Holding

The conviction under Section 302 read with Section 34 IPC is upheld as the post‑mortem evidence conclusively demonstrates homicidal asphyxiation.

Summary

The appellant, Raghavendra Sharma, was convicted of murdering his wife Maya by suffocation. The trial court, relying on a post‑mortem report that showed asphyxia, swelling of the chest, and absence of food particles in the airway, found the death homicidal and rejected the defense expert’s claim of accidental death. The court also considered the appellant’s motive—dowry dissatisfaction and suspicion of his wife’s fidelity—as established. The High Court affirmed the conviction under Section 302 read with Section 34 of the IPC. On appeal, the Supreme Court examined the forensic evidence and found no infirmity in the lower courts’ findings, holding that the post‑mortem evidence conclusively ruled out an accidental death. Consequently, the Supreme Court dismissed the appeal, upholding the conviction.

Issues considered

Whether the post‑mortem findings establish homicide by suffocation, thereby supporting conviction under Section 302 IPC read with Section 34.
Whether the defense expert's opinion of accidental death can be accepted in view of the forensic evidence.
Whether the appellant’s motive of dowry harassment and suspicion of fidelity is sufficient to infer intent.

Legislation cited

Indian Penal Code, 1860s. 201, s. 302, s. 34

Subjects

murderdowry harassmentasphyxiationpost‑mortem evidenceforensic pathologySection 302 IPCSection 34 IPChomicidecriminal law

Judgment

[2008] 15 S.C.R. 916

A RAGHAVENDRA SHARMA
v.
STATE OF M.P.
(Criminal Appeal No. 1063 of 2001)

NOVEMBER 7, 2008
B
[DR. ARIJIT PASAYAT, C.K. THAKKER AND
D.K. JAIN, JJ.]

Penal Code, 1860; s. 302 rlw s.34:
c
Murder - Husband allegedly committed murder of his
wife - Trial Court, on the basis of post-mortem report and
evidence of doctor, found the accused guilty of committing
murder of his wife and sentenced him accordingly - Affirmecf
by High Court - Correctness of - Held: Correct - Doctor
0
conducted post-mortem opined that- cause of death was
asphyxia as a result of suffocation - Since no food particles
found in trachea, larynx and bronchitis, question. of vomited
material blocking the air passaga clearly ruled out - Accused
E was living along with deceased in the same room and doubted
fidelity of his wife and was also not happy with the dowry and,
therefore, had motive to commit the crime - Under the
circumstances, trial Court rightly found that the accused had
motive of committing the murder of his wife - Hence, no
infirmity found in the impugned order warranting interference.
F
Appellant had been harassing his wife for more and
more dowry and also doubting her fidelity. He allegedly
committed her murder. Family members of the deceased
lodged an F.l.R. The Police conducted the post-mortem
G and, after investigating into the matter submitted the
charge sheet against the accused husband for
committing the murder of his wife. Trial court found that
the appellant doubted the fidelity of his wife and believed
that she had illicit relationship with her brother in law and
H 916
RAGHAVENDRA SHARMA v. STATE OF M.P. 917

was not happy with the dowry articles given to him at the A
time of marriage and as such had motive to commit the
crime; that .the deceased was in the company of the·
. appellant in the night when she died and it was he who
alone had committed her murder. The trial Court on the
basis of post mortem report and evidence of PW7, one B
of the doctors who had conducted the post mortem,
•+
found the accused husband guilty of committing the
murder of the deceased, his wife. On appeal, High Court
affirmed the conviction and sentence of the accused.
Hence the present appeal. c
Dismissing the appeal, the Court

HELD: 1.1. The evidence of PW 7, the doctor who
had conducted the post mortem, categorically ruled out
the theory of accidental death as was projected by the D
accused. PW 7 had committed the postmortem along with
another doctor and stated that the cause of death was
asphyxia as a result of suffocation. [Para 4] [921-C-D]

1.2. PW 7 had found a dark read colour mucoid fluid E
on the trachea and found violet bluish froth in the lungs.
No food particles were found in the trachea, larynx and
bronchitis. Therefore the question of vomited material
--. blocking the air passage was clearly ruled out. DW 3 had
never any occasion to see the dead body and purportedly F
had looked at the postmortem report. In that sense his
evidence has t;!Videntiary value. Apart from that the
deceased was living with the appellant staying in the
same room and that is another factor which has been
. rightly taken note of by the trial court and the High Court.
G
No infirmity found on the conclusions of the trial Court
or the High Court to warrant interference. [Para 5] [922-
D-E]

l'
CRIMINAL APPELLATE JURISDICTION: Criminal Appeal
No. 1063 of 2001. H
918 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [2008] .15 S.C.R.

