DINABAUDHU MUNDA Vs. STATE OF ORISSA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Charged under section 302 of the Indian penal Code for committing the murder of his wife in the evening of February 19, 1984, at Chordhara in the district of Sundargarh, the appellant has been convicted under section 304 Part II of the Indian Penal Code and sentenced to undergo rigorous imprisonment for a period of five years. The order of conviction has been based on extrajudicial confessions said to have been made by the appellant before P.Ws. 2 and 3, the recovery of a piece of firewood (M.O. I) in the course of investigation on production by the appellants father, who died before he could be examined at the trial and the fact that the deceased and the appellant had been residing together in their house.

(2.) Having heard the learned counsel for both the sides, I am of the view that the order of conviction based on unreliable and inadmissible evidence must be set aside for the reasons to follow.

(3.) It is not disputed at the Bar that the deceased had died a homicidal death in her house. There was no evidence that no one had access to the house in which the appellant and the deceased lived during the night of occurrence. There was no material to indicate that the appellant and the deceased were the only persons residing in the house then.