SHEIKH ABDUL HAMID Vs. STATE OF MADHYA PRADESH

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This criminal appeal is directed against the judgment dated 30-4-1997 of the Madhya Pradesh High Court in Criminal Appeal No. 1712 of 1996 whereby the High Court has upheld the conviction of the appellants under Ss. 302/34, I.P.C. and further confirmed the death sentences awarded to them by the trial Court.

(2.) The prosecution case in brief, is like this: Accused-appellant No. 1 Shaikh Abdul Hameed is the husband of deceased-Mst. Manglibi alias Kaniza. Deceased-Samidabi the daughter of Manglibi from her former husband. Deceased-Rafeeq, aged about 14 months, was the son of accused-appellant No. 1 and deceased Manglibi. Ashiq Ali, co-accused-appellant No. 2 is a friend of appellant No. 1 and he after release from prison was living with appellant No. 1 in the Dhaba.

(3.) In the year 1989, deceased-Manglibi after purchasing a small plot of land on Highway No. 7 constructed a Dhaba where she started business of sale of refreshment. Appellant No. 1, deceased-Manglibi, deceased daughter Shamidabi and son Rafeeq - all were living in the said Dhaba. On 13-11-1992, Qadir Khan (P.W. 9) had lodged a report to the police station Chaprra, that his elder sister Manglibi, along with her children had disappeared or not traceable for 2-1/2 months and he suspected that appellant No. 1 either killed or sold them. This report later on came to be registered as the First Information Report. On that report the prosecution machinery was set in motion. The police after permission from the Sub-Divisional Magistrate exhumed the dead bodies by digging the earths in the inner room of the Dhaba. Consequently, charges under Ss. 302/34, I.P.C. were framed against the accused-appellants. The trial Court being of the opinion that there were cogent circumstantial evidence available on record to conclude that it were the appellants who alone have committed the murder of the three deceased persons, convicted each of them for offence under Ss. 302/34, I.P.C. and sentenced them to death. The trial Court made references of the death sentence awarded to the appellants for confirmation before the High Court. The appellants also filed appeals before the High Court against their conviction and sentences awarded to them. The High Court by the impugned judgment under appeal upheld the judgment of the trial Court and confirmed the death sentences awarded to the appellants. That is how the matter has come up before us.