STATE OF ORISSA Vs. TINTUS KULU AND ANR.

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The State has come up in appeal against the order of acquittal of the Respondents of the charge under Ss. 302 and 201, read with Sec. 34 of the Indian Penal Code (for short, "Indian Penal Code") passed by the learned Sessions Judge, Sundargarh, in S.T. No. 195 of 1986.

(2.) The prosecution story, as revealed from the trial Court's judgment, is as follows:

(3.) In order to sustain the conviction against the Respondents, prosecution had examined fifteen witnesses. Mainly, the evidence of P.W. 2 was pressed into service as he had claimed to have seen the Respondents giving fist blows to the deceased and strangulating him. The learned Sessions Judge has, however, found his evidence incredible in as much as he had not disclosed about the incident either before the police or before any other villager for a period often days. It is not known under what circumstances he maintained stoic silence for so many days and thereafter abruptly implicated the Respondents. It was his duty to report to the police when he witnessed a heinous offence like murder. He having not done so, his evidence has been rightly rejected by the learned Sessions Judge.