SURYA CHANDRA PRADHAN Vs. STATE OF ORISSA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) IT is a case of Uxoricide. The Appellant Surya Chandra Pradhan faced trial in the Court of Sessions Judge, Phulbani being charged under Section 302 I.P.C. in S.T. Case No. 30 of 2003 for committing murder of his wife Nirupama @ Babita Pradhan (hereafter "the deceased") during the intervening night of 31.6.2002 & 1.7.2002 inside a room of LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOURS CHILDREN HOME (hereinafter "the Hostel") situated at Masedikia. The Appellant was found guilty by the Trial Court vide impugned Judgment & Order Dated 15.7.2004 & sentenced to undergo imprisonment for life. The prosecution case as per the First Information Report lodged by one Elias Nayak (P.W. 11) of Christian Sahi on 1.7.2002 at about 8.00 a.m. before the Officer -in -Charge, Raikia Police Station is that the informant was the Superintendent of the Hostel where poor Adivasi & Harijan students were staying & prosecuting their studies free of cost. After the annual examination, the students had been to their respective villages due to vacation. The Appellant was working as a watchman of the hostel & he was provided with a small room in the hostel where he was staying with the deceased. On 30.6.2002 at about 8.30 p.m. Madisha Pradhan (P.W. 13) along with his two younger brothers came to P.W. 11 for the purpose of leaving his brothers in the hostel. P.W. 11 accompanies P.W. 13 & his two brothers to the hostel & left them there. At that time the Appellant & the deceased were present in the hostel. On the next day i.e., on 1.7.2002 at about 6.30 a.m. P.W. 13 along with his two brothers came back to P.W. 11 & handed over a letter to him purported to have been written by the Appellant. It was written in the letter in Kui language Agnya Juhari Anu Dosa Githe" which means in Oriya "Agnya Namaskar Mu Dosa Karichhi" actual translation of which is "Agnya Namaskar I have committed crime". P.W. 13 & his two brothers told P.W. 11 that they had also noticed blood stains at the hands of the Appellant. Suspecting some foul play, P.W. 11 immediately rushed to the hostel & found that Nirupama @ Babita Pradhan (deceased) was lying dead with bleeding injuries in the room where she was staying with the Appellant. P.W. 11 suspected that the Appellant had committed the murder of the deceased & accordingly he lodged the F.I.R.

(2.) THE defence plea is one of denial & it is pleaded that no letter had been handed over by the Appellant to P.W. 13 & that the Appellant was suffering from madness. In order to prove its case, the prosecution examined 15 witnesses.

(3.) LET us first examine as to whether the prosecution has proved that the deceased met a homicidal death or not?