STATE OF GUJARAT Vs. ANWAR HASAM SUBHANIA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) At about 8-30 p.m. in the town of Sikka on 13/06/1984 a young girl aged about 14 years totally defenceless completely unsuspecting was sitting on the foot-steps of her fathers house in the company of her cousin Nilesh and was listening to the radio. Her father was having a flourishing practice as a doctor but she had the misfortune of being endowed with good looks as Mr. D. K Shah learned Counsel appearing for the accused tells the Court. The accused who comes from surroundings which are not quite congenial to sophisticated and cultural living had an evil eye on her and some time prior to the incident the accused had misbehaved with her Dr. Vasantlal and his wife Rashmiben as they were more cultured sophisticated and gentle than the behaviour of the accused under the circumstances warranted only made a complaint to one Daudbhai who was the head of the community of the accused. It appears that Daudbhai scolded the accused and the accused was prevented from passing by that particular route. The accused seems to have been enraged as his indecent advances were repulsed by Parul and on top of it the parents of the girl had the guts and cheek to complain about his misbehaviour to the headman of the community.

(2.) On that fateful day Dr. Vasantlal was away from the town and two elder brothers of Parul were studying in Baroda college. Her aunt Ranjanben and her son Nilesh were the guests of the Family. The persons present in the house were Ranjanben the aunt Rashmiben the mother of Parul Nilesh the son of Ranjanben and Parul the victim. The accused is alleged to have come there with a formidable weapon which we have seen from the muddamal articles and having come there he dragged Parul by catching hold of her wrist upto a distance of about eight feet in the court-yard of the building. He administered a lethal blow and the first blow itself went through tearing the heart-wall. When Parul bent down another equally effective and savage blow was given on the back which ruptured the lung. Both the injuries have been deposed to by the doctor as being sufficient in the ordinary course of nature individually as well as cumulatively to cause death. The accused wanted to complete the work without any chance of survival left for the helpless girl and therefore he inflicted two more blows which in- deed were not fatal. After that the accused with some purile motive inflicted surface injuries on his person by means of the said dagger They were of tiny dimensions but 14 in number. Thereafter he left the place but left the dagger at the place. At the relevant time P.S.I. Shri Solanki was on patrolling duty and was in his jeep. Rashmiben the mother of the deceased having been flabber-ghasted by the incident rushed out of the house and rushed towards the jeep. The officer came there lifted the life-less body of Parul in the expectation that she might be within the reach of some medical attention and took her to the hospital where she was pronounced dead. The complaint of Rashmiben was recorded. The investigation commenced. The accused was arraigned before the learned Additional Sessions Judge Jamnagar for an offence punishable under sec. 302 of the Indian Penal Code. As he had tried to inflict injuries on his person he was also charged under sec. 309 of the Indian Peral Code.

(3.) The learned Additional Sessions Judge after appreciating the evidence came to the conclusion that the accused was proved to have committed the crime that the accused had done the act with an intention to bring about the death of the deceased and he also found the aggravating circumstances as the accused was guilty of having come to the place duly armed and as the learned Judge found that the murder was pre-meditated and it was executed in cold blood he thought that the accused was a person whose existence should be snuffed out and he therefore awarded extreme penalty provided under the law. That is how the case is before us for confirming the said sentence and the accused being aggrieved by the order of conviction has preferred the appeal challenging his conviction.