NDLI: Vahitha Vs. State of Tamil Nadu

Content Provider	Supreme Court of India
e-ISSN	30484839
Language	English
Access Restriction	NDLI
Subject Keyword	Conviction under IPC s.302 Strangulation of child
Content Type	Text
Resource Type	Law Judgement
Jurisdiction	India
Act(s) Referred	Indian Penal Code (45 of 1860)
Case(s) Referred	Referred Case 0 Referred Case 1 Referred Case 2 Referred Case 3 Referred Case 4 Referred Case 5 Referred Case 6 Referred Case 7 Referred Case 8 Referred Case 9 Referred Case 10 Referred Case 11
Case Type	Appeal
Court	Supreme Court of India
Disposal Nature	Appeal Dismissed
Headnote	Penal Code, 1860 – s.302 – Conviction under – Strangulation of child – Prosecution case that appellant strangulated her five year old child to death while PW-1 (mother-in-law of appellant) had gone out of the house – As per the FIR, when PW-1 came back to the house, she saw the appellant tie the outer end of her saree tightly around the neck of the child – During her testimony PW-1 stated that she found the appellant sitting silently next to the deceased child when she came back to the house – Upon hearing PW-1 shout; daughters of PW-1 i.e. PW-2 and PW-3 also arrived at the scene of occurrence – Two independent witnesses PW-4 and PW-5 (landlord and neighbour of PW-1) also testified that they saw the appellant next to the body of the deceased child – According to post-mortem report, cause of death of child was asphyxia due to strangulation – However, PW-6- father of appellant deposed that appellant was with him at his village and that he accompanied her back to in-laws place after receiving information about death of child – Trial Court convicted appellant u/s. 302 and rejected plea of alibi – High Court affirmed findings of trial Court and held that appellant was last person to be seen with child, hence onus was on appellant to explain how death occurred – On appeal, held: Plea of alibi rejected – No evidence adduced to prove that appellant was not present at time and place of incident; two independent witnesses testified that they saw the appellant near the body of the deceased child; appellant arrested on the same day of the incident at bus stand – Although, there were discrepancies in versions of PW-2 between the complaint and her assertions before the Court such discrepancies are normal and natural or the result of her want of proper comprehension – Trial Court rightly analysed matter and observed that PW-1 was deposing from memory one year from incident hence discrepancies would not result in rejection of her testimony – Further, saree recovered from appellant had blood stains – Motive of appellant to not live in matrimonial house and thus committing offence cannot be ruled out looking to fact that she was living with her parents and was only forced to come to in-laws place for the upbringing of the child – Further, the appellant has not given any explanation in her statement u/s. 313 CrPC apart from denying the circumstances put to her – Burden u/s. 106 of the Evidence Act operates heavily against appellant – Alternative submission that case would be of culpable homicide not amounting to murder rejected.
Judge	Hon'ble Mr. Justice Dinesh Maheshwari
Neutral Citation	2023 INSC 151
Petitioner	Vahitha
Respondent	State Of Tamil Nadu
SCR	[2023] 3 S.C.R. 942
Judgement Date	2023-02-22
Case Number	762

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