"-
i
A From the final Judgment and Order dated 27 .2.200_1 of the
High Court of Madhya Pradesh at Jabalpur in Criminal Appeal.
. No. 68 of 1989. ·

Dr. Madan Sharma, Bakas Kar Gupta, Asha Upadhyay,
B
R.D. Upadhyay and Rajeev Sharma for the,_. Appellant.
C.D. Singh, Sunny Chowdhary, Vairagya Vardha·ri Dubey,
-1.-
Aditya Singh, Upasana Nath and Vibha Datta Makhija for the
Respondent.

c The Judgment ofthe Court was delivered by
/

DR. ARIJITPASAYAT, J. 1. Challenge in this appe·a1 is !

to the judgeJJ!ent of the Madhya Pradesh High Court, Jabalpur
upholding the conviction of the appellant for offence punishable
under Secti011~2 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 (in short the
D
'IPC') as was recorded by learned Second Additional Sessions
Judge, Chhindwara in Sessions Tri~I No. 136 of 1986.
Appellant alongwith his father Bhuvneshwar Dayal Sharma
faced trial for commission of offences punishable.under Section
302 read with Section 34 and 201 IPC. Father of the appellant
E was acquitted of both the charges, while appellant was
acquitted of charges under Section 201.

2. Background facts in a nutshell are as follows: ·

,Maya (hereinafter referred to,ps the 'deceased') was the
~
,
F
wife of lhe appellant- and they were married. about 11 months
prior to the date of incident. It is further an admitted position
that the deceased was a teacher posted at Parasia whereas
appellant was also a teacher posted at village Mungwani and
he used to visit his wife at village Parasia. It is further not in
G dispute that Narendra Kumar Sharma (P.W.2) and Dipal alias
Pappu (P .W. 11) are brothers of deceased whereas Sushila Bai
(P.W.8) and Rajkumari (P.W. 10) are sisters of the deceased.
It is also an ad[Tlitted position that appellant along with the
deceased had gone to his father-in-law's place on 8.5.1886.
H They .had gone to Vidisha along with Rajkumari (P.W.10) and "
RAGHAVENDRA SHARMA v. STATE OF M.P. 919
[DR ARIJIT PASAYAT, J.]

her husband Radhakrishan and Dipak. They stayed there for A
about ten days and thereafter on 19.5.1888 appellant along
with the deceased and Dipak (P. W.11) returned to village
Parasia and .on the same day he went to village Salkhanl,
declining the ·request to stay at village Parasia. There is no .
dispute that the deceased was at advance stage of pregnancy B
+ . and she died in the .night between 21-22 May, 1986 at her
father-m-law's at village Salkhani. On receipt of the information
about the death of Maya, Mahesh Prasad (P.W; 1) who is the
husband of the sister of the deceased along with Sushila
(P.W.8) and Narendra Kumar Sharma (P.W.2) went to village c
Salkhani. Seeing dead body of Maya they perceived her death
to be suspicious and hence gave report to the Chourai Police
Station. On receipt thereof, inquest report (Ex. P/3)' was
prepared in presence of the witnesses and vomited material
along with· the earth were seized. Dr. Panchamlal (P.W. 5) who D:
was called by the appellant on 22.5.1986 declared her dead.

After the marriage of the deceased with the appellant on
2.6 .. 1985, deceased came to her father-in-law's place at
village Salkhani only 3-4 times and although appellant used - I

to go to meet his wife at village Parasia, but was not happy E
with the articles given at the time of marriage and had kept
the same at the parents' place of the deceased at Paresis.
Appellant further used to demand Scooter and had suspicion
abou.t his wife's fidelity and believed that she had illicit
relationship with her brother-in-law Radhakishan i.e. husband F
of Rajkumari (P .W.10). Immediately prior to the incident
appellant and deceased had gone to Radhakrishnan's House
· at Vidisha. After returning from Vidisha to Parasia, in spite of
the request made, appellant did not stay with his wife there and
went along with the deceased to his village Salkhani, although G
deceased was not inclined to go. On 21.5.1986, the villagers
heard the cries of the deceased. She was done to death by
the appellant and in order to conceal the crime, he projected
that she died of vomiting.
H
920 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [2008] 15 S.C.R.

