SANKAR BAKTI Vs. STATE OF ASSAM

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The instant criminal appeal under Sec. 374[2], Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 ['the CrPC' or 'the Code', for short] is directed against a Judgment and Order dtd. 17/12/2019 passed by the Court of learned Additional Sessions Judge, Charaideo, Sonari in Sessions [CHA] Case no. 18 of 2018. By the Judgment and Order dtd. 17/12/2019, the accused-appellant has been convicted under Sec. 302, Indian Penal Code ['IPC' or 'Penal Code', for short] and he has been sentenced to undergo imprisonment for life and to pay a fine of Rs.5,000.00, in default of payment of fine, to undergo simple imprisonment for another month. The accused-appellant has also been convicted under Sec. 447, IPC and he has been sentenced to undergo simple imprisonment for one month.

(2.) The investigation was set into motion on institution of a First Information Report [FIR] before the Officer In-Charge, Kakotibari Police Station by the informant-P.W.1, Bijay Tanti on 12/12/2017. In the FIR, the informant-P.W.1 reported that at around 06-00 p.m. on 12/12/2017, the accused came to his house and started hurling abuses using filthy language without any reason. At about 07-00 p.m. on that day, the accused again came to his house and shouted that he would kill the informant and the members of his family. When hearing the shouting of the accused the mother of the infomrmant-P.W.1 went near him, the accused dealt a blow on the head of the mother of the informant-P.W.1 with an iron pipe and ran away from the place. His mother, Sobha Tanti @ Sova Tanti was then taken to hospital with the help of some persons but the doctors at the hospital declared his mother to be dead.

(3.) On receipt of the FIR, the Officer In-Charge, Kakotibari Police Station registered the same as Kakotibari Police Station Case no. 74/2017, on 12/12/2017, for the offences under Sec. 447, Indian Penal Code ['IPC' or 'Penal Code', for short] and Sec. 302, IPC and took up the investigation of the case himself as the Investigating Officer [I.O.]. As the accused appeared in the Police Station on the date of the incident itself, he was taken into custody. After arrest, the accused was forwarded to the Court of learned Judicial Magistrate, First Class, Charaideo, Sonari on 13/12/2017 and on being so produced, he was remanded to Jail custody. The I.O. of the case, P.W.10, during the course of investigation, visited the place of occurrence [P.O.] and prepared a Sketch Map of the P.O. [Ext.-4]. The statements of a number of witnesses were recorded under Sec. 161, CrPC. The post-mortem examination on the dead body of the deceased was performed at Sivasagar Civil Hospital on 13/12/2017 and the Autopsy Doctor [P.W.9] recorded his findings in a Post-Mortem Examination [PME] Report [Ext.-2]. An iron pipe, the alleged weapon of assault, on being produced by the brother of the accused, was seized vide a Seizure List [Ext.-5] dtd. 13/12/2017. The I.O. [P.W.10] upon completion of investigation into the case, Kakotibari Police Station Case no. 74/2017 [corresponding G.R. Case no. 777/2017], laid a charge-sheet under Sec. 173[2], CrPC vide Charge-Sheet no. 5 on 31/1/2018 [Ext.-6] finding a prima facie case for the offences under Sec. 447, IPC and Sec. 302, IPC well established against the accused.