Gajanan Dashrath Kharate vs State of Maharashtra - Supreme Court

 Gajanan Dashrath Kharate vs State of Maharashtra - Supreme Court Important Judgment 2016 - 

 

On 26th February, 2016, in the case of Gajanan Dashrath Kharate vs State of Maharashtra [Criminal Appeal No. 2057 of 2010], while affirming the conviction of accused-appellant for committing the murder of his father, the Supreme Court held that “when an offence like murder is committed in secrecy inside a house, the initial burden to establish the case would undoubtedly be upon the prosecution. In view of Section 106 of the Evidence Act, there will be a corresponding burden on the inmates of the house to give cogent explanation as to how the crime was committed. The inmates of the house cannot get away by simply keeping quiet and offering no explanation on the supposed premise that the burden to establish its case lies entirely upon the prosecution and there is no duty at all on the accused to offer. On the date of occurrence, when accused and his father Dashrath were in the house and when the father of the accused was found dead, it was for the accused to offer an explanation as to how his father sustained injuries. When the accused could not offer any explanation as to the homicidal death of his father, it is a strong circumstance against the accused that he is responsible for the commission of the crime.” It was further held that “upon appreciation of oral evidence and the circumstance of the recovery of blood stained clothes of the accused and the conduct of the accused in not offering any explanation for the homicidal death of his father, by concurrent findings, the trial court and the High Court rightly convicted the appellant-accused under Section 302 IPC”