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2018 DIGILAW 140 (JHR)

Puran Mahato v. State of Jharkhand

2018-01-16

ANANDA SEN, H.C.MISHRA

body2018
JUDGMENT : H.C. Mishra, J. Heard learned counsel for the sole appellant and the learned counsel for the State. 2. The appellant is aggrieved by the judgment of conviction' dated 30.8.2007 and order of sentence dated 6.9.2007, passed by the learned Additional Sessions Judge, Fast Track Court No-II. Dhanbad, in Sessions Trial No. 406 of 2005, whereby, the sole accused has been found guilty and convicted for the offence under Section 302 of the Indian Penal Code. Upon hearing on the point of sentence, the sole accused has been sentenced to undergo Rigorous Imprisonment for life and a fine of Rs. 5,000/- for the said offence. 3. The prosecution case was instituted on the basis of the written report submitted to the Officer-in-charge of Baghmara (Mahuda) Police Station, by the informant Dhiren Mahato, who is the brother of the deceased lady. The sole accused is the husband of the deceased, and it is stated in the written report that they were married about 20 years ago and they had a daughter who was also married about 1-1/2 years ago. The informant, Dhiren Mahato was living with his sister and brother-in-law due to poverty. On 7.6.2005, after taking his meal, he slept in the courtyard of the house in the night at about 10.00 p.m., and his sister Mando Devi and the brother-in-law Puran Mahato slept in their room. There was rain in the night and he went into the room. At about 3:00 a.m., in the morning, he woke up and he went into the room of his sister and brother-in-law to wake them up. He found that only his sister was sleeping on one side of the bed and the brother-in-law was not there. He thought that his sister was sleeping, and he tried to awake her up, but when she did not get up, he raised alarm, whereupon some persons reached there and they found that his sister had died. It was apparent from the dead body that she was strangulated to death and there were nail marks on the neck of his sister. His brother-in-law was nowhere to be found. It was apparent from the dead body that she was strangulated to death and there were nail marks on the neck of his sister. His brother-in-law was nowhere to be found. It is alleged in the written report that the accused wanted to re-marry due to the fact that they had no male child, which was being opposed by the wife, for which, it is alleged that the husband had killed his wife by strangulating her, in which, his brother, Muchi Ram Mahato and mother Ramni Devi had also supported. On the basis of the written report, Baghmara (Mahuda) P.S. Case No. 133 of 2005, corresponding to G.R. No. 1842 of 2005, was instituted for the offence under Sections 302/34 of the Indian Penal Code, and investigation was taken up. After investigation, the police submitted the charge-sheet in the case only against the sole accused. 4. After commitment of the case to the Court of Session, charge was framed against the accused for the offence under Section 302 of the Indian Penal Code, and upon the accused's pleading not guilty and claiming to be tried, he was put to trial. 5. In course of trial, six witnesses have been examined by the prosecution, including the I.O. and the Doctor, who had conducted the post-mortem examination on the dead body of the deceased. No evidence was adduced by the defence. 6. PW 3 Dhiren Mahato is the informant and the brother of the deceased. This witness, has stated that Mando Devi was his sister, who was married to the accused Puran Mahato about 24 to 25 years ago, who had been strangulated to death by her husband. He has stated that the occurrence took place about 16-17 months ago. He was in their house and in the night, he was sleeping in the courtyard and his sister Mando Devi and her husband Puran Mahato were sleeping in the room. He got up at about 1:00 p.m. in the night due to rain and thereafter, he slept on the verandah of the house. At about 5:00 a.m., he got up and saw the door of the room open and he also saw that his brother-in-law was not present in the room and his sister was lying on the bed. He tried to wake her up, when he saw some bloodstains in the mouth of his sister and near her knees. At about 5:00 a.m., he got up and saw the door of the room open and he also saw that his brother-in-law was not present in the room and his sister was lying on the bed. He tried to wake her up, when he saw some bloodstains in the mouth of his sister and near her knees. He also saw the nail marks on her neck, whereupon, lie raised alarm. His brother-in-law was not in the house and the neighbors assembled there. Thereafter, he went to his own village Pipratand and informed his brother and other family members about the occurrence and thereafter, he returned back. This witness had stated that his brother informed the police, whereupon the police arrived at the village. He has also stated that his sister had only one daughter and she had no son. His brother-in-law was insisting to re-marry as they had no male issue, due to which, they used to quarrel. He gave the written