STATE OF UTTAR PRADESH Vs. INDRAJEET ALIAS SUKHATHA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Special leave granted.

(2.) The State of Uttar Pradesh has come up in appeal against the judgment dated 13-2-98 of the Division Bench of the Allahabad High Court in Criminal Appeal No. 1299 of 1991 altering the conviction of the respondent from one under Sections 307 and 302, IPC, into one under Sections 302 and 304, Part II substituting, as a consequence thereof, the sentence of five years R.I. and life imprisonment under Sections 307 and 302, IPC, respectively with five years R.I. and ten years R.I.

(3.) The case of the prosecution is that the respondent, a Carpenter by profession, at about 4 a.m. in the morning of 14-9-1988 entered the Jhopri (hut) of one Hori Lal, PW-2, who gave the first information with reference to the occurrence and is said to be the father of the deceased, and started assaulting Km. Phoolmati, the victim, with a rukhani (an implement normally used by the Carpenters). She raised an alarm on which PW-2 and Kalawati, PW-1, the mother of the victim, woke up and tried to intervene, but in the process the respondent gave some blows to them as well and after throwing away the rukhani he ran away from the place. the respondent was identified in the light of a burning lamp and on lodging a complaint at 5.15 a.m., the Police arrived at the scene of occurrence. the victim was taken to Ursala Hospital but was said to have succumbed to her injuries by the time she reached the Hospital. PWs-1 and 2 were also medically examined at 6.00 a.m. by PW-3, Dr. P. N. Bajpai. PW-6, S. S. I., Incharge of the Police Station at Juhi when the FIR was lodged, commenced investigation of the case and after examining in the course of the investigation and recording statements of PWs-1 and 2 in the Emergency Ward of the Hospital, took possession of the blood stained clothes of PW-1 and prepared its seizure memo. Thereafter, he visited the scene of occurrence also with PW-1 and thereupon prepared a site plan. He found blood lying on the spot and took plain and blood stained earth from the place of occurrence. An inquest on the body of the dead person was also held by Radhey Shyam Verma, who was deputed to hold the inquest on the body at the Hospital. A post-mortem was not conducted. Initially, the respondent was absconding resulting in the Report submitted for initiating proceedings under Sections 82 and 83, Cr.P.C. After completing the investigation, a charge-sheet was filed in the Court and the Magistrate, who entertained the charge-sheet, took cognisance of the offence and committed the case to the Court of Sessions.