The State Of Mah. Thr. Psops Hivarkhed vs Haribhau Rajaram Telgote And 2 Others

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The accused — a husband, wife, and their son — were convicted by the Additional Sessions Judge, Akot, for the murder of four persons (Shubham, Dhanraj, Gaurav, and Baburao), who were relatives of accused No. 2, arising out of a long-standing land dispute over ancestral agricultural land. The Sessions Court awarded the death penalty to all three accused under Section 302 read with Section 34 IPC, together with rigorous imprisonment of seven years for criminal intimidation under Section 506 Part-II read with Section 34 IPC. The matter came before the Bombay High Court, Nagpur Bench, both as a statutory confirmation reference under Section 366 Cr.P.C. and by way of appeal filed by the accused under Section 374(2) Cr.P.C.

The prosecution case was that on 28 June 2015, a quarrel over sowing of cotton on disputed land escalated into a pre-meditated assault in which accused No. 1 armed with an axe, accused No. 3 armed with a knife, and a child in conflict with law armed with a sickle attacked the deceased, killing all four. The incident was witnessed by several villagers including the Village Police Patil, and the accused were apprehended the same evening in an auto-rickshaw with blood-stained clothes. The trial court, having recorded conviction after full trial in Sessions Case No. 57/2015, found this to be a case warranting the extreme penalty.

The High Court was called upon to scrutinise the death sentence on reference as well as on the merits of the appeal preferred by the convicted accused, examining questions of guilt, adequacy of evidence, and whether the case fell within the 'rarest of rare' category justifying capital punishment.

Catchwords: death penalty · confirmation reference · murder · common intention · land dispute · ancestral property · rarest of rare · Section 302 IPC · Section 34 IPC · Section 506 IPC · capital punishment · criminal appeal · Bombay High Court Nagpur Bench