report to the police, which was written by the Munshi of the Police Station and he had put his signature on it. He has identified his signature on the written report, which was marked Exhibit-1/1. He has identified the accused in the Court. In his cross-examination, this witness has stated that he had signed the written report at the Police Station, which was written by a Police Officer. Some contradictions have been taken from this witness in his cross-examination about the time when he woke up in the night due to rain, as also in the morning. He has stated that due to poverty, he used to live at his brother-in-law's place and this witness and his brother-in-law both used to sell coal, picking up from here and there. He has stated that the deceased was his step sister and he has two other step brothers and one more step sister. He has denied the suggestion that the accused was not in the house on the date of occurrence and he has also denied the suggestion to have falsely implicated the accused. 7. PW 2 Keshaw Mahato is the own brother of the deceased. He has denied the suggestion that the accused was not in the house on the date of occurrence and he has also denied the suggestion to have falsely implicated the accused. 7. PW 2 Keshaw Mahato is the own brother of the deceased. He has stated that this case was instituted on the written report of his brother Dhiren Mahato, whereupon he had also put his signature, which he has identified and the same was marked Exhibit-I. He has stated that the occurrence had taken place about 16 months ago at village Telmacho. His sister Mando Devi was married to Puran Mahato and they had a daughter, but no son. His brother-in-law wanted to re-marry, which was being objected by his sister. He has further stated that on the day of occurrence, his brother Dhiren Mahato was in the same village and in the morning, he came at about 5.00 a.m., and informed that Mando Devi was lying dead on her bed and the brother-in-law was absconding from the house. He went there and saw the dead body. There was blood in the mouth and there were nail marks in the neck. The police came there and prepared the inquest report of the dead body, on which, he had put his signature. He has identified his signature on the inquest report, which was marked Exhibit-2. He has identified the accused in the Court. In his cross-examination, this witness has stated that the accused is his own brother-in-law. He got the information about the occurrence at about 5.00 a.m. in the morning. Village Telmacho is at a distance of about 3 K.M. from his house and the Police Station is at a distance of about 5 K.M. He has also stated that he had not seen who had killed his sister. He has also stated that he had gone for the post-mortem of the dead body and after post-mortem, he brought the dead body to the village Telmacho, where it was cremated. He has stated that he had seen the dead body on the bed and the written report was written in his presence, which was taken by the Police Officer. He has denied the suggestion that the accused had no hand in killing of his sister. 8. PW 4 Neku Mahato is the co-villager of PW 2 Keshaw Mahato. He has stated that he had seen the dead body on the bed and the written report was written in his presence, which was taken by the Police Officer. He has denied the suggestion that the accused had no hand in killing of his sister. 8. PW 4 Neku Mahato is the co-villager of PW 2 Keshaw Mahato. He has stated that Mando Devi was married to Puran Mahato in the village Telmacho and she had a daughter but had no son. On the date of occurrence, he was informed in the morning that Mando Devi had died in her village, whereupon he had visited the place along with other persons of the village and had seen the dead body of the deceased. The police had prepared the inquest report on which he had put his signature, which he had identified and the same was marked Exhibit-2/1. He has identified the accused in the Court. Though this witness was put to cross-examination, but there is nothing in his cross-examination to discredit his testimony. 9. PW 1 Lalu Mahato is the co-villager of the accused and has stated nothing against the accused. He has only stated that the accused was married to the deceased. They had only one daughter and no son. 10. PW 6 is Dr. Shailendra Kumar who had conducted the post-mortem examination on the dead body of the deceased on 8.6.2005 and had found the following ante-mortem injuries on the dead body : (i) Abrasions :- (a) 3" x 1/2 " in this area 4 small abrasions. each about 1/4" x 1/4" size were found on the right side of neck with semi lunar nail mark on the outer aspect of this area. (b) Two small semi lunar nail mark were found 1/4" away from each other on the right side of the face between chin and angle of mouth. (c) 1/4" x 1/6" on the upper border of manubrium in the middle. (ii) Bruises :- (a) 1/2" x 1/4" on the inner surface of lower lips. (b) 2" x 1/4" on the right collar bone. Bruises were reddish brown in colour. On Dissection :- Echymosis were found on the both sides of under surface of chin and on the both sides of