STATE Vs. DUKHI DEI

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THE four appellants herein were convicted of murder of a woman in Keonjhar town under Section 302/34 Indian Penal Code. Appellant Dukhi Dei, was further convicted under Section 302/291 and 404/511. Appellants Dukhi Dei, Lokenath alias Loki Patra and Abdul Hague were sentenced to death subject to confirmation by this Court. Appellant Rangadhar Patra was sentenced to rigorous imprisonment for life. No separate sentence was passed on Dukhi Dei under Section 302/291 and section 404/511. The learned Sessions Judge made a reference under Section 374 criminal Procedure Code of confirmation of the sentences of death passed as aforesaid.

(2.) THE prosecution case is that on January 7, 1962, Sunday between 3 P. M. and 7 p. M. the four appellants murdered the deceased Mandira Dei, wife of one gopinath Giri, in the house of the appellant Dukhi Dei in Keonjhar Town. The date of the incident is said to be a market day. The murder is alleged to have taken place after the deceased was called to the house of the appellant Dukhi. Appellants lokenath Patra and Rangadhar Patra (sons of one Udaynath Patra) and appellant abdul Haque are all said to have been called at the instance of Dukhi Dei. The apparent purpose for which this meeting was initially arranged is said to be in connection with a monetary transaction involving the deceased (a creditor pressing for payment) on one side and all the accused appellants on the other who are said to have combined against the deceased. I shall deal with this involved motive aspect of the case hereinafter. After the murder the dead body was dragged and concealed in a corner of the back-ground of the appellant Dukhi Dei. The deceased's husband P. W. 5 after returning home made enquiries about his wife and called at appellant Dukhi's house, where she is said to have gone. The deceased's husband was told that his wife had come but had gone away. The husband having failed to find out his wife filed a missing report at the local police station Ext. 9 at about 11 P. M. the same night. The following morning, January 8, 1962, a constable P. W. 17 searched and discovered the dead body in a corner of the backyard of the appellant Dukhi Dei. Thereafter, First Information Report was lodged by the husband of the deceased at 1-30, P. M. on the spot. The only eye witness to the incident is said to be the appellant Dukhi Dei's daughter P. W. 2 Kunda Dei who is a child aged about 12 1/2 years. P. W. 2 Kunda dei is said to have been examined by police on Tuesday January 9, 1962, and she is said to have narrated the entire incident in which she implicated all the four appellants including her mother Dukhi Dei. On the basis of the statement made by the eye-witness P. W. 2 Kunda Dei all the accused appellants were arrested. Accused appellant Dukhi Dei herself also made a confession on January 15, 1962. The said confession was recorded on January 17, 1962, (Ext. 1 ).

(3.) THE defence was this: -Appellant Abdul Haque, who is a butcher by occupation, took the plea of alibi stating that he was in the market at the time of the incident and in support of the alleged alibi one witness was called. Abdul Haque's further case is that out of enmity he was falsely implicated by the appellant dukhi Dei and others. Appellants Lokenath Patra and Rangadnar Patra denied their alleged complicity in the crime, Lokenath stating that he was falsely implicated out of enmity, and Rangadhar also stating that the allegations against him are false. Appellant Dukhi Dei, while admitting the occurrence, pleaded not guilty, stating that she did not kill the deceased and that she (Dukhi Dei) was a mere spectator when the other three appellants killed the deceased.