ARJUN Vs. STATE OF U P

JUDGEMENT

(1.) CHALLENGE in this appeal is to the judgment and order dated 31.1.2004, passed in S.T. No. 390 of 2002 by Sri Hira Lal, the then Additional Sessions Judge, Court No. 11 Gorakhpur, who convicted the appellant Arjun (hereinafter to be referred as 'the accused') under section 302 of Indian Penal Code (in short 'the IPC') and sentenced him to undergo imprisonment for life and to pay a fine of Rs. 5000/ - with additional imprisonment for six month in default of payment of fine.

(2.) THE incident resulting in the death of Ram Chandar, younger brother of the complainant Vishambhar Chaudhary, resi ­dent of village Belma, P.S. Campierganj, District Gorakhpur, occurred in the inter ­vening night of 20/21.5.2002 at about 2.00 a.m. First Information Report was lodged by the complainant at P.S. Campierganj on 21.5.2002 at 11.45 a.m. The case of the prosecution as appearing from the chik FIR Ext. Ka -2 and statement of P.W.1 Vishamb ­har Chaudhary, in brief, is that accused Arjun and deceased Ramchandra were on friendly terms, but the accused was sus ­pecting that Ramchandra has developed illicit affairs with his wife. It is alleged that when Ramchandra was sleeping at the door of his house in the intervening night of 20/21.5.2002, due to enmity of develop ­ing illicit affairs with his wife, the accused came at about 2.00 a.m. and poured acid on Ramchandra. On hearing the cry of Ram Chandra, the complainant, his mother Smt. Prabhawati (P.W.2) and brother -in -law (Bahnoi) Suresh (P.W.3) awakened and raised noise, on which Sita Ram S/o Surat, Parsu S/o Dhanai and many other people of village also awakened and rushed to ­wards the place of incident flashing torch light. On arrival of these people, Arjun fled away after throwing his torch and dibba of acid. When the complainant and other people went near to Ramchadra, he told them that Arjun with a view to cause his death has poured acid on him. When Ram ­chandra was being carried for treatment to Gorakhpur, he succumbed to the injuries in the way. Thereafter, the complainant and other persons came back to their village carrying the dead body.

(3.) P .W.5 S.I. Uday Pratap Singh was posted as Station Officer at P.S. Campier -ganj. The case was registered in his pres ­ence. He took up the investigation himself and after making entry of FIR and GD of registration in the case diary, he reached the place of incident and conducted inquest proceedings on the dead body of Ram -chandra on 21.5.2002 between 12.30 p.m. to 2.00 p.m., during which, inquest report Ext. Ka -5 and other connected papers Ext. Ka -6 to Ext. Ka -9 were prepared and thereafter the dead body in sealed condition was sent through the constables Ranveer Singh and Mulchand Yadav for post -mortem exami ­nation, which was conducted by Dr. R.S. Mishra (P.W.6) on 22.5.2002 at 3.30 p.m. According to the post -mortem report Ext Ka -12, the following ante mortem injuries were found on the person of deceased : - Chemical burn fore -head to toe on all sides of body, Trickling mark of chemical present on chest and abdo ­men and on legs present. Burn over is thickened, blackened and glistening. Lips also burnt. Tongue and inner area of mouth burnt and ulceration present. On opening oesophagus m.m. -erosion present, ulceration present, m.m. -congested. Stomach -m.m. -congested. Erosion and ulcera ­tion present. Small inst. -m.m. -congested and eroded. Laceration present Burn is superficial to deep. In internal examination, membranes, brain, pleura, both lungs, spleen and kid ­neys were found congested. Buccal cavity, tongue and pharynx, Oesophagus, stomach and small intestine were also found con ­gested and erosion ulcerated were present. Liver was also congested. The death was caused due to shock as a result of ante -mortem chemical burn. Time of death was about one and half day at the time of post -mortem examination.