neck. Larynges, Trachea and Bronchi were found congested with the blood mixed fine froth on their inner walls. (b) 2" x 1/4" on the right collar bone. Bruises were reddish brown in colour. On Dissection :- Echymosis were found on the both sides of under surface of chin and on the both sides of neck. Larynges, Trachea and Bronchi were found congested with the blood mixed fine froth on their inner walls. Left side of heart was empty and right side was full of dark fluid blood. Stomach contained about 300 grams of rice. Bladder was empty. Uterus was normal and non-pregnant. All internal organs were found congested. This witness has stated that the cause of death was asphyxia as a result of throttling and due to pressure over mouth and nostril by hands. He has identified the post-mortem report to be in his pen and signature, which was marked as Exhibit-5. 11. PW 5 Vipin Kumar is the S.I. of the Police. This witness has stated that on 8.6.2005, he was posted as Officer-In- charge of Mahuda Police Station. He received the written report of the informant, which he sent to Baghmara Police Station for instituting the case. He has identified the endorsement on the written report to be in his pen and signature, which was marked Exhibit-1/2. He has also identified the endorsement made by the Officer-In-charge of Baghmara Police Station which was also marked Exhibit 1/3 and he has also proved the formal FIR, which was marked Exhibit-3. He has stated that before getting the written report, he had heard the rumor that one lady was killed in the village. Telmacho, which he had entered as sanha entry No. 157 of 2005 and proceeded towards Telmacho village, where he received the written report from the informant. Thereafter, he went to the place of occurrence and saw the dead body. He prepared the inquest report which he has proved to be in his pen and signature, which was marked Exhibit-2/2. He also prepared the dead body challan which he has proved and the same was marked Exhibit-4. He sent the dead body for post-mortem examination. He inspected the place of occurrence and has given the details of the place of occurrence. He has stated that he had seen the marks of nails on the neck of the dead body of the deceased. He also found some marks of violence on the place of occurrence. He arrested the accused, who confessed his guilt. He inspected the place of occurrence and has given the details of the place of occurrence. He has stated that he had seen the marks of nails on the neck of the dead body of the deceased. He also found some marks of violence on the place of occurrence. He arrested the accused, who confessed his guilt. He received the post-mortem report and after completing the investigation, submitted the charge-sheet. Though this witness was put to lengthy cross-examination but there is nothing of much importance in his cross-examination. 12. The statement of the accused was recorded under Section 313 of the CrPC, wherein, he has denied the evidence against him and he has only stated that on the date of occurrence, he was not present in the house. He has denied the knowledge about the occurrence. No evidence was adduced by the defence. On the basis of the evidence on record, the sole accused has been convicted and sentenced for the offence as aforesaid. 13. Learned counsel for the appellant has submitted that there is no eye-witness to the occurrence and there is only circumstantial evidence against him. Even the chain of circumstance is not so complete so as to point only towards the guilt of the accused and as such, the prosecution has failed to bring home the charge against the accused beyond all reasonable doubts. Leani.ed counsel has placed reliance upon the decisions of the Hon'ble Supreme Court of India in C. Chenga Reddy and others v. State of A.P., reported in (1996) 10 SCC 193 , and in G. Parshwanath v. State of Karnataka, reported in (2010) 8 SCC 593 , in support of his contention that in case, where the evidence is of a circumstantial nature, the circumstances from which the conclusion of guilt is to be drawn should be fully established and the facts established should be consistent only with the hypothesis of the guilt of the accused and should exclude every hypothesis except the one sought to be proved. Placing reliance on these decisions, learned counsel submitted that the circumstances proved in the case are not sufficient to come only to the conclusion of the guilt of the accused and accordingly, it is a fit case in which the accused-appellant be given the benefits of doubt. 14. Placing reliance on these decisions, learned counsel submitted that the circumstances proved in the case are not sufficient to come only to the conclusion of the guilt of the accused and accordingly, it is a fit case in which the accused-appellant be given the benefits of doubt. 