In a judgment delivered on October 1, 2025, the Bombay High Court (Aurangabad Bench) upheld the conviction of Hariomdas Govinddas Bainade, a 37-year-old labourer, who was found guilty of murdering his wife Kalpana in 2017. The bench, comprising Justices Nitin B. Suryawanshi and Sandipkumar C. More, dismissed his appeal, affirming the life imprisonment awarded by the trial court.
The hearing, held in a quiet courtroom at Aurangabad, had tense moments as the defence argued that the case was based on circumstantial evidence and that the “eye witness” had turned hostile. But the court wasn’t convinced.
Background
The case traces back to a horrific night in October 2017. Kalpana, who worked as a sweeper in Sai Hospital, was living with her husband Hariomdas and their three children in a rented house at Marutinagar, Harsool. According to the prosecution, Hariomdas often accused his wife of being unfaithful and had beaten her several times.
On the night of the crime, their daughter Netal called her grandmother in panic - saying that her father had hit Kalpana on the head with a hammer and then tried to slit his own throat with a marble cutter. When police arrived, both were found soaked in blood. Kalpana later succumbed to her injuries at Ghati Hospital.
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Court’s Observations
The bench meticulously went through the evidence, including witness statements, medical reports, and forensic findings. The judges noted that the eye witness (Netal) had later denied her earlier statement, but the rest of the evidence clearly pointed to the husband’s guilt.
“The death occurred inside the house where only the accused and deceased were present. The accused has failed to give any plausible explanation,” the court said.
The postmortem revealed a deep head wound consistent with a hammer blow. The presence of blood on the hammer and marble cutter, coupled with the accused’s self-inflicted neck injury, strengthened the prosecution’s case.
Referring to Section 106 of the Indian Evidence Act, the court remarked that since the murder happened within the four walls of their home, the accused was duty-bound to explain the circumstances - but he did not. “His silence and false defence complete the chain of circumstances,” the bench observed.
Decision
After weighing the arguments, the High Court concluded that the trial court’s reasoning was sound. The judges said that all evidence - from blood-stained articles to the accused’s inconsistent story - proved beyond doubt that Hariomdas killed his wife out of suspicion.
The bench thus dismissed the appeal and upheld the sentences: life imprisonment for murder under Section 302 IPC and two months’ rigorous imprisonment for attempting suicide under Section 309 IPC.
With this, the long legal battle of nearly six years reached its end. As the court rose, the gravity of domestic distrust turned fatal once again - a tragic reflection of what suspicion can do behind closed doors.
Case: Hariomdas Govinddas Bainade vs The State of Maharashtra
Case Type: Criminal Appeal No. 1253 of 2019
Judgment Reserved On: 14 August 2025
Pronounced On: 1 October 2025
Appellant: Hariomdas Govinddas Bainade (Age 37, Labourer)
Respondent: The State of Maharashtra
Trial Court Judgment Date: 6 November 2019 (Sessions Case No. 26 of 2018)
