BALRAJ Vs. STATE OF UTTAR PRADESH

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Balraj, the sole appellant has been convicted under Section 302, I.P.C., for the offence of committing the murders of four members of P.W. 2's family and also under Section 307, I.P.C., for attempting to commit the murder of P.W. 2. In respect of murder's charge he has been sentenced to death and for the offence punishable under Section 307, I.P.C., he has been sentenced to undergo seven years' R.I. The Division Bench of the High Court confirmed the convictions and the sentences awarded by the trial Court.

(2.) The prosecution case is as follows: P.W. 2,Smt. Laxmi Devi, is the wife of Tej Pal, one of the deceased persons in the case. The appellant Balraj is the younger brother of Tejpal. Budh Jyoti, a boy aged about 13 months, Kumari Renu, aged about 4 years, Kumari Chandrawati, aged about 11 years and Kumari Deep Mala, aged about 8 years were the children of P.W. 2 and Tej Pal. One Bhante Baba was a person known to the family. According to the prosecution there were disputes between the deceased Tej Pal and the accused about the opening of a shop. Tej Pal was demanding an advance of Rs.7,000/- and even regarding the electricity a dispute arose. Bal Raj suspected that his younger brother Tej Pal and his wife P.W. 2 poisoned him and because of that he suffered vomitting of blood and he also suspected that these persons had decided to commit his murder. On the day of occurrence i.e. 13-2-88 at about 7.30 P.M. the accused armed with a gandasa came to the house of P.W. 2 saying that she wanted to kill him and therefore he will finish all of them that day. So saying he started assaulting Budh Jyoti, Renu and other children. He also assaulted P.W. 2, who became unconscious after receipt of the injuries. According to the prosecution, during the same occurrence the accused also assaulted Tej Pal and Bhante Baba. P.W. 7, the Inspector of Police, Sitarganj received a phone call that an injured man was lying near the Post Office, Sitarganj and another injured man was lying almost dead near a culvert of canal but the informant did not disclose his name. P.W. 7 having made an entry in the diary visited the place in a jeep and he saw a group of people there. He found Tej Pal lying with injuries and near the culvert Bhante Baba lying with injuries. He also came to know that Bhante Baba was living in the house of Tej Pal. P.W. 7, immediately visited the house of Tej Pal which was nearby and he found that the door was closed. He opened the door and went inside along with the witnesses and he found Kumar Deep Mala and Kumari Chandrawati lying unconscious with injuries. He also saw P.W. 2 and Budh Jyoti lying injured on the cot and Kumar Renu lying injured on another cot which was closeby. P.W. 7,found that all of them were in a State of unconsciousness. All of them were removed to the hospital. After registration of the crime, coming to know that the accused Balraj was available at the residence of his relatives at Moradabad, he went there and arrested him and the instance of the accused the gandasa was recovered. Meanwhile Tej Pal and Bhante Baba, Budh Jyoti and Renu died. P.W. 1 the Doctor, who conducted the post-mortem on the dead body of Tej Pal, found six incised injuries and opined that the death was due to these injuries. He also conducted post-mortem on the dead body of Renu and found some stitched wounds and found that the skull was fractured which resulted in death. He also conducted post-mortem on the dead body of Budh Jyoti. He found four stitched wounds on him and opined that the death was due to these injuries which could have been caused by a gandasa. On 16-2-88 P.W. 6 conducted the post-mortem on the dead body of Bhante Baba who was aged about 60 years. He found some stitched wounds and incised wounds and he opined that the death occurred due to shock and haemorrhage due to ante-mortem injuries which could have been caused by a gandasa.

(3.) On 14-2-88 P.W. 10,another Doctor examined P.W. 2,and found some stitched wounds and incised wounds and the Doctor opined that they could have been caused by a sharp-edged weapon. On the same day, P.W. 10 examined Kumar Chandrawati. P.W. 3 and he found four incised injuries on her which could have been caused by a gandasa. After completion of the investigation, the charge sheet was laid. The prosecution examined as many as 19 witnesses. A number of them are doctors as stated above. P.Ws.2, 3, and 4, were examined as eye-witnesses and P.Ws. 5,11,14,18 and 19 were examined who spoke about the motive and the disputes between the two brothers and they turned hostile. The others are all formal witnesses.