The Bombay High Court has upheld the life sentence for a 36-year-old man from Nashik district, convicted for the murder of his father over a share in the ancestral property.
A division bench of Justices V K Tahilramani and A R Joshi last week dismissed the appeal filed by convict Bhausaheb Sahadu Jakhere, who is currently lodged in Nashik prison.
Jakhere's mother had turned hostile during the trial and supported the defence, but the High Court held that it could not be construed as the prosecution's failure to prove its case.
According to the police, on October 2, 2007, there was a quarrel between the convict and his father Sahadu Jakhere. In a fit of rage, Bhausaheb attacked his father with a sickle and beheaded him.
When his mother tried to intervene, he attacked her too. She rushed to her younger son's house in an injured state.
When she returned with the younger son, she found her husband lying dead in a pool of blood. Bhausaheb was then handed over to the police.
"Considering the material available against the appellant and his silence as to how his father died when apparently he was supposed to explain the situation, in our considered view, it is enough for us not to entertain the present appeal," said the judges.
The High Court also noted that although the mother had not supported the prosecution's case in the trial court, it cannot be a mitigating circumstance.
