- (1.)The present appeal and the writ petition can be disposed of by a common order because the facts involved in them are the same and they arise out of the same judgment and order.
(2.)The respondent in Criminal Appeal No. 106 of 2006 ('the accused') was tried in the Court of Sessions Judge, Pune, in Sessions Case No. 426 of 2004 for offences punishable under Sections 302 and 376 of the Indian Penal Code ('IPC') for having raped and murdered one Sonali Vasant Deshpande by strangulating her on 27/7/04 at about 3-30 to 3-45 p.m. in Room No. 9 at Ashoka hotel at Lonavala. By judgment and order dated 28/7/2005 learned Sessions Judge acquitted the accused. Being aggrieved by the said judgment and order the State of Maharashtra has filed Criminal Appeal No. 106 of 2006. Criminal Writ Petition No. 1080 of 2007 is filed by Vasudha Vasant Deshpande under Section 482 of the Code of Criminal Procedure ('the Code') and under Articles 226 and 227 of the Constitution of India being aggrieved by the same judgment and order.
(3.)It is necessary to begin with the facts of the case.
a) The accused and deceased Sonali were friends. Both were unmarried. They were acquainted with each other since the time of their school days. They were classmates. The deceased had obtained the B.H.S.C. Degree from S.N.D.T. College in the year 2003. She had also appeared for two drawing examinations. She had passed three examinations of Kathak. She was a well qualified and enterprising girl. She had acted in professional dramas.

b) The accused had taken the examination of the last year of the degree course. Both had decided to marry after completion of education. Thereafter the parents of the deceased visited the house of the accused. The mother of the deceased had approved the marriage proposal. The marriage was as good as finally settled. The members of the accused's family were on visiting terms with the members of the family of the deceased. Relations between both the families were cordial. A formal engagement ceremony was to be held at the time of Dasehra. The parents of the accused and the deceased had given them full freedom to go anywhere. They used to visit various places together.

c) The accused and the deceased had decided to visit Bhushi dam situate at Lonavala on 27/7/04. On 27/7/04 at about 7.30 a.m. the accused went to the house of the deceased and both of them left her house stating that they would be going to Bhushi dam and would be back in the evening. They reached Lonavala. They went to Shanti Chowk and hired the rickshaw of PW 9 Dinesh Borkar. He took them to Ashoka Hotel at Lonavala. The accused and the deceased selected Room No. 9 and booked it. They were in the room for about 10-15 minutes. Thereafter they left the hotel for sightseeing. They went to Bhushi Dam in the autorickshaw of PW 9. They returned to Ashoka Hotel by the same authorickshaw. They took key from PW 5 Mrs. Mubarak Sayyed Ali Husaini, the owner of Ashoka Hotel. They placed order for lunch with her. Then they went to their room at about 3-30 p.m. Within 15 minutes PW 6 Bharati Nadar, the waiter of the hotel went to the said room with boiled eggs as per the order. He knocked the door of the room, it was not opened. He went back to the counter and disclosed this to PW 5 Mrs. Mubarak Husaini. She tried to contact the room on intercom but there was no response from the room. Thereafter she told PW 6 to open the door of the said room with the help of duplicate key. He opened the door. PW 5 and PW 6 peeped into the room through the door. They found the deceased and the accused completely naked. The deceased was lying near the door of the bathroom. The accused was in a leaning position and saying 'pardon me'. PW 6 then called the police. PHC Sahebrao Dagdu Warule rushed to the hotel. He shifted the deceased and the accused to Shraddha Hospital. PW 4 Dr. Jagannath Marutirao Jadhav examined the deceased. She was declared dead. The accused was admitted in Shraddha Hospital for treatment. Inquest panchnama of the dead body of the deceased was made. The dead body was sent to Primary Health Centre at Khandala for postmortem.

d) PW 3 Vasudha Deshpande, the mother of the deceased was informed on phone that the accused and the deceased were admitted in the hospital. PW 3 Vasudha and PW 1 Chandrashekhar Kulkarni gathered at the house of the deceased. PW 2 Mandar Vilas Thakur along with others went to Lonavala to see what had happened. The accused was shifted to the Jehangir Nursing Home at Pune for further treatment. The medical officer who did postmortem opined that the deceased had died due to asphyxia due to strangulation. On the same day at 3.30 p.m. PW 3 lodged the First Information Report against the accused. On the basis of the FIR the accused came to be arrested on 31/7/04. After completion of the investigation the accused came to be charged as aforesaid.