S K NAIR Vs. STATE OF PUNJAB

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This appeal is directed against the judgment dated 3-3-1987 passed by the Punjab and Haryana High Court in Criminal Appeal No. 117 DB of 1986 affirming the conviction under Section 302, I. P. C. and consequential sentence of imprisonment for life and fine of Rs. 2, 000/- in default further rigorous imprisonment for six months and conviction under Section 324, I. P. C. and consequential sentence of six months rigorous imprisonment passed by the learned Sessions Judge, Bhatinda, in Sessions Case No. 24 of 1984.

(2.) The appellant Sri S. K. Nair was charged for committing murder of Naik B. Chowdhury and causing injuries with a khukri (Nepalese dagger) on Havildar P. P. S. Kashyap and the driver Joga Singh within the barrack in the Air Force Station, Bhisana in the early morning of August 13, 1982. The prosecution case in short is that the accused S. K. Nair and the deceased B. Chowdhury and the injured Havildar P. P. S. Kashyap used to stay in the same barrack being barrack No. 19 in the said Air Force Station, Bhisana. The deceased Naik B. Chowdhury was to proceed on leave with effect from August 13, 1982 and the driver Joga Singh was deputed to pick up the said Naik Chowdhury at 5 a. m. on August 13, 1982 and to drop him at Ambala Railway Station. The said Naik Chowdhury requested Havildar P. P. S. Kashyap to awake him in the early morning. When Sri Kashyap went to awake Sri Chowdhury for the second time at about 4. 45 a. m. , he noticed the accused sitting on his cot with a khukri in his right had being taken out of its sheath. The accused inflicted two khukri blows on the head of the said Kashyap who then raised noise and the deceased B. Chowdhury and Mr. Suresh Kumar got up from sleep and noticed that the accused was giving blows with khukri to the said Sri Kashyap. Sri Kashyap nowever could manage to go out of the barrack through a widow. The deceased B. Chowdhury caught hold of the accused and told him that he would be produced before the officers. The accused then retorted that he would be produced before the officers only if Sri Chowdhury was alive by then. Saying so, the accused started inflicting khukri blows on the person of the deceased and dealt 19 blows on different parts of his body. As a result the said Sri Chowdhury died on the spot. Joga Singh driver reached by that time and when he tried to stop the accused, he was also attacked by the accused and Joga Singh suffered one khukri blow on his right flank and he than ran out of the barrack. Both Sri Kashyap and Joga Singh went to M. I. Room where they were treated by Dr. R. K. Bhattacharji. Thereafter, the Security Officer, Sri G. S. R. Sharma and Sergeant Benedict along with Dr. R. K. Bhattacharji came to barrack No. 19 and found the dead body of the said Sri Chowdhury and they also found that the accused in military uniform was standing with a khukri in his hand. The accused surrendered himself to the security officer and handed over the khukri to him. The accused was formally arrested by S. I. Balbir Singh and inquest of the dead body was held and the dead body was sent for post-mortem examination. The post-mortem examination revealed that the deceased had suffered 19 khukri blows on various parts of his body and the doctor holding post-mortem examination gave opinion that the injuries were ante-mortem and they were sufficient to cause death in the ordinary course of nature and also opined that on account of such injuries, the death was instantaneous.

(3.) It may be stated here that the accused denied the charges and pleaded false accusation against him in his statements under Section 313 of the Code of Criminal Procedure. The accused examined Lt. Col. H. B. Chakraborty as a defence witness.