14. Learned counsel for the State, on the other hand, has opposed the prayer and submitted that though there is no eye-witness to the occurrence, but the prosecution has been able to bring home the charge against the accused beyond all reasonable doubts. It is submitted that it is an admitted case that the sole accused is the husband of the deceased and they were living together. In the night of the occurrence, the accused had slept with his wife, and in the morning he was found absconding and the dead body of the deceased was found on the bed with strangulation marks. The motive of the offence was that they had no male issue and the accused wanted to re-marry for the male issue. Learned counsel accordingly, submitted that the chain of circumstances is so complete so as to prove only towards the guilt of the accused and as such, there is no illegality in the impugned judgment of conviction and order of sentence passed by the trial Court below. 15. Having heard the learned counsels for both the sides and upon going through the evidence on record, we find that there is evidence on record that the sole accused is the husband of the deceased and this fact is admitted by the accused even in his statement recorded under Section 313 of the Cr PC. There is evidence that they are living together and in the night of the occurrence also, the accused Puran Mahato had slept with his wife in one room, whereas the informant, who is the brother-in-law of the accused, slept in the courtyard of the house. When the informant woke up in the morning, he only found the dead body of his sister on the bed in the room and the accused was absconding. There were marks of violence on the dead body of the deceased. When the informant woke up in the morning, he only found the dead body of his sister on the bed in the room and the accused was absconding. There were marks of violence on the dead body of the deceased. The informant raised alarm and also informed the other brother of the deceased who also came to the place of occurrence and saw the dead body of the deceased with the marks of violence and the husband was missing from the house. The evidence of PW 6 Dr. Shailendra Kumar and the post-mortem report proved by him as Exhibit-5, clearly show that the death was caused due to asphyxia as a result of throttling and due to pressure over mouth and nostril by hands. In our considered view, all these circumstances point only towards the guilt of the accused, Puran Mahato. 16. In G. Parshwanath's case (supra), relied upon by the learned counsel for the defence, the principles of law governing the sufficiency of the circumstantial evidence has been laid down as follows :- "23. In cases where evidence is of a circumstantial nature, the circumstances from which the conclusion of guilt is to be drawn should, in the first instance, be fully established. ...... Although there should not be any missing links in the case, yet it is not essential that each of the links must appear on the surface of the evidence adduced and some of these links may have to be inferred from the proved facts. In drawing these inferences, the Court must have regard to the common course of natural events and to human conduct and their relations to the facts of the particular case. The Court thereafter has to consider the effect of proved facts. 24. In deciding the sufficiency of the circumstantial evidence for the purpose of conviction, the Court has to consider the total cumulative effect of all the proved facts, each one of which reinforces the conclusion of guilt and if the combined effect of all these facts taken together is conclusive in establishing the guilt of the accused, the conviction would be justified even though it may be that one or more of these facts by itself or themselves is/are not decisive. The facts established should be consistent only with the hypothesis of the guilt of the accused and should exclude every hypothesis except the one sought be proved. ........ The facts established should be consistent only with the hypothesis of the guilt of the accused and should exclude every hypothesis except the one sought be proved. ........ There must be a chain of evidence so complete as not to leave any reasonable ground for the conclusion consistent with the innocence of the accused and must show that in all human probability the act must have been done by the accused,........." (Emphasis supplied). 17. From the evidence on record, we find that the combined effect of all the circumstances proved in the case point out only towards the guilt of the accused and not otherwise. We are of the considered view that the sole accused has been rightly convicted and sentenced by the trial Court for the offence under Section 302 of the Indian Penal Code for committing the murder of his wife. 18. As such, we do not find any illegality in the impugned judgment of conviction dated 30.8.2007 and order of sentence dated 6.9.2007, passed by the learned Additional Sessions Judge. Fast Track Court No. II. Dhanbad, in Sessions Trial No. 406 of 2005. convicting and sentencing the appellant Puran Mahato for the offence under Section 302 of the Indian Penal Code, which we hereby, affirm. The appellant is already in custody undergoing his sentence. 19. There is no merit in this appeal and the same is accordingly, dismissed. Let the Lower Court Records be sent back to the Court concerned forthwith along with a copy of this judgment. Appeal dismissed.