GOPI CHATTARALIAS HO Vs. STATE OF ORISSA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THIS jail Criminal appeal is directed against the judgment and order dated 21.07.1999 passed by the learned Sessions Judge, Mayurbhanj, Baripada in S.T. No. 177 of 1997 convicting the Appellant under Section 302/34 IPC. and sentencing him to undergo imprisonment for life.

(2.) THE case of the prosecution is that on 22.03.1997 at about evening time the present Appellant along with the co -accused Duka Ho dealt stone blows to the head and other parts of the body of the deceased Duryadhana @ Mathura Dehury causing severe bleeding injuries on his head, which ultimately resulted in his death. P.W.2 Bibhisana Dehury and P.W.3 Nalia Dehury while returning from Chaturipadia that came across the incident of assault on the deceased by the accused persons. When they tired to intervene and rescue the deceased, both the accused persons chased them to assault and the present Appellant assaulted them by means of a lathi. Out of fear they ran from the spot. Getting such information from Bibhisana and Nalia, the informant, P.W.1 Budhia Dehury along with his two co -villagers went to the spot and saw the deceased lying there. Thereafter, P.W.1 along with the Choukidar went to Jashipur police station and lodged F.I.R. The police investigated the matter and submitted charge sheet under Sections 302/34 I.P.C. against the Appellant and co -accused Duka Ho showing him as absconder. As the accused Duka Ho could not be apprehended, the case was split up and the Appellant was committed to the Court of session for trial.

(3.) IN order to prove its case, the prosecution examined as many as ten witnesses including the doctor and the I.Os. P.W.1 is the informant and the elder brother of the deceased. P.Ws.2 and 3 are co -villagers of the deceased and said to have been assaulted by the accused persons. P.W.4 is also a co -villager and an ocular witness. P.W.5 is a post occurrence witness who had accompanied the informant to the spot. P.W.6 is the doctor, who examined both P.Ws.2 and 3. P.W.7 is the constable and a witness to the seizure of nail clippings of the accused and lungi and banian of the deceased. P.W.8 is the police officer who took up the charge of investigation from P.W.9, sent the seized clothes for chemical examination and submitted charge -sheet P.W.9 the O.I.C., Jashipur police station on the date of occurrence. He reduced the oral report of the informant to writing, registered the case and proceeded with the investigation, during the course of which he examined the witnesses and seized the clothes of both accused and the deceased. On 07.04.1997, he made over the charge of investigation to P.W.8 on the eve of his transfer. P.W.10 is the doctor who conducted autopsy over the dead body of the deceased. The defence examined none.