NANNHU GOBRYA Vs. STATE OF M P

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This is an appeal of Nannhu, son of Gobrya, aged about 20 years, of mauza Khardhana, who has been convicted and sentenced to death for an offence under section 302 I.P.C. This judgment shall also govern the disposal of criminal reference No. 8 of 1959 for confirmation of the death sentence.

(2.) At the relevant time the accused and his elder brother Rameshwar (P. W. 2), with their wives Mst. Saraswati (P. W. 1) and Mst. Gita respectively, were living in their hut on the field to watch the crops. On 30 December 1957 the accused was taking his mid-day-meal when he had an altercation with Mst. Gita who abused him and went towards the field where the crops were standing. Thereupon, according to the prosecution, the accused picked up a lathi (Article A) and followed her. Shortly after, Mst. Saraswati (P. W. 1) heard her cries and, when she came out of the hut, she saw the' accused giving blows to her with the lathi (Article A). She went to the spot to save Mst. Gita but the accused pushed her back to the hut. He then took out an axe and dragged Mst. Gita towards the adjoining jungle. There he cut her into three pieces and concealed the dismembered parts at different places. He also hid her clothes and ornaments in the jungle, and returned to the hut in the afternoon. He then took his bath and washed the axe (Article B) and concealed it is the bagud. He also washed his clothes and kept them in a batloi (Article G) which also he concealed there. Subsequently, he confessed his guilt to Sunderlal Patel (P. W. 3). After his apprehension by the police, he made statements contained in Exs. P. 3, P. 4 and P. 5 which led to the discovery of the parts of the dead body and other articles.

(3.) It was not disputed that the dead body which was found was that of Mst. Gita, Dr. Nigam (P. W. 4) who performed the post-mortem examination, found two contused wounds on the upper part of the left pinna, which were likely to be caused by a lathi. He also found two contusions, one on the left temporal area behind the ear and the other on the left eye on internal side. He further found four incised wounds. The dead body was cut into three pieces from the neck and the pelvic girdle bone. In the opinion of Dr. Nigam, the two contusions on the left pinna and three incised wounds and the wound round the neck were ante mortem, and that the cause of death was shock and haemorrhage which resulted from the cutting injury on the neck. That the death was homicidal is clear from the medical opinion and was not disputed before us.