RUPESH MANGER (THAPA) Vs. STATE OF SIKKIM

JUDGEMENT

(1.) These appeals would call in question the legality and validity of the judgment of conviction and order of sentence dtd. 24/8/2022 and 5/9/2022 passed by the High Court of Sikkim at Gangtok in Criminal Appeal No. 08 of 2020 whereby the High Court has reversed the order of acquittal of the Trial Court dtd. 30/10/2018 and convicted the appellant-accused for the offence punishable under Sec. 302 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 (for short 'IPC') and sentenced him to undergo simple imprisonment for life.

(2.) The prosecution case, in brief, is that the appellant-accused committed murder of his grandfather Krishna Bahadur Rai (hereinafter called 'deceased'). An FIR was lodged to the said effect by Reeta Rai (PW-1), daughter of the deceased informing the police that her father (deceased) aged 81 years who was living with her had been murdered with a sharp-edged weapon (Patang).

(3.) Upon completion of the investigation, chargesheet was submitted against the appellant-accused for committing offence under Sec. 302 of IPC and, during the course of trial, the prosecution examined 17 witnesses to prove its case. However, even before the commencement of trial the appellant-accused raised a plea of insanity. Thereafter, he was referred to the Psychiatric Unit of the STNM Hospital, Gangtok for examination of his mental state which was conducted by Dr. Netra Thapa (CW-1), Consultant Neuro Psychiatrist. Although, the defence of insanity has not been expressly pleaded by the appellant-accused in his examination under Sec. 313 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 wherein he would mainly claim ignorance about the occurrence of the incident; at the same time, denying that he had attacked his grand father (deceased).