LIYAKAT SON OF SHAHID Vs. STATE

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This appeal, preferred under Section 374 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (hereinafter referred as Cr.P.C.), is directed against the judgment and order dated 14.09.1993, passed by learned Additional Sessions Judge, Roorkee, in Sessions trial No. 525 of 1988, whereby accused/appellant Liyakat S/o Shahid has been convicted under Section 302 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 (hereinafter referred as I.P.C.) and sentenced to undergo imprisonment for life.

(2.) Heard learned Counsel for the parties and perused the lower court record.

(3.) Prosecution story, in brief, is that accused/appellant Liyakat S/o Shahid @ Sayeed was resident of Village Kelhanpur of tehsil Roorkee, District Saharanpur (now part of District Haridwar). Deceased Liyakat S/o Abdulla was also resident of the same village, who developed illicit relations, about 3 -4 months before the date of incident, with wife of accused/appellant Liyakat. About 4 -5 days before the incident, wife of accused/appellant Liyakat left with deceased Liyakat along with one child, leaving six other children in the house of the accused/appellant. On 28.05.1988, at about 10:00 -10:30 A.M., deceased Liyakat (S/o Abdulla) came to the house of accused/appellant Liyakat. Thereafter, at 11:30 - 12:00 noon, accused/appellant Liyakat came out from his house and was looking nervous. Many villagers, including P.W. 5 Naseeran, at that time were sitting under a Neem tree. When one Sakoora (since died) asked as to why accused/appellant Liyakat is looking nervous, he admitted having killed Liyakat S/o Abdulla. On this, P.W. 7 Zareef Ahmad, Village Pradhan orally reported the matter to the police at police station Roorkee, where the check report (Ext. A - 5) of the oral first information report was prepared and Crime No. 173 of 1988 is registered against accused Liyakat S/o Shahid, relating to offence punishable under Section 302 of I.P.C. The necessary entry was made in the general diary, copy of extract of which is Ext. A-6, on the record. On that very day i.e. 28.05.1988, at 02:15 P.M., the police party with Sub Inspector Satish Chandra Pachori (P.W. 8) reached the village and took the dead body of Liyakat S/o Abdulla in their possession and prepared inquest report (Ext. A-7). Police further prepared document form No. 13 (Ext. A-8); Sketch of the dead body (Ext. A-9); letter to the Chief Medical Officer (Ext. A-10) requesting for postmortem examination of the dead body. Dr. Arun Kumar Jain (P.W. 6) conducted the postmortem examination on 29.05.1988 and prepared the autopsy report (Ext. A-4). He opined, after recording ante mortem incised wounds that the deceased had died due to shock and haemorrhage, as a result of ante mortem injuries. The crime was initially investigated by Sub Inspector Bhanu Pratap Singh (P.W. 9), who interrogated the witnesses and recovered the blood stained Spade (Phawara) used in the crime from the house of the accused/appellant Liyakat, and prepared the recovery memo (Ext. A-1) of the same. He also prepared site plan (Ext. A-11). On completion of the investigation, the charge sheet was finally filed by Inspector Onkar Singh.