JASODA HALDAR Vs. SAILENDRA NATH SAMANTA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This is a reference made by an Additional Sessions Judge of 24-Parganas recommending that the verdict of the jury acquitting the accused Sailendra Nath Samanta be set aside and that he be re-tried in accordance with law under Section 304, Penal Code.

(2.) The accused was placed on his trial on a charge under Section 304, Penal Code, before an Assistant Sessions Judge and a jury. The allegations were that at about 8 p.m. on 26-6-1954, one Jatindra Chandra Haldar having trespassed into the plantain grove of Sailendra with a view to stealing green bananas, Sailendra fired a shot from his gun which wounded Jatindra over the left buttock and this resulted in the latter's death. On 27-6-1954, at about 9-15 a.m. the accused went to Magrahat Police Station and lodged an information. The police thereafter proceeded to Magrahat Railway Station where Jatindra had been removed and recorded there another statement made by the deceased Jatindra. An investigation followed which resulted in the trial of the accused upon a charge under Section 304, Penal Code.

(3.) The defence denied the charge and the case of the accused was that he had been falsely implicated; alternatively, he claimed to have caused the death of Jatindra in the exercise of his right of private defence of person and property.