Ranjit Mahanti
THE Bombay High Court reduced the life imprisonment sentence imposed by a lower court in Silvasa, Gujarat to a man that had killed his minor daughter with an axe. The court also ordered to release Gata Mohansinh Jadav from Lajpore Central Prison in Surat (Gujarat) jail who spent 14-year in jail.
Jadav stayed with his wife and three children at Naroli in Dadra Nagar and Haveli. At the time of incident, the
daughter of the appellant, Shobhana, was 14-year-old.
On December 17, 1996, the girl Shobhana asked for money from her father Gata Jadav to go on a school trip but he refused. She insisted and an argument broke out between the two. In a fit of rage, Jadav picked up an axe lying in the house and dealt a blow on the head of his daughter who fell unconscious. She was taken to hospital where she succumbed to her injuries.
Hearing Jadav’s appeal, the Bombay High Court set aside the life sentence awarded by a Session’s Court at Dadra and Nagar Haveli in Silvasa district saying that the offence under section 302 IPC (murder) was not made out against him.
Justices V L Achliya and V K Tahilramani observed that on the basis of the weapon used, part of the body where the injury was inflicted, the force used while assaulting and the nature of the injuries. Looking at all these facts, they considered opinion that the case would fall u/s 304 Part I (culpable homicide not amounting to murder) of IPC.
Jadav’s wife and brother-in-law were eyewitness to Shobhana’s killing.