MUJIBUR RAHMAN Vs. STATE OF ASSAM

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THIS appeal is directed against the Judgment and Order dated 10. 5. 2004, passed by the learned Sessions Judge, Morigaon, in Sessions case No. 45/2003, convicting the appellant under Section 304 IPC and sentencing him to undergo rigorous imprisonment for 8 (eight) years and a fine of Rs. 1,000/- in default to undergo further rigorous imprisonment for 2 (two) months.

(2.) THE prosecution case, in a nutshell, is as follows: on 28. 2. 2002, at about 2. 00 p. m. , the appellant and his wife trespassed into the fishing pond of the informant and started fishing with a fishing net. The deceased who was the mother of the informant on seeing the appellant and his wife fishing in the said pond came there to resist them. On such resistance being put up by the deceased a quarrel ensued in the course of which the appellant fetched an axe for his nearby residence and delivered a blow with his axe on the head of the deceased causing a grievous injury. On an ejahar being lodged by the informant Laharighat P. S. Case No. 27. /2002 under Section 447/326 IPC was registered and investigation was taken up. The appellant who had fled away after assaulting the deceased with the axe was captured by VDP persons and handed over to the police. The deceased who was immediately removed to Laharighat PHC for medical care and attention was forwarded to Morigaon Civil Hospital from where she was referred to Gauhati Medical College Hospital. However, because of lack of proper resources to carry on the medical treatment of the deceased at Gauhati Medical College Hospital the deceased was brought back to Laharighat PHC where she succumbed to her injuries on the same day. On completion of the investigation the Police submitted charge sheet under Section 447/302/301 IPC against the appellant. The wife of the appellant having absconded the appellant alone faced the trial. The plea of the appellant at the trial was one of denial. To bring home the charge against the appellant the prosecution examined 9 witnesses in all out of which two of them turned hospital. On completion of the trial the learned Sessions Judge found the appellant guilty under Section 304 IPC and passed the sentence as already noted above.

(3.) MR. D. C. Borah the learned counsel for the appellant and Mr. B. S. Sinha, learned Public Prosecutor for the State of Assam were heard.