GADADHAR DEHURY Vs. STATE OF ORISSA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) ALL the appellants having been convicted for commission of the offences under Section 302 read with Section 34 of the Indian Penal Code and sentenced to imprisonment for life by the learned Sessions Judge, Dhenkanal -Angul in S.T. Case No.79 of 1993 have preferred this appeal.

(2.) THE case of the prosecution is that accused Gadadhar Dehury had a daughter, namely, Susama Dehury, who fell in love with deceased Girish Naik of the same village and ultimately because of protest from the family members on the ground of caste, in the month of June, 1992 the deceased Girish took away Susama (P.W.9) from the village and got married to her in a Court at Hindol. Thereafter, they came back to the village and stayed in the house of the deceased. On account of the above, there was ill feeling between accused Gadadhar Dehury and the deceased. On 27.10.1992 at about 4.00 P.M. when the deceased had come to the village tank near the house of Gadadhar along with one Saranga and Murali Naik (P.W.4), a quarrel ensued between accused Gadadhar and Girish. After some time, when the deceased and Murali (P.W.4) were proceeding towards the house of the deceased, all the accused persons being armed with axe, kataris, spear and lathis surrounded the deceased, dragged him to the land of one Budhia Behera and assaulted him, as a result of which the deceased died at the spot. Susama (P.W.9), wife of the deceased and daughter of Gadadhar Dehury, saw the occurrence and tried to intervene but she was chased away by the accused persons. After the accused persons left the spot, P.W.9 went near the deceased. The brother of the deceased, namely, Suresh Naik also arrived at the spot and they carried the deceased to the verandah. But by that time, the deceased had succumbed to the injuries. In the same night, Gadadhar proceeded to Rasol P.S. along with the axe at about 10.15 P.M., produced the same before the O.I.C. and narrated the incident and a Station Diary entry was made accordingly. The axe was seized and Gadadhar Dehury was detained in police custody. Thereafter, the O.I.C. proceeded to the village where the occurrence had taken place. He reached the place of occurrence on 28.10.1992, drew up plain paper FIR and took up investigation. After completion of investigation, charge -sheet was filed against 9 accused persons including the present appellants for commission of offences under Section 302/34 of the Indian Penal Code.

(3.) THE prosecution in order to bring home the charges examined 10 witnesses, but none was examined on behalf of the appellants. On analysis of the evidence adduced, in particular, relying upon the evidence of P.Ws.3, 4, 7 and the medical evidence the trial Court found all the 8 appellants guilty of committing the offence under Section 302/34 IPC, convicted them thereunder and sentenced them to imprisonment for life. Only accused Ramesh Behera was acquitted.