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4. Complaint was lodged by one Bhikhubha Hathisinh, son of the deceased. They were staying in village Jalia Devani of Dhrol Taluka of Jamnagar District and the venue of the incident is the house of the complainant. It was alleged that the accused lost his mother and also his cow eight days before the incident. He, therefore, entertained a doubt that the deceased was a witch and she was practising and employing witch-craft. The accused had, therefore, entertained an apprehension that death of his mother and cow, a week prior to the date of the incident, was nothing but the outcome of black magic and witch-craft employed by the deceased. The deceased was aged 75. She was totally blind and when she was given as many as 27 serious blows with the help of knife, she was sitting on a cot in the front portion of her house on 19-9-1989 at about 7-30 a.m.

6. It is also the prosecution case that the accused, before giving knife blows on the person of the deceased who was totally blind and in December years of life, had shouted saying that she was witch and by using black magic, she had killed his mother and cow. One witness Tilakba was also present and she had also witnessed the incident.

7. The complaint came to be lodged by Bhikhubha, son of the deceased. He had gone to the railway station to give send-off to his sister. On return from the railway station, he was informed by the Sarpanch about the incident. He, therefore, immediately rushed to his residence and found his mother drowned in the pool of blood. His wife immediately narrated the incident as she had seen. He found that his mother was dead. Therefore, he started for lodging complaint at Dhrol Police Station which is about 30 Kms. away from his house. He started on cycle and thereafter he got an autorickshaw and he went to Dhrol Police Station and lodged a complaint before in-charge P.S.I., Dhrol. In-charge P.S.I. Chavda was not present when the complainant went there. Therefore, a message was sent to him as he wanted to lodge a complaint. On coming back to the police station, P.S.I. Chavda noted down the complaint as given by the complainant on 19-9-1989 at 12.20 p.m. (noon). The complaint is produced at Ex. 65.

12. After having extensively examined the testimony of Vinuba, the wife of the complainant, the same is found quite trustworthy and radiating an imprint of real version of the prosecution. Her evidence ought to have been relied on by the prosecution and ought not to have been discarded upon minor discrepancies in her evidence with regard to number of blows inflicted by the accused. It is true that she has stated in chief-examination that on hearing shouts of her daughter Ansuyaba, at the time when she was fetching water for cow, she found that the accused was seen with a black bag. She, therefore, hurriedly threw the water bucket and went near the house from well and found that the accused was inflicting knife blows saying that she (deceased) is a witch and is playing black magic because of which, his mother and cow had died. It is also, further, testified by her that the accused further stated while giving knife blows to the deceased that now, it was her and her son's turn. It is very clear from her testimony that she had seen the accused giving knife blows on the person of the deceased. She has narrated that knife blows were given on the chest and neck. Blows were given consecutively. It was also seen by her daughter Ansuyaba and therefore, both of them started crying. Thereafter, the accused fled away with knife and the black bag through the kitchen portion.

(iii) the accused is a retired police constable aged about 59 and lost his mother and cow.

(iv) the accused had a doubt and apprehension that death of his mother and that of his cow was on account of black magic and witch-craft employed by the deceased. Thus, there was motive for commission of the offence.

(v) the prosecution has, successfully, established that the accused had uttered, before inflicting knife blows on the person of the deceased, that the deceased was a witch and because of her black magic, he got her mother and cow sacrificed. Therefore, the accused was heard saying "now, it is your and your son's turn for sacrifice."