ARUP MONDAL Vs. STATE OF W B

JUDGEMENT

(1.) BOTH these appeals are directed against a judgment dated 24th june 1997 passed by the Sessions Judge, Nadia, in Sessions Trial no. III of January 1997 arising out of Sessions Case No. 7 of november 1996 convicting the appellants under section 120b read with section 302 of the IPC and an order dated 30th June 1997 by which the appellants were sentenced to suffer imprisonment for life as also to pay a fine of Rs. 2000/- each, in default to suffer rigorous imprisonment for further two years for the offence punishable under section 120b read with section 302 of IPC.

(2.) ONE Susmita Roy, aged about 20 years, daughter of Nityananda roy (P. W. 2) and Smt. Snigdha Roy (P. W. 1), a student of Shri chaityna College, Habra, was murdered in the night of 29/30th June 1996. The appellants were charged under section 102b read with section 302 of IPC. The appellants except Ruidas along with others namely Arjun Saha, Ashim Saha, Ajit Biswas, Dipak Saha, ajay Saha and Pridip Sil were also charged under section 302 read with section 34 of the IPC as also under section 449 of IPC. The charges under section 302 read with sections 34 and 449 of IPC against the 11 accused persons, according to the learned Judge, could not be proved. Therefore, all the 11 accused persons were acquitted of the charge under section 302 read with section 34 of ipc and section 449 of IPC. The learned Trial Judge held that the charge under section 120b read with section 302 against the appellants was proved. It is on this basis that the six appellants were convicted and punished as indicated hereinabove. All the five appellants in CRA No. 223 of 1997 were enlarged on bail by an order dated 25th July 1997 passed by a Division Bench of this Court. The sole appellant in CRA No. 218 of 1997 was also enlarged on bail by an order dated 25th July 1997. During the pendency of the appeal, the 5th appellant, Ruidas Sarkar, in CRA no. 223 of 1997 died. An application was made by the widow of the deceased Ruidas Sarkar seeking an order that the appeal bearing no. CRA No. 223 of 1997, insofar as the 5th appellant Ruidas was concerned, might be allowed to abate which was rejected by an order dated 7th December 1999 considering that the deceased 5th appellant was also directed to pay fine for which his estate might be liable.

(3.) MR. Basu, learned Advocate appearing in support of the appeals, has confined his submissions to the trustworthiness of the evidence of the P. W. 15. He has also drawn our attention to the portions of the judgment under challenge in order to impress upon us that the learned Trial Judge himself was not happy with the evidence of the P. W. 15 and therefore the judgment under challenge, according to him, is not well founded. The evidence of p. W. 20 (I. O.), as regards conspiracy based on the statements made to him by the P. Ws. 9,10 and 12 during examination under section 161 Cr. P. C. , Mr. Basu submitted, is excluded by the rule against hearsay. We shall examine the submissions of Mr. Basu in some detail. But before we do so it would, in our view, be appropriate to notice the surrounding facts and circumstances preceding the fateful incident. In order to achieve that objective we would like to append a list of dates which is as follows: 22nd August, 1995 : An application under section 144 of the code of Criminal Procedure was filed by the p. W. 1 Smt. Snigdha Roy, mother of the deceased susmita, against Badal Saha, Dipak Saha, Arjun saha, Ajay Saha and Ashish Saha, all sons of nanigopal Saha, alleging that the persons constituting the opposite party were of a vicious character. They were brokers of real estate. They were engaged in forcibly dispossessing people from their lawful possession and that they had been threatening the applicant Smt. Snigdha Roy to dispossess her of her property bearing dag no. 624,626 and 623, where the applicant along with her family was residing having a pacca dwelling house and plantation of valuable trees, for the purpose of laying a pathway. A certified copy of the said application under section 144 Cr. P. C. and the order sheet have been tendered and marked exts. 4 and 5 respectively.