HARIPRASAD Vs. STATE OF CHHATTISGARH

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The Appellant-accused by way of present appeal has assailed the Judgment and Order dtd. 9/2/2011 passed by the High Court of Chhattisgarh at Bilaspur, in Criminal Appeal No.324 of 2006, whereby the High Court has confirmed the judgment of conviction and order of sentence dtd. 9/3/2006 passed by the Special Judge, (Atrocities), Bilaspur, Chhattisgarh (hereinafter referred to as the 'Trial Court') in Special Criminal Case No.19 of 2005. The Trial Court in the said case while acquitting the appellant-accused from the charge under Sec. 3(2)(5) of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989, (hereinafter referred to as the SC/ST Act), had convicted him for the offence under Sec. 302 of IPC and sentenced him to undergo imprisonment for life and pay a fine of Rs.1,000.00, in default thereof, to further undergo Rigorous Imprisonment for one year.

(2.) The case of the prosecution as unfolded by it was that on 22/7/2003, during the evening hours, Bisahu Singh (the deceased) had gone to the forest for collecting woods, however he did not come back in the night. The next day morning his wife Ganeshi Bai saw him lying in the Verandah of his house in a semi-conscious state. At that time, some wheezing sound, and pungent smell of liquor was coming from his mouth. Ganeshi Bai and her daughter Anita tried to wake him up, but in his slurred speech, he was trying to say that while he was going to the forest, Hariprasad (the appellant-accused) called him at his home and made him to drink two glasses of liquor and thereafter Hariprasad mixed some jadi-buti (herb) in the third glass of liquor, and made him to drink the third glass. Ganeshi Bai called her neighbours and took him to CIMS Bilaspur, as the health of Bisahu Singh was deteriorating. During the course of treatment, Bisahu Singh died on 23/7/2003 at about 03.30 P.M. The death was intimated to the police and Merg " " Intimation (Ex. P/4) was prepared. The dead body of Bisahu Singh was sent for autopsy to CIMS Bilaspur. Dr. A.K. Shukla conducted the Post-mortem on 24/7/2003 and recorded in the Post-mortem Report (Ex. P/13) as under: -

(3.) After the receipt of the report of Chemical examiner (Ex. P/14), the FIR was registered on 3/11/2004. (Ex. P/11)