Accused should explain death if he was alone with victim: HC

Observing that the onus is on the accused to explain how a person sustained injuries and died if the two were alone at the time of an incident, the Bombay High Court has upheld conviction of a man for murdering his wife.
A division bench of justices V K Tahilramani and Shalini Phansalkar-Joshi dismissed the appeal filed by 32-year-old Uttareshwar Ramchandra Devkar, challenging a sessions court order of January 2010 convicting and sentencing him to life imprisonment for the murder of his wife Vandana.
According to the prosecution, Pune resident Devkar and his wife were married for over 10 years and had a daughter. The couple had frequent quarrels over Devkar's alleged illicit relations with several women.

Vandana had complained to her brothers about her husband's illicit relations. Her brothers had admonished Devkar and warned him not to continue with such behaviour. However, when there was no change in him, Vandana returned to her matrimonial home. Devkar apologised to her and assured her that he would end all his relations following which Vandana returned.
On June 10, 2009, the accused murdered Vandana by smothering her with a towel. He then took Vandana to her matrimonial house in a rickshaw and claimed that she fell off the cot and lost consciousness. Vandana was then rushed to hospital where she was declared dead.

The doctor, who conducted the postmortem, opined that the death of Vandana was due to asphyxiation caused by smothering. Following this, FIR was lodged and Devkar was arrested.

The court, after perusing the evidence, observed that there is no merit in the appeal filed by Devkar.
"The present case is based on circumstantial evidence. The accused had motive and was with the deceased alone in the house. In such a situation the onus is on the accused to explain how the deceased sustained injuries and died," the court said.
"We find that there is sufficient evidence to prove beyond reasonable doubt that the appellant committed murder of his wife Vandana," the court said recently while upholding Devkar's conviction.