PATRA BAHALE ALIAS KISHALL Vs. STATE

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THE Appellant has been convicted under Section 302, Indian Penal Code and sentenced to imprisonment for life.

(2.) THE short facts are that the deceased was an unmarried girl. She was working as a labourer in Lanjiberna quarry of Rajgangpur Cement Factory. The accused is an unmarried young man. The accused and the deceased were admittedly in love at least for a period of one year before the date of occurrence. On 4 -1 -1967 at about 7 P.M. the deceased was returning back from the place of work in the company of p.w. 9. At a place called Natti Nala, which is at a distance of 3 miles from Lanjiberna, the accused was waiting. The accused callout hold of the hand of the deceased and asked p.w. 9 to leave the place and to inform the relations of the deceased that both of them were going to a relation's house in village Raibahal. Next morning while p.w. 9 and others were going to work in the quarry, they found the deceased lying dead with injuries on her body. P.w. 8 came to the village and informed the villagers about the death of the deceased. The accused himself went to the Thena and produced the knife (M.O. I.) and the handkerchief (M.O. VI). Both the articles have been found to have been stained with human blood. In M.O. VI 15 glass beads of a necklace M.O. VII and a pais of nose rings M.O. VIII were tied. The accused was arrested. On the statement of the accused, the I.O. (p.w. 11) drew up the F.I.R. (Ext. 6). The prosecution case is that it is the accused who killed the deceased. The defence is one of denial. The learned Sessions Judge held that the death of the deceased was homicidal and that the circumstantial evidence was complete in establishing that the accused killed the deceased.

(3.) THE only question for consideration is whether the accused killed the deceased. There is no eye -witness to the occurrence. The conviction is based entirely on the circumstantial evidence. A large part of the evidence against the Appellant is practically admitted. In his statement under Section 342, Code of Criminal Procedure the accused admits that he was in love with the deceased for a period of one year prior to the date of occurrence. He further admits that on 4 -1 -1967 at about 7 P.M. the deceased was coming in the company of p.w. 9 from Lenjiberna quarry to the village and that he himself was waiting at Natti Nala. He also accepts the position that at Natti Nala he calloht hold of the hand of the deceased and asked p.w. 9 to go away to the village and to inform at the house of the deceased that both he and the deceased were going to Raibahal to a relation's house. He further accepts the position that next morning: he appeared at the Thena and produced the knife (M.O. I). It is in the evidence of the Serologist that this knife was stained with human blood. It is not necessary to refer to the handkerchief, the beads and nose -rings, as no identification of those articles, as belonging to the deceased has been made. The Pant (M.O. V) of the accused was seized. It contained human blood on serological test. The accused gave an explanation that the pant had blood marks as he was Buffering from itches. The learned Judge rightly rejected this explanation as not having been substantiated. The accused also gave an explanation that next morning he learnt from p.w. 9 that the deceased had been murdered by somebody, he went to the spot, picked up those articles and produced them at the Thena. P.w. 9 denies to have given any such information to the accused. In fact it is p.w. 8 who informed the villagers about the fact of murder.