RAJ MANGAL Vs. STATE

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The present Criminal Appeal is directed against the judgment and order dated 7-9-1991 passed by the I Additional Sessions Judge, Gonda, convicting the appellant under Section 302 I.P.C. and sentencing him to undergo Imprisonment for Life as well as to pay a fine of Rs. 2000.00 and in default of payment of fine he was directed to undergo a further Rigorous Imprisonment of six months in connection with an incident which is alleged to have taken place on 14-5-1989 at about 4-00 a.m. in the morning in village Narainpur Girant Police Station Mankapur, District Gonda.

(2.) It is alleged that appellant Raj Mangal committed the murder of his wife Smt. Sonapati by inflicting Basula injuries on her. It is said that accused Raj Mangal had pawned the ornaments of his wife with Baba Prahlad Das. Smt. Sonapati used to demand the said ornaments from the accused but the accused always refused to return the said ornaments. It is said that in between the night of 13/14-5-1989 a quarrel took place regarding the ornaments between the deceased and the accused, and it is said that at about 4-00 a.m. appellant Raj Mangal started inflicting injuries by Basula on her head. It is said that Satindra Kumar (P. W. 1) son of the deceased who was sleeping nearby woke up and raised an alarm but the accused threatened to kill him also. It is said that on hearing the alarm raised by Satindra Kumar several persons reached there but the accused ran away. It is alleged that Smt. Sonawati was still alive, therefore, Satindra Kumar rushed to the Police Station along with Smt. Sonawati. Satindra Kumar thereafter wrote a report and lodged the same at Police Station Mankapur on 14-5-1989 at about 8-10 p.m. The distance of Police Station from the place of the incident is 8 kilometres. Head Constable Gaya Prasad Misra registered a case under Section 307/506 I.P.C. P.W. 7 Ram Bahadur, S.I. in whose presence the case was registered, started investigation in this case. He immediately recorded the statement of Satindra Kumar at the Police Station itself and thereafter proceeded to the place of the incident but on the way he met Constable Shri Pati Shukla (P.W. 5) who informed him that Smt. Sonapati had died at P.H.C. Mankapur. On receipt of this information he instructed the said Constable to inform the Police Station for converting the case under Section 302 I.P.C. and proceeded to the P.H.C. Mankapur for preparing inquest report. He prepared inquest report Ext. Ka-5 between 10-30 a.m. to 11-30 a.m. and also prepared other relevant papers Ext. Ka-6 to Ka-9 and sent the dead body to mortuary for postmortem examination. The Investigating Officer thereafter recorded statements of the other witnesses and reached the place of the incident and there he prepared site-plan Ext. Ka-10 and after completing the investigation submitted charge-sheet against the accused.

(3.) The autopsy on the dead body of the deceased Smt. Sonapati was conducted by Dr. O.P. Srivastava, P. W. 8 on 16-5-1989 at about 10-00 a.m. The Doctor found the following ante mortem injuries on the dead body of the deceased :