KUMMA BHASKAR Vs. STATE OF CHHATTISGARH

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This criminal appeal filed by the appellant/accused under Sec. 374(2) of Cr.P.C. is directed against the impugned judgment of conviction and order of sentence dtd. 23/9/2021, passed by the Court of learned Sessions Judge, South Bastar, District Dantewada (C.G.) whereby the appellant/accused has been convicted for offence under Sec. 302 of IPC and sentenced to undergo life imprisonment with fine of Rs.500.00 and, in default of fine, rigorous imprisonment of 03 months.

(2.) The case of the prosecution, in brief, is that on 19/9/2017 at about 06:00 PM in the evening at Village Gamawada Balempara the appellant herein assaulted Joga Bhaskar (deceased) by means of iron pipe on the pretext that he is involved in the act of witchcraft and thereby committed the offence under Sec. 302 of IPC and also under Ss. 04 and 05 of the Chhattisgarh Tonahi Pratadna Nivaran Act, 2005 (for short the 'Act of 2005").

(3.) The further case of the prosecution, in brief, is that on 19/9/2017 deceased- Joga Bhaskar after having food and consuming liquor had gone out of his house and did not return back. On the next day i.e. 20/9/2017, in the morning, when Smt. Lakkho Bhaskar (PW-01) was going to attend the call of nature, she saw Joga Bhaskar (deceased) lying dead in front of Bheema Baras's house and his dead-body is bloodied, thereafter, she immediately informed Lachchhu Bhaskar (PW-02), who in turn, informed about the said incident to Smt. Torko Bhaskar (PW-03), wife of the deceased-Joga Bhaskar. Thereafter, a meeting of villagers was convened in the village, in which the accused-appellant herein informed that deceased- Joga Bhaskar was involved in the act of black magic/witchcraft, used to threatened his family members and used to send snakes by spells (magic) and, on account of which, the accused-appellant herein ensued a dispute with deceased-Joga Bhaskar, threatened him to kill and in furtherance thereof assaulted him by means of iron pipe on his head and committed his murder. Thereafter, at the instance of Smt. Torko Bhaskar (PW-03), marg intimation (Ex.P/03) was recorded and on the basis of which FIR (Ex.P/04) vide Crime No.35 of 2017 was also registered against the accused-appellant at Police Station Bhansi, District Dantewada (CG) for offences punishable under Ss. 302 of IPC and also under Ss. 04 and 05 of the Act of 2005. Spot map was prepared vide Ex.P/08 and "Panchnama' was prepared vide Ex.P/09. Appellant was arrested vide Ex.P/12 and his memorandum has been recorded vide Ex.P/10 and pursuant to which a blood stained iron pipe was sized vide seizure memo (Ex.P/11) and the same was sent to FSL for examination. In the FSL report (Ex.P/23) it has been stated that blood was found in the said iron pipe, but it could not be gathered/ascertained that the said blood is human blood or not. The dead-body of deceased- Joga Bhaskar was sent for postmortem examination vide Ex.P/18 and, in the postmortem report (Ex.P/25), it has been opined that cause of death is due to combined effect of head injury, hemorrhage and shock and mode of death is homicidal in nature. The postmortem of deceased was conducted by Dr. Nityanand Kumar, but on account of his transfer to some other place, Dr. Alok Minj (PW-10) has given statement before the Court and proved the postmortem report (Ex.P/25). Thereafter, statement of witnesses were recorded and after due investigation, the police filed charge-sheet in the Court of Judicial Magistrate First Class, Bacheli, District Dantewada (CG) and, thereafter, the case was committed to the Court of Sessions. The appellant/accused abjured his guilt and entered into defence.