LAWS(GAU)-1969-5-2

NARESH CH. NATH Vs. THE STATE

Decided On May 26, 1969
Naresh Ch. Nath Appellant
V/S
THE STATE Respondents

JUDGEMENT

(1.) IN this Criminal Appeal No. 9 of 1967 Naresh Ch. Nath assails the correctness of his conviction and sentence of life imprisonment, imposed on him Under Section 302, IPC. He has been represented in this Court by Sri S. K. Kar as amicus curiae.

(2.) THE facts of the prosecution story are not much in dispute and they also lie within a short compass. Biraja Debi P.W. 7, sister of the accused, had been married for about 4 years with the deceased Surendra Devnath, who, it is commonly admitted, had turned lunatic soon after his marriage. It was a market day in the village of Tilthai, P. S. Dharmanagar, on 12th of March, 1966. About dusk time on that day, two persons, Jatindra and Bhanu, informed Prasanna Kumar (P.W. 1), when the latter was present in the Bazar at Tilthai, that Naresh, the Pagla was administering blows with a dao, a dangerous cutting weapon, to Surendra, the deceased of this case. Prasanna Kumar deputed a few persons including Ananda Nath to the site of occurrence to verify the correctness of information passed on to him. About 10 minutes thereafter another person Binanda Nath communicated to Prasanna Kumar that Surendra had died as a consequence of the injuries inflicted on him and1 his dead body was lying in a field. Prasanna Kumar then left for Dharmanagar Police -station where he lodged the F. I. R. Ext. P -l at 11 -30 P. M. the same day. The S. H. O. Manindra Sen Gupta immediately, after recording the F. I. R., left for the place of occurrence where he reached at about 3 -45 A. M. on 13th. He prepared the inquest report and sent the dead body for post -mortem examination, Thereafter he arrested the accused and removed the clothes from his person as they were stained with blood. It is part of the prosecution case that the S. H. O. recovered the dao Ext, PM -6 at the instance of the accused.

(3.) THE prosecution also placed reliance on the confessional statement alleged to have been made by the accused before the Magistrate Sri B. Datta (P.W. 14), on 7 -5 -1966.