PRAJEET KUMAR SINGH Vs. STATE OF BIHAR

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This appeal arises out of the order of confirmation in Death Reference No. 1 of 2004 and order in Criminal Appeal No. 4 of 2004 filed by the accused-appellant, whereby the High Court was of the view that in the facts and circumstances the case falls under the purview of rarest of the rare case and, thus, the death sentence imposed on the accused-appellant is completely justified.

(2.) The proceedings in the matter arose in the following facts: In the fardbeyan of Pawan Kumar Thakur (PW-3, it is said that the accused Prajeet Kumar Singh, a friend of Prakash Kumar (PW-1) (son of the informant, was living in the house of PW-3 at Supriya Road in Mirja Toli of Bettiah Town for the last four years and was also taking his meals for which he was paying Rs. 500/- per month. However, for the last several months, he had not paid the amount and owed Rs.4,000/- altogether as rent for the house and for food to the informant for which the informant was making demands regularly. Four-five days before the incident, when the informant made a demand, the accused said that he was going home to bring money and thereafter he went home. The day before the incident, the accused came back at 3.00 p.m. After having dinner, when the informant asked the accused for the dues, the accused told him that he should accompany him to his home where he would be paid his money. Thereafter, the informant and his wife went to sleep in their room which was on the third floor of the house. The accused also went to sleep in the adjoining room on the third floor. All the children of the informant were sleeping on the second floor. At night, the informant and his wife heard the noise of crying from the second floor and they suspected that the children had been quarrelling. Both of them came down and saw that the accused having picked up dab (dagger like weapon) from the house, had murdered their younger son Deepak Kumar. When the accused noticed the infor mant and his wife, he caused injury to them and their elder son Prakash Kumar, daughter Kiran Kumari and niece Pooja Kumari, using the same dab. During the course of investigation, the involvement of three more persons came to light to the investigating agency and chargesheet was submitted against the four persons, namely, accused No. 1 (the appellant herein) Prajeet Kumar Singh, accused No.2 Ram Badai Singh, father of accused No. 1 as well as Ajit Singh, brother of accused No. 1 and Chandra Bhushan Pandey, relative of accused No.1. During the course of trial, two accused Ajit Singh and Chandra Bhushan Pandey remained absent and their cases were separated. The trial proceeded against two persons only, namely, the accused-appellant and his father.

(3.) The accused-appellant has been charged under Section 302 of the Indian Penal Code (for short "the IPC") for committing the murder of informants son Deepak Kumar, aged about 16 years, daughter Kiran Kumari, aged about 15 years and niece Pooja Kumari, aged about 8 years, and further under Section 307, IPC for attempt ing to commit the murder of the informant Pawan Kumar Thakur (PW-3) and his wife Geeta Devi (PW-2). The Sessions Court found him guilty of the offence under Section 302, IPC and sentenced him to death penalty. He was also found guilty of the offence under Section 307, IPC. However, as the extreme penalty of death was imposed on the accused-appellant, the Sessions Court did not impose a separate sentence under Section 307, IPC. Father of the accused-appellant, Ram Badai Singh, has been charged for the offences under both the Sections read with Section 34, IPC. However, he was acquitted of the charges framed against him as the evidence of the witnesses that when the accused fled away from the place of incident after jumping from the top floor, they saw in the light the other accused also present beneath the house along with other persons, was not believed by the Sessions Court. The High Court has accepted the death reference and dismissed the appeal filed by the ac cused-appellant.