DHANESWAR PRADHANI Vs. STATE OF ASSAM

JUDGEMENT

(1.) appellant Shri Dhaneswar Pradhani was convicted under Section 302 of the Indian Penal Code and sentenced to suffer rigorous imprisonment for life and a fine of Rs. 2,000.00 on 12-8-1998 by the learned Additional Sessions Judge, Dhubri in Sessions Case No. 41 of 1997. The convict vide petition dated 2-10-1998 communicated a letter from Jail to the Registrar General of this Court and on that basis the appeal has been registered and this Court appointed Shri Abdul Mannan, learned Advocate, as Amicus Curiae to conduct this appeal.

(2.) Precisely the prosecution case may be stated thus : In the night intervening 26th- 27/10/1996, the accused killed his wife Smt. Suniti Sinha (45 years) and his daughter Smt. Sukriti Pradhani (17 years) and on the following morning (27-10-1996) carried the two dead bodies by a hand cart and arrived at Agamani Police Out-post and made a statement to the Police Officer on duty that he cut' his wife and daughter to death with an axe and he surrendered to the police. The Duty Officer recorded his version and the accused put his signature. However, on the basis of the statement so made by the accused-appellant, the Duty Officer formally lodged one formal FIR addressing O.C. on that date itself. During investigation the accused-appellant expressed his desire to make confessional statement and the learned Judicial Magistrate, 1st Class, Dhubri recorded his confessional statement. On completion of the investigation, Police furnished charge-sheet. The case being one exclusively triable by the Court of the Sessions the learned Chief Judicial Magistrate, committed the same. After hearing the prosecution and the defence the learned trial Court framed the charge against the accused punishable under S. 302 of the Indian Penal Code for committing culpable homicide amounting to murder of his wife Smt. Suniti Sinha and his daughter Smt. Sukriti Pradhani.

(3.) During examination prosecution examined as many as 19 witnesses.