the sentence part only. He further submits that the incident is of the year 2022. The appellant is 29 years old lady and she is facing the lis since 2022. The appellant is in jail since 06.08.2022 and has undergone more than 03 years, therefore, it is prayed that the jail sentence awarded to the appellant may be reduced to the period already undergone by her. 8. Per contra, learned counsel for the State/respondent opposes the argument raised by counsel for the appellant, supported the impugned judgment and submits that sentence awarded by the trial Court is just and proper and requires no interference. 4 9. I have heard learned counsel appearing for the parties and perused the material available on record with utmost circumspection. 10. Bhagwan Prasad (PW-1) has stated in his examination-in-chief that he know the deceased Nand Gopal. The incident occurred approximately one year ago. He saw Nand Gopal lying unconscious in the courtyard of the accused Sunita's house. He was not dead at that time. Nand Gopal was covered in blood. He heard that Nand Gopal had been killed. He asked the accused Sunita there why she had killed him. She replied that she had killed him because he had forcibly entered her house. Then called a tempo and the deceased Nand Gopal's wife and had Nand Gopal sent to the hospital. However, by the time Nand Gopal reached the hospital, he had died. He further stated that Accused Sunita used to live on rent in the house of Sukhlal and about 200 meters away from Sunita's house, deceased Nandgopal used to live in the house of a person with surname Kerketta, but I cannot remember his name. He further stated that Accused Sunita struck Nandgopal with a shovel. Nandgopal suffered injuries to the back of his head, which were bleeding. After killing Nandgopal, accused Sunita fled to a Korwa house near Mahadev Talab, where she was apprehended by the police. Sunita told the police that she had killed Nandgopal with a shovel, and that the shovel was in her house. She had brought it from her rented house, where it was kept at the back, and had given it to the 5 police, which was then confiscated by the police. On showing the site map prepared by the police Exhibit P-1, memorandum statement Exhibit P-2, property seizure memo Exhibit P-3 and Exhibit P-4, arrest memo Exhibit P-5, etc. to the witness and asking him, he stated that the signatures from A to A are his signatures. Accused Sunita's house is only about 20 steps away from my house. When he saw Nandgopal unconscious in her courtyard, he went to her and asked her why she had killed him. She then told me about the killing is correct to say that he did not witness the incident. It is also correct to say that he arrived at the spot around 2:00 p.m. It is correct to say that the accused, Mangarita alias Sunita, was living alone in a rented house. 11. This witness has stated in his cross examination (Para-8) that she lived there. It is incorrect to say that any questioning that took place on the date of the incident was done on that day itself, not the next day. He voluntarily states that on the first day, the police only came and inspected Nandgopal's house, and on the second day, they came and questioned her. 12. In Para-9, this witness further stated that the deceased Nandgopal entered the house of the accused Mangarita alias Sunita with ill intentions. Nandgopal himself states that he had entered Sunita's house with ill intentions before. 6 13. Dr. Deepak Prakash (PW-13) who was posted as Assistant Professor (Department of Forensic Medicine) in Medical College Ambikapur from June 2022 to June 2024. During the said posting, on 05.08.2022 at 03:10 PM, in case number 102/2022 of Police Assistance Centre Medical College Ambikapur, under section 174 of CrPC, the body of deceased Nandgopal, father late Parsu Ram, age 40 years, was presented before him by Constable Pradeep Bakhla, number 85, along with the postmortem application for conducting the postmortem. The post-mortem examination application is Ex.P. 11. The bodies were identified by 1. Yatendra Yadav, father of late Luv Ram Yadav, 2. Dayanand Yadav, father of Shatrudhan Yadav and 3. Dilmet Yadav, wife of late Nandgopal Yadav. Upon examination, he found the following: External examination: - The body of the deceased was covered with a hospital bed sheet. The deceased was wearing a black and white printed full t-shirt, black shorts and grey underwear. Spots of dried blood were found at some places on the t-shirt. The deceased was of normal height and build. Eyes and mouth were closed. Spots of dried blood were found on the scalp, left side of the face, front of the neck and ear. Stiffness was found in the jaw, neck and both arms of the body. Postmortem libido was found on the back of the body, which was not fixed. There were no signs of decomposition on the body. 7 Antemortem injury:- A lacerated wound measuring 6.5 x 1 cm, placed deep obliquely in the bone, was found on the left parietal part of the head, 7 cm from the midline. Two lacerated wounds measuring 7.0 x 1 cm and 4 x 1 cm, placed deep obliquely in the bone, were found on the left occipital part of the head, 4.5 cm and 2.0 cm from the mastoid process. The margins of the wound were irregular and contused. Upon removal of the scalp, subscalp hematomas were found throughout the area. Comminuted and depressed fractures were found in the left parieto- occipital bone, with hematomas. Subdural and subarachnoid hemorrhages were found throughout the brain. Red contusion measuring 5.3 cm was found on the right side of the forehead, with a distance of 4.0 cm from the eye brow. Two lacerated wounds measuring 1.5 x 0.7 cm and 1 x 0.6 cm, muscle deep, were found in the left ring finger and little finger of the proximal part of the palmar part of the left hand. The margins of the wounds were irregular and contused. Red ebrated contusions measuring 3 x 1 cm and 1 x 0.7 cm were found on the distal part of the palmar part of the left index and middle fingers of the left hand. Internal Testing:- Head and spine The thoracic membrane, ribs, lungs, and trachea were found intact. Both lungs and the heart were pale and intact. The abdominal wall, intestinal lining, and esophagus were found intact. Approximately 100 cc of brown fluid was found in the stomach. No foul odor was detected. The mucosa was normal. The small intestine was found to contain gas. The large intestine contained gas and feces. The liver, spleen, and kidneys were pale and intact. The genitals were found to be intact. 8 Opinion – he opined that, the deceased died as a result of excessive bleeding due to a head injury. The injury was determined to be caused by blunt impact force. The head injuries were sufficient to cause death under normal circumstances. The nature of the injuries was antemortem, and the nature of death was homicidal. The deceased died within six hours of my examination. 14. On perusal of record, it is crystal clear that the learned trial Court has accepted the defence of the appellant that the deceased has trespassed her house and entered into her room where she was sleeping and the deceased touched her body with ill intention, therefore, in her defence, the appellant had assaulted on the head of the deceased by shovel (fawda). Therefore, it reveals that to safeguard her modesty, appellant inflicted injury without any intention. 15. Considering the above facts and circumstances of the case, particularly, considering the fact that the injury caused to the deceased on his head without intention to kill him and the appellant has undergone about 03 years and 04 months in this case out of period of 07 years sentence imposed upon her by the trial Court, I am of the considered opinion that the ends of justice would be met if, while upholding the conviction imposed upon her, the jail sentence awarded to her is reduced to the period already undergone by her. Ordered accordingly. 9 16. The criminal appeal is partly allowed to the extent indicated herein- above. 17. Let a copy of this order and the original records be transmitted to the trial Court concerned forthwith for necessary information and compliance. Sd/- (Arvind Kumar Verma) Judge Vasant