HC upholds life in jail for murderer brother-in-law

PANAJI: The high court of Bombay at Goa has upheld the sentence of life imprisonment imposed by the trial court on Raju Narayan Shirke for murdering his brother-in-law Sanjay with a knife at Piddukarwada, Bicholim, in 2008.
According to the prosecution, the accused on October 9, 2008, stabbed the deceased with a knife during the night .
Frequent quarrels between them over the use of a portion of the house by the accused, who was married to the sister of the deceased, culminated in the ghastly incident.The accused was doing a tailoring job in the house of the deceased.
The North Goa sessions court had convicted the accused under Section 302 of the Indian Penal Code and sentenced him to undergo imprisonment for life and to pay a fine of 10,000. He was asked to undergo simple imprisonment for a period of six months, if he fails to pay the fine amount.
Shirke had filed the appeal in the high court challenging the session court's judgment.
The appellant's lawyer, Mahesh Amonkar, pointed out that there is no direct evidence on record to establish that the appellant had committed the crime. The mother of the deceased was the only eye witness who has not stated anything which could incriminate the Appellant in the alleged crime, Amonkar said. While stating that there is no forensic evidence against the appellant, Amonkar argued that there were no blood stains on the clothes or nail clippings of the appellant.
On the other hand, public prosecutor, C Ferreira, stated that the evidence on record discloses that the accused and the deceased were on 'inimical terms' on account of some property disputes.
While upholding the trial court judgment, a division bench comprising Chief Justice Mohit Shah and Justice F M Reis observed: "We have found that the presence of the accused-appellant at the site of offence has been established by the prosecution. The appellant did not show any reaction to the incident and continued to remain at the place despite the fact that the deceased had suffered stab injuries.
"The appellant also did not make any attempt to provide any medical assistance to the deceased immediately. This attitude of the appellant would be relevant for the purpose of considering his involvement in the crime."