GAYA PRASAD Vs. STATE

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The appellants Gaya Prasad and Behari Lal are two young boys aged about eighteen or nineteen years. They are Patwas by caste and reside in village Malaka in district Fatehpur which is situate at a distance of about five miles from police station Fatehpur. Gaya Prasad was a student of Class X of Anglo Sanskrit College attached to the Government Higher Secondary School at Fatehpur and was appearing at the High School Examination on the relevant date. Behari Lal was following his ancestral occupation of Patwagiri or the threading of ornaments. They were charged with having committed the murder of one Kumari Raj Dulari, the daughter of Badri Prasad Baniya who was carrying on a flourishing business, in that village, on 7th of April, 1956, some time in the day and also for having committed robbery of the property of Badri Prasad. Kumari Raj Dulari was aged about nine or ten years. Badri Prasad's wife died about four years back. Badri Prasad has a son by name Ram Prasad aged about twelve or thirteen years. Badri Prasad used to go away to the Fatehpur market twice a week on market clays in order to make purchases for his shop.

(2.) The facts of the case as disclosed from the evidence of Badri Prasad lies within a short compass and may be stated as follows : On 7th of April, 1956, which was a market day, Badri Prasad left home with his son Ram Prasad for Fatehpur market at about 8 a.m. He left his daughter Kumari Raj Dulari in his house which he had locked from outside. He returned back at about 5 p.m. and when he opened the lock he found the doors of the house chained from within. He gave some calls to his daughter Raj Dulari but there was no response. He therefore went to the ruins behind his house which lay to the north of the house. The ruins were on a higher level. He scaled the wall of the house from that side and went up the atari. He found the ladder which he had left in the barotha placed near the atari in the courtyard and with the help of the ladder he climbed down. After going inside the dalan he found the chain of the adjacent kothri broken. There was another kothri known as chor-kothri inside the aforesaid kothri. He found the lock of the chor-kothri also open. He also found boxes broken and goods removed. When he went to the northern kothri by the side of this dalan he, found Km. Raj Dulari lying dead in a pool of blood with her neck cut down. Her mouth was gagged with a portion of her own dhoti which she was wearing. He also found a bloodstained kulhari Ex. 1 and a khurpi Ex. 2 lying there.

(3.) After leaving his son at his house Badri Prasad proceeded to the, police station where he lodged a report of the occurrence at 9.10 p.m. On return from the police station he found some more articles missing and he prepared a list in respect of them. It is said that he inspected his house a little more carefully and in that connection he also went to the roof, of the house and found a small potli containing a sum of Rs. 2,799/-, in currency notes, as also a gold nathuni, a silver bar and four gold-mohurs lying on the roof amidst grass and phoos at some distance from the place where the ladder had been placed. Second Officer Malkhan Singh of police station Fatehpur reached Badri Prasad's house, the same night at about midnight. It is said that a subsidiary list of articles was handed over to him by Badri Prasad who also showed him the potli containing the currency notes and also the other articles mentioned above. The Second Officer found the dead body of Raj Dulari in the northern portion of the kothri in a pool of blood and he also found the bloodstained khurpi and the kulhari lying close by. He prepared the inquest report on the following morn-ing. He secured blood-stained earth from that place. After performing some other acts in connection with the investigation and after having recorded the statements of Badri Prasad, Gaya Prasad and Mathura Prasad witnesses in the afternoon of 8th of April, 1956, he returned back to the police station on 9th of April, 1956, some time in the forenoon, and went again to village Malaka on 9th of April reaching there at about 3 p.m. It is said that Raghubir Prasad E. W. 19 who was the mukhia of the village for well-high twenty years and whose brother Rampal is now the Pradhan of the village came to him some time in the afternoon that day and told him that the two appellants were present on his khalyan and they had made a confession of their guilt, The Sub-inspector proceeded to the khaliyan of Raghubir Prasad. It is in evidence that he arrested them there and he took down from their person the banyan and the janghias which they were wearing and which according to the witnesses had been blood-stained. The Second Officer interrogated the two accused. Gaya Prasad is said to have offered to show the looted articles of Badri Prasad which he had kept at his house. Gaya Prasad is said to have taken the Second Officer and the witnesses to a kothri inside his house where he had opened a box with a key which he had with him and took out the ornaments and a cloth bag containing Rs. 201/-in currency notes. The Second Officer sealed up these articles, excepting the currency notes, and he prepared a recovery memo, Behari Lal accused is said to have offered to point out the chakkas (an iron rod with a circular iron hook attached to it which is used by the Patwas in threading ornaments) which he had kept at his house. Behari Lal it is contended took the Second Officer and the witnesses to his house and from underneath the bhoosa which was stored in his dalan he took out the blood-stained chakkas Ex. 34.