BIMALA SARKAR Vs. STATE OF WEST BENGAL

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Convicted of an offence of murder under section 302 IPC of her own children and sentenced to life imprisonment in connection with Sessions Trial No. 1 of 1974 by the Sessions Judge Cooch Behar, the accused appellant, Bimala Sarkar has filed this jail appeal on the ground inter alia that she was falsely implicated in this case by her neighbours who wanted to grab her immovable property. Before the learned Sessions Judge the prosecution case stood as follows: Bimala Sarkar is a beggar woman. Her husband had some lands and a thatched hut. About 3 years before the incident her husband. sold away all his lands excepting the thatched structure and left the village for good Bimala had no means to maintain herself and her two babies a son Gopal by name aged I year and a daughter named Tulshi aged 3 years They were so much poverty stricken that they had to beg from door to door. Sometime they had to Jive with out food for days together with the result that all of them were almost reduced to skeleton, to the Skelton. Prior to the incident, Bimala had nothing to feed her babies and the babies had no other alternative than to bite their mother for food. This competed the mother to put a rope around the neck of both Gopal and Tulshi causing thereby their instant death by way of strangulation and when the children thus breathed their last the mother dug earth and kept the dead bodies buried under the earth within the compound of her own hut. On the allegations as aforesaid Bimala was tried for offences of causing murder of her children under section 302 I P.C. and also for causing disappearance of evidence under section 201 I.P.C., The learned Sessions Judge found her not guilty of the latter offence. Bimala was, however, found guilty of the offence of causing murder of her babies.

(2.) Before us Shri Jaiswal, the learned Advocate for the accused appearing as amicus curiae has contended that there is absolutely 110 evidence on the record as to when, where and how the act of murder was committed and that the act complained of is simply a conjecture not based upon any legal evidence. The contention of Shri Jaiswal has great force.

(3.) It would transpire from the charge that no specific time has been put in the charge itself as to when actually the two babies were murdered. The charge is most vague and indefinite in that respect. The charge states inter alia that between 15th December to 18th December, 1973 the act was committed. We do not know on which date during day or night the murder was committed. There were two babies. Who was put to death in the first instance? It cannot be stated that the two babies were dealt with and finished simultaneously. The mother would need some time to put rope around the neck of one of her babies and it would certainly take sometime for the expiry of the victim. Was the next baby done to death on the next date? Did the mother pause for sometime to ponder over the situation? Who amongst the two babies the son and the daughter was put to death first? The evidence on record is completely silent with regard to these questions.