MUMBAI: A 40-year-old cobbler who spent over two years in jail for killing a man after he fell down and suffered head injuries in a scuffle has been acquitted after the court found that the when the accused held the victim’s neck by bending his arm, he did not intend to kill him.
Acquitting Sunil Marathe for the murder of Siraj Sayyad, the court said, “It is clear that the deceased sustained the internal head injuries due to his fall on the ground, but the accused cannot be said to have voluntarily caused the said hurt, nor can he be said to have intended to cause the death..,” the court said.
The court further said that the internal injuries sustained were merely accidental, even though it resulted from the scuffle. “One cannot lose sight of the fact that it was not the accused who rushed to the deceased to assault him, but the other way around,” the court said. The court said that even if Sayyad fell down on the ground after he was held by neck, it was a matter of common phenomenon that in most scuffles, holding by neck with arms around is without any intention of causing death. “ At the time of scuffle, no prudent person can predict that the victim would fall down on the ground and sustain any injury, much less death...” the court said, adding that the cause of death was internal head injury and not asphyxia.
Marathe was arrested in 2018 and granted interim bail due to the COVID-19 pandemic in May this year.
Sayyad and the accused were residents of the same locality. On December 25, 2018, around 10pm, a group of friends were sitting at Shanti Nagar Naka in Andheri (East) when the accused passed the area. Sayyad called him, but the accused asked him to come to him. When Sayyad went to the accused, the duo allegedly had an argument after which there was a scuffle. The accused allegedly pressed Sayyad’s neck by bending his arm and threatened to kill him. Sayyad fell down as soon as the accused let him free. When he became unconscious, he was rushed to the hospital but was declared dead.
The accused was booked for murder. In court, he claimed that Sayyad was drunk and fell on his own. Six witnesses, including Sayyad’s friends and cousin deposed.
