SUJIT BISWAS Vs. STATE OF ASSAM

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This appeal has been preferred against the judgment and order dated 23.4.2010, passed by the High Court of Guwahati in Criminal Appeal No. 13(J) of 2010 rejecting Death Reference No. 1 of 2010 made by the Additional Sessions Judge (FTC), No. 3, Kamrup, Guwahati on 21.12.2009 in Sessions Case No. 309(K) of 2009, convicting the appellant under Sections 376(2)(f) and 302 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 (hereinafter referred to as 'the IPC'), sentencing him to death. The High Court commuted the death sentence of the appellant to life imprisonment, with a direction that the appellant would breathe his last in jail, and that he would not be given the benefit of remissions etc. under Sections 432 and 433-A of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (hereinafter referred to as the 'Cr.P.C.').

(2.) Facts and circumstances giving rise to this appeal are that:

(3.) Shri Ratnakar Dash, learned senior counsel, Amicus Curiae, has submitted that the same is a case of circumstantial evidence. The courts below, while convicting the appellant for the offences punishable under Sections 376(2)(f) and 302 IPC, have not followed the parameters laid down by this court that are to be followed for conviction in a case of circumstantial evidence. There are material discrepancies which go to the root of the case, and the courts below have simply brushed them aside, without giving any satisfactory explanation for not considering the same in correct perspective. The circumstances against the appellant, as per the case of the prosecution are, that he had demanded Rs.20/- to point out the place where Sima Khatoon had been found and immediately thereafter, he had run away from the said place and had boarded a bus. No other evidence exists to connect the appellant to the said crime. Furthermore, the trial court has put a large number of irrelevant and unconnected questions to the appellant under Section 313 Cr.P.C., while failing to put the most incriminating circumstance to the appellant, i.e. questions regarding the fact that the underwear of the appellant bore upon it, blood stains of the same blood group as that of the victim. Thus, the appellant had no opportunity to provide any explanation with respect to the same. It was not permissible for the courts below to rely entirely on such a circumstance, without verification of the same. The High Court was also not competent to issue a direction to the effect that the appellant should not be given the benefits available under Sections 432 and 433-A Cr.P.C. Therefore, the appeal deserves to be allowed.