The court set aside conviction of Vishwanath Shelar (40) under IPC section 302 and held him guilty of culpable homicide not amounting to murder under part 1 of section 304.

Shelar was accused of murdering Kalpana, who he married after his first wife died. He has a son and a daughter from his first marriage, another son from the second.

The prosecution said complainant Ganpati Kirolkar went to the Shelar house at around 9 pm on January 9, 2004, and had dinner with Kalpana.

Kirolkar said Shelar came home at 10 pm and started quarreling with his wife. He then took out a knife from his pocket and stabbed her in the chest and stomach causing death.

However, Justices V M Kanade and Justice P D Kode found the statement of the accused more convincing. Shelar said when he came home at around 10 pm, he found Kirolkar’s motorcycle parked outside. He became suspicious and peeped through the window to find him in bed with Kalpana.

His lawyer Yug Choudhary argued the case came under exception 1 of IPC section 300. The exception states, “Culpable homicide is not murder if the offender, whilst deprived of the power of self-control by grave and sudden provocation, causes the death of the person who gave the provocation or of any other person by mistake or accident,” he said.

The judges observed, “The evidence on record clearly suggests the accused (Shelar) must have seen something lascivious between his wife and the complainant (Kirolkar) just when he entered the house. There can be little doubt that if the accused had witnessed the scene as mentioned by him in his written statement, his mind would have suddenly deranged.”

The court was told that Shelar, who was released on bail in February 2011, had served eight years and that while the erstwhile paan shop-owner from Shinganapur in Kolhapur district was in jail, his three children were left to beg on the streets.

However, he completed graduation while in jail and is now gainfully employed and able to look after his children.

Since Shelar had already served his sentence, the court cancelled the bail bond against which he was released from jail.

Not a murderer

The court set aside conviction of Vishwanath Shelar (40) under IPC section 302 and held him guilty of culpable homicide not amounting to murder under part 1 of section 304