ALBAD PHAWA Vs. STATE OF MEGHALAYA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The short case of the appellant here, who has been convicted under Sec. 302 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 by the impugned judgment and sentence of November 18, 2021, is that the trial court completely failed to appreciate the circumstances in which the perceived offence was committed and gave no credence to the evidence that it was the victim who had attacked the son of the appellant quite brutally that provoked the appellant to chase him down and deal a blow to him.

(2.) The incident occurred at or about 7 pm on January15, 2006. The first information report was lodged at the Nartiang Outpost covered by the Jowai Police Station on the following day by a villager. The FIR merely indicated that the victim had been killed by the appellant herein. There was no indication as to how the FIR-maker came to know of the incident. The FIR-maker died before the trial could be taken up. There were two key witnesses: the son of the appellant who was apparently attacked by the victim; and, a relative who happened to be nearby and rushed to the place of occurrence. Such relative of the appellant was examined as PW1 in course of the trial.

(3.) The relevant witness claimed that he was at a place some 10 or 15m away from his residence when he heard screaming and quarrelling at a distance and he rushed to investigate what was happening. When he reached the place of occurrence, PW1 claimed that he found the son of the appellant injured in the eye and the son later indicated that he had been attacked for no apparent reason by the victim. At the time that PW1 reached the spot, the son of the appellant was crying in pain and PW1 testified that he saw the appellant chasing the victim.