SHANKER KUMAR Vs. STATE OF PUNJAB

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THE instant appeal has been filed by the accused/appellant Shanker Kumar against the order passed by the Sessions Judge, Ludhiana in Sessions Case No. 13 of 2000, decided on 10.10.2003. By the impugned judgement, the accused/appellant Shanker Kumar has been held guilty of having committed the murder of Bimla Devi, under Section 302 of the Indian Penal Code. By a separate order of the same day i.e. 10.10.2003, the accused/appellant Shanker Kumar was sentenced to undergo imprisonment for life and to pay a fine of Rs. 10,000/-. In default of payment of fine, he was ordered to undergo further rigorous imprisonment for six months.

(2.) THE prosecution version of the incident emerges from the statement made by the complainant Bhagwan Singh PW2, to ASI Rajinder Singh PW9, on 16.1.2000 at 10.15 PM. In his complaint, the complainant Bhagwan Singh PW2 asserted that he was residing in House No. 327, Street No. 2, Mohalla Nanakpuri in Ludhiana, as a tenant in one room. He also asserted that he had four children, out of whom, three were daughters and one was a son. His eldest daughter Bimla Devi, aged 13 years, was also residing with him in the room. For his livelihood, the complainant Bhagwan Singh PW2 claims that he had a "rehri" of "golgappas". His eldest daughter, Bimla Devi used to prepare the "golgappas" with the other members of the family in the room taken by him on rent. According to the complainant, in another room in front of the room under his tenancy, the accused/appellant Shanker Kumar was living as a tenant. The aforesaid Shanker Kumar was a resident of village Podanpur, Police Station Digar Wing, district Kishanganj in Bihar. It was alleged in the complaint that the accused/appellant Shanker Kumar used to glare at his daughter Bimla Devi with an evil eye. He was informed about this by his daughter on many occasions. Accordingly, the complainant Bhagwan Singh PW2 had stopped the accused/appellant Shanker Kumar from glaring at his daughter. Whereupon, the accused/appellant Shanker Kumar asked the complainant Bhagwan Singh PW2 to marry his daughter Bimla Devi to him. The accused/appellant Shanker Kumar also allegedly threatened the complainant Bhagwan Singh PW2 that if he did not marry Bimla Devi to him, he would not allow her to marry any one else, and that, he would kill her. The complainant Bhagwan Singh PW2 also alleged in the complaint that he refused to marry his daughter Bimla Devi to the accused/appellant Shanker Kumar by telling him that he would perform her marriage in his own brotherhood. On 16.1.2000, at about 8.30 PM, while the complainant Bhagwan Singh PW2 and his wife Pushpa Devi PW4 and his daughter Bimla Devi were working in the room under their tenancy, the accused/appellant Shanker Kumar entered the same with a knife in his hand. He told us that he would teach a lesson to us for not marrying Bimla Devi to him. Whereupon, he inflicted injuries with the knife held by him in his hand, on the left side of the stomach of Bimla Devi. Bimla Devi fell down on the ground. Whereupon, other occupants of the room raised an alarm. According to the complainant Bhagwan Singh PW2, he tried to catch the accused/appellant Shanker Kumar, and in fact, had grappled with him, yet the accused/appellant Shanker Kumar ran away towards the railway line alongwith the knife. Thereafter, the complainant Bhagwan Singh PW2 and his wife Pushpa Devi PW4 alongwith other residents, took Bimla Devi in a private vehicle for treatment to the Guru Teg Bahadur Hospital, Ludhiana, where she was declared dead. The dead body of Bimla Devi was then brought back to the room, whereafter the complainant Bhagwan Singh PW2 proceeded to the police station for lodging a complaint.

(3.) BY an order dated 8.4.2000, the Judicial Magistrate Ist Class, Ludhiana, concluded that a prima-facie case under Section 302 of the Indian Penal Code was made out against the accused/appellant. Since the offence under Section 302 of the Indian Penal Code is exclusively triable by the Court of Session, the Judicial Magistrate Ist Class, by his order dated 8.4.2000 committed the case for trial to the Court of Session.