MANTU PAL Vs. THE STATE OF WEST BENGAL

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The appellant questions an order of conviction and the resultant sentence on divers grounds, including that, if at all, a lesser offence should have been found to have been committed by the appellant.

(2.) The essential facts are not in dispute. On the evening of April 12, 1998, the appellant and his wife went to a first-floor room at the residence of the wife's parents. At about 11 pm, the appellant called out to the wife's brother to inform him that his wife was not responding. The brother rushed to the room, found the sister to be dead and raised an alarm that gathered the neighbours. It is recorded in the complaint and in the deposition of the brother as PW-1 that the appellant confessed that the appellant had purchased rat poison for Rs.2/- and had forcibly administered the poison on the victim and, thereafter, clasped his hands over her face even while she was writhing in pain.

(3.) The evidence of several of the neighbours corroborated the version of the brother of the victim. However, the post-mortem report indicates the cause of death to be by strangulation.