A While preparing the inquest report it was found that there
were red and blue spots on the face and chest of the deceased
and thin blood coming out from the nostrils and as such the
death was found to be suspicious and accordingly the dead
body of Maya was sent for post-mortem examination. The Post
B mortem was conducted by a team of doctors consisting of Dr.
V.E. Chako (P.W.7) and Dr. K.D. Khan and they submitted the
post-mortem report (Ex.P/12) signed by both of them. According
to the post-mortem report and the evidence of Dr. Chako
(P.W.7), Maya's death was "asphyxiat as a result of suffocation".
c On enquiry by the investigating officer, Dr. Chako opined
that swelling between Pornum adeomi and the border of the
breast was-ante-mortem in nature and could have been
possible by pressing hard the chest and smothering by an
object like soft pillow. The investigating agency also sent the
D earth containing vomited material for chemical examination tO
the Forensic Science Laboratory. But in its report the Forensic
Science Laboratory did not find any poison. However, on the
seized under-garments of the deceased and on the slides
prepared from the vaginal fluid human sperms were found to
E show that the deceased had sexual intercourse before tier
death.

Trial court on appreciation of the evidence, on placing
...0.. I
reliance on the post mortem report and the evidence of Dr.
F Chako, PW7, found the death of the deceased to be homicidal
in nature. The trial court rejected the evidence of Dr. S.D.
Vaidya, DW3 who had opined that the death of Maya was
accidental in nature. Trial court found that the appellant doubted
the fidelity of his wife and believed that she had illicit
G relationship with her brother in law and was not happy with the
dowry articles given to him at the time of marriage and as such
had motive to commit the crime. It was further found that the
deceased was in the company of the appellant in the night
when she died and it was he who alone- had committed lier
murder.
H
RAGHAVENDRA SHARMA v. STATE OF M.P . 921
[DR. ARIJIT PASAYAT, J.]
t_,.
The High Court analysed the stand taken by the appellant A
--{ and came to hold that the conclusions of the trial court were
justified. Accordingly the appealas noted above has been
dismissed.

In the present appeal the stand taken before the High B

.. Court with reference to evidence of PW 3 was reiterated .

3. Learned counsel for the State on the other hand ·
"{ supported the judgment of the High Court.

4. The evidence of PW 7 categorically ruled out the theory c
of accidental death as was projected by the accused PW 7
had committed the postmortem alongwith Dr. Kahare and
stated that the cause of death was asphyxia as a result of
suffocation. Dr. Chako in her evidence has stated that on
5.6.1986 she had received a query, Ex. P .13 from the D
~
investigating agency and had given an answer. The quaries
and the answers are as follows:

"1. You have mentioned in P.M. report that "swelling
,, between pomum-adami and border of the breast" please
clear that how that swelling can be caused. E

2. You have also mentioned in P.M. report that "Nails of
fingers of both the hands are blue and terminal pulps of
...... the fingers of the right and found blueish purple colour
(Coppery) while in the left hand it is present over the tips F
of fingers" please clarify that how it can be caused.

3. The case of death according to P.M. report 'Asphyxiated
death due to suffocation" please how that suffocation
caused resulting into death".
G
4. Please clarify that the mode of death is whether
homicidal, suicidal or accidental."

In answer thereto, Dr Chako had stated as follows:
H
.I
922 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [2008] 15 S.C.R.

A 1. The swelling on the said area in ante-mortem in nature
and can be caused both by external heavy pressure
applied on the chest and the said region and smothering
by ~n object like soft pillow with deeply applied pressure.

2. The blueish purple (Coppery) colour on the said areas
.B
·· are as a result of asphyxia.
.....
.
'
~
,.__
· 3. Cause of death given as asphyxia as a result of
suffocation which ·~an be attributed to the ante-mortem r
Injury (swelling }mentioned in the P.M. Report. ...
c
4. Death is homicidal:"

5. PW 7 had found a dark read colour mucoid fluid on the
trachea and found violet bluish froth in the lungs. No food·
particles were found in the trachea, larynx and bronchitis.
D Therefore the question of vomited material blocking the air
passage was clearly ruled out. DW 3 had never any occasion
to see the dead body and purportedly had looked at the
postmortem report. In that sense his evidence has evidentiary
value. Apart from that the deceased was living with the I,:'-

E appellantstaying in the same room and that is another factor
· which has been rightly taken note of by the trial court and the
High Court. We find no infirmity on the conclusions of the trial
court or the High Coutt to warrant interference.

F 6. Appeal is accordingly dismissed.

S.K.S. Appeal dismissed.

)
t;·