AJIT MISHRA Vs. STATE OF WEST BENGAL

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This appeal has been preferred by the convict Ajit Mishra through jail against the judgment and order dated 17th January, 2003 passed by the Additional Sessions Judge, Purulia in Sessions Trial No. 16 of 2001 arising out of Sessions Case No. 35 of 1989 wherein the appellant-accused was tried on a charge of having committed murder of his son Bhajan Mishra and found guilty and sentenced to suffer imprisonment for life and to pay a sum of Rs. 5,000/-, in default, to suffer rigorous imprisonment for 2 months for the offence punishable under Section 302 IPC.

(2.) It is the prosecution's case that the appellant-accused Ajit Mishra killed his son Bhajan who was aged 5-6 years in order to enable his maternal aunt (mamima), Jaya Rajhangshi, to bear a child. According to the prosecution, the appellant-accused Ajit Mishra developed illicit relationship with his maternal aunt and for that reason abandoned his wife Smt. Arasona Mishra (P.W. 2) and son Bhajan who at the relevant time were residing in her parent's house which was in the same village. On 29.12.87 Smt. Arasona Mishra (P.W. 2) found that her son has not come back to the house. She along with her brother Moni Ojha (P.W. 1) started searching for the child and learnt from Bura Tewari (P.W. 9), a friend of Bhajan, that while they were playing, Ajit, appellant accused, has taken away Bhajan to his house. Therefore, Mani Ojha went to the house of Ajit, appellant-accused, and questioned him regarding the whereabouts of the child and came to know from Ajit that the child has been murdered and buried in his house and his blood has been collected in the bottle for gratifying the demand of his 'mamima'. Pursuant to the confession made by Ajit Mishra in the presence of Mani Ojha (P.W. 1), Smt. Arasona Mishra (P.W. 2) and host of villagers who have gathered at the house of Ajit Mishra who was residing with his father Mani Mishra in the same village. Smt. Arasona Mishra (P.W. 2), mother of the child, then dug out the dead body of the child from the house. The villagers then informed Ashoke Kumar Sarkhel (P.W. 5), Pradhan of the village Nildhih, who lodged an FIR in Raghunathpur P.S. Ajit Mishra was detained by the villagers till the police arrived. On receiving information O.C. Raghunathpur, Sukhendu Chandra Dev (P.W. 11) along with the police party reached the village and found the appellantaccused Ajit Mishra detained by the villagers in front of a primary school. His custody was taken over and the police went to his house and found the dead body of child Bhajan lying in the courtyard covered by a small 'kantha'. The police prepared the inquest report (Exbt. 1). The dead body was sent to Purulia Sadar Hospital for postmortem examination. The police seized blood stained earth, 'bonti' and 'pira' from the place of occurrence and recorded the statement of the witnesses. After investigation was completed, charge sheet came to be filed against the appellant-accused for committing an offence under Section 302 IPC.

(3.) The appellant-accused pleaded not guilty to the charge for having committed murder of his son and claimed to be tried. The prosecution in all examined 12 witnesses in support of their case. On conclusion of the trial, the Court found the appellant-accused guilty of having committed murder of his son Bhajan and convicted and sentenced the appellant-accused.