TAHER ALI Vs. STATE OF ASSAM

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Heard Mr. H.R.A. Choudhury, learned Senior Counsel for the appellants assisted by Mr. A. Mobaraque, learned counsel. Also heard Mr. R.R. Kaushik, learned Additional Public Prosecutor, Assam for the State respondent.

(2.) This is an appeal against the impugned judgment dtd. 12/2/2024 passed by the Sessions Judge, Baksa, Mushalpur in Sessions Case No.218/2018, convicting the appellants under Sec. 302/34 IPC and 304B/34 IPC. The learned Trial Court convicted the appellants on the ground that they had burnt the deceased by pouring kerosene on her and sentenced them to undergo rigorous imprisonment for life with a fine of Rs.2,000.00 each, in default simple imprisonment for 6 months under Sec. 302/34. They were also sentenced to undergo rigorous imprisonment for 7 years with a fine of Rs.2,000.00 each, in default simple imprisonment for 3 months under Sec. 304B/34 IPC. Both the sentences were to run concurrently.

(3.) The Prosecution case in brief is that an FIR dtd. 28/7/2016 was submitted by Prosecution Witness (PW) No.1, who was the father of the deceased to the Officer-in-Charge, Kaurbaha Patrol Post, stating that his daughter, who was married to the appellant no.1 Md. Taher Ali had been set on fire by pouring kerosene oil on her. The act of pouring kerosene on the informant's daughter had been done by the appellant no.1 (husband of deceased), appellant no.2 (father-in-law of the deceased) and appellant no.3 (mother-in-law of the deceased), which led to the deceased suffering 90% burns, that eventually led to her death. The victim was burnt at around 7:30 p.m on 27/7/2016 and died in the GMCH at around 3:50 a.m on 28/7/2016. In pursuant to the FIR dtd. 28/7/2016, Kaurbaha P.P. GDE No.395 dtd. 28/7/2016 was registered and thereafter Tamulpur P.S. Case No.226/2016 under Sec. 304(B)/34 IPC was registered.