BYOMKESH CHANDRA BISWAS Vs. STATE OF WEST BENGAL

JUDGEMENT

(1.) - For committing murder of Bhuban Sardar of Ramkrishnapur P.S. Hut Bay, Byomkesh Chandra Biswas, the appellant,before us, was. convicted by the learned Sessions Judge, Andaman and Nicobar Islands Port Blair under Section 302, Indian Penal Code and sentenced to imprisonment for life.

(2.) Briefly stated, the prosecution case was as under : There was a dispute over the authorship of two love letters alleged to have been written by Mrinal Roy (PW 5) of Ramkrishnapur, and Sujata; a Brahmin girl of the same village. Mrinal challenged the genuineness of the letters. Motilal Sarkar (PW 6), a member of the Panchayat, called a meeting on 28.5.80 in the evening at the Puja Committee Hall of Ramkrishnapur. Bhuban Sardar (the deceased) , Mrinal Roy (PW 5), Subhas Sarkar (PW 13), appelant Byomkesh, Bidhan Mistry (PW 14), Haren Sikdar ,(PW 15) and others attended the meeting. In that meeting Matilal (PW 6) asked the young men including Bhuban to write down a few sentences according to his dictation and on comparison of the specimen handwritings with the disputed love letters, it was held by Matilal that the two love letters were in the handwriting of Haren Sikdar (PW 15). Haren Sikdar admitted that these two letters were written by him at the instance of appellant Byomkesh and Basu Adhikary (PW 17). Immediately Bhuban Sardar started beating Byomkesh followed by 4/5 others. At the intervention of Matilal Sarkar, the beating was stopped. It was found that Basu Adhikary and Haren Sikdar had run away from that place. Some boys went after them and sometime after both of them were caught and brought there. Being assured by Motilal that he would not be manhandled if he gave out the truth, Haren Sikdar admitted that he wrote the two letters (Ext. 8 collectively) at the instance of Basu Adhikary only. As directed by Motilal, Bhuban and others who had wrongly beaten Byomkesh, tendered apology to him. Byomkesh then said that he had forgiven them.

(3.) On 29-5-80 at about 4/4-30 P.M. appellant Byomkesh was found sitting and talking with Bhuban (the deceased) on the roadside in front of the Yuva Club. Thereafter, at about 5/5-30 P.M. Bhuban was found coming running from the side of Yuva Club pressing his abdomen with both hands and shouting "Byomkesh has assaulted me with a sharp-cutting weapon" and fell down on the road in front of the hop of Niranjan Mondal (PW 12) and become unconscious. He was profusely bleeding from the injuries on the back and in the abdomen. Gobinda Bar (PW 3) ran to the house of Bhuban Sardar and reported the incident to Lilabati Sardar (PW 2) mother of Bhuban and Mantu Sardar (PW 4), brother of Bhuban P.W. 2 Lilabati Sardar immediately went to her another son Nisi Sarkar (PW 1) who lived separately, in an adjacent house. Nitai, Lilabati and Mantu rushed to the bazar where Bhuban was lying unconscious with serious bleeding injuries. Shortly, a bus bound for Hut Bay Jetty came there and Bhuban was taken inside the bus by Nitai, Mantu and others who also went by the same bus. When the bus came near the Hut Bay Police Station, Nitai Sardar got down from the bus and requested others to take Bhuban Sardar to the hospital. He went to the Hut Ray Police Station and lodged the First Information Report on the basis of which PW 27 S.I.T. Shebasteen started a case against the appellant. Thereafter, PW 27 along with Nitai, went to the hospital which is at a distance of about half a kilometer from the Police Station.