SAKUNTALA MUNDARI Vs. STATE OF ORISSA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THE solitary appellant in this appeal, a lady, namely, Sakuntala Mundari was prosecuted by the Additional Sessions Judge, Rairangpur in C.T. Case No. 41 of 2005 (State Vs. Sakuntala Mundari) for the charges under Sections 450/302 I.P.C. and since the learned trial court concluded that only charge of murder u/s. 302 I.P.C. has been anointed convincingly and the appellant is guilty of that crime, therefore, it convicted the appellant of that offence and sentenced her to life imprisonment with a fine of Rs. 500/ - (Rupees five hundred) or in default, to undergo further simple imprisonment for one month. However, she was not found guilty of offence u/s. 450 I.P.C. and consequently was acquitted of that crime.

(2.) ESCHEWING the trivialities of the incident and recapitulating it briefly, the incident in question occurred on 7.5.2010 at 4 p.m. in village Chidkubadi, which is at a distance of 15 Kms from the Police Station Gorumohisani, Both the deceased and the appellant are co -villagers and their houses are situated on opposite sides of village road facing each other. House of the deceased is situated on the northern side of the village road whereas house of the appellant is on the southern side. Residential houses of witnesses also lie in the same vicinity very close by. It is further alleged that on the date and time of the incident (7.5.2005 at about 4 p.m.) the deceased Sukrani Singh, mother of the informant Sakuntala Singh/P.W. 1 and Janki Singh/P.W. 3 and grandmother of Subhash Chandra Singh/P.W. 2, was sitting in her inner courtyard along with the son of one Basanti, who was also present in that courtyard. Informant/P.W. 1, witness P.W. 2, Ram Chandra, Sadhu Singh, and Madhu Singh, were also present close by. All of a sudden, the present appellant holding an axe rushed into the inner courtyard uttering "Salamananku Hani Debi", the translation of which is "I will kill them, I will kill them". Uttering such words, the appellant assaulted the deceased Sukurani Singh with the axe on the back of her neck. Sustaining the injuries, the deceased mother Sukurani Singh lost her life after a few minutes of the assault at that very spot. After the assault, the husband of the present appellant also came to the incident scene and took away the present appellant. While fleeing from the spot, the appellant had left her axe at the incident spot. Since the night ensued and the police station was quite a distance of 15 KMs, that the informant/P.W. 1, who was a Home Guard at the police station concerned, could not muster enough courage to approach the police station same night. However, following morning at 5 a.m., she tramped to the police station concerned where she lodged her FIR/Ext. 1, on 8.5.2005 at 5 a.m., which was registered at P.S. Gorumohisani as Case No. 12 of 2005 under Section 302 I.P.C.

(3.) IN observing due process of Sessions trial procedure, case of the appellant was committed to the Sessions Court where it was registered as C.T. No. 41 of 2005, State Vs. Sakuntala Mundari, in which learned trial Judge vide order dated 3.2.2006 charged the appellant with offences under Sections 450 & 302 I.P.C. but since she abjured both the charges, that she was prosecuted of those crimes. As stated earlier, for the former offence under Section 450 I.P.C., appellant was acquitted, but she was found guilty for the offence of murder and therefore was convicted under Section 302 I.P.C. and was sentenced to imprisonment for life with a fine of Rs. 500/ - (Rupees five hundred) and in default to serve simple imprisonment for one month.