JAN MOHAMMAD Vs. STATE

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This is an appeal by Jan Mohammad who has been convicted under Sections 302 and 307, I.P.C. by the Civil and Sessions Judge of Mirzapur. For the former offence he has been sentenced to death and for the latter to undergo seven years' rigorous imprisonment. The usual reference under Section 374 of the Cri. P.C. for the confirmation of the death sentence is also before us.

(2.) Learned counsel for the appellant did not question before us the correctness of the conviction of the appellant for both the offences. He also did not challenge the main findings recorded by the learned Sessions Judge against he appellant. On a perusal of the record the conviction appears to be perfectly justified. Though an attempt was made at the trial Court to make some of the witnesses to go back on their earlier statements, there can be no doubt that the Sessions Judge was right in his findings that on the 1st May 1961 at about 8 a.m. the appellant Jan Mohammad went to the house of Arshuddin Khan deceased. Smt. Nazbeen, the daughter of the deceased, was also there at the house. There was some talk between the appellant and the deceased. The appellant then struck the deceased with a knife which he carried and hit him on the chest. Smt. Nazbeen, the daughter of the deceased, wanted to intervene and to save her father. She threw a burning piece of wood at the appellant. On her doing so the appellant struck her also the knife which he was carrying. The appellant then left the place. The appellant was later found sitting by a nala nearby. He was caught and taken to the thana with the knife with which he had caused injuries to the deceased and his daughter.

(3.) The post-mortem examination of Arshuddin Khan disclosed an incised punctured wound 11/4" x 3/4" ex (sic) chest cavity running transversely and obliquely on front of left side chest 31/2" below the nipple. The injury was sufficient in the ordinary course of nature to cause death and had been caused by a knife. The injury found on Smt. Nazbeen was an incised punctured wound measuring 11/4" x 1/2 ex pleural cavity. It was a grievous injury and had also been caused by a sharp-edged weapon like a knife.