BALAK RAM Vs. STATE OF H.P.

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Appellant Balak Ram is aggrieved by the judgment, dated 11th August, 2006, of the Sessions Court, whereby he has been convicted of offence, under Sec. 302 of the Indian Penal Code, and sentenced to undergo rigorous imprisonment for life and to pay a fine of Rs. 10,000/ -, in default of payment of fine to undergo imprisonment for a further period of one year.

(2.) Appellant is a Carpenter by occupation. Often he used to be away from his house to earn his livelihood, as he used to work at the places of different persons at different places as Carpenter. He was married to the deceased (Tulsi Devi) five years before her death, which took place on the night intervening 14th and 15th August, 2004. The Appellant, it is alleged, used to suspect the fidelity of the deceased and because of that illtreat her. Once about a month prior to her death, the deceased was allegedly attempted to be set ablaze, when she was with the Appellant at Kullu, where the latter was engaged as Carpenter those days.

(3.) On the night intervening 14th and 15th August, 2004, dead body of the deceased was spotted in the field by Megh Singh (CW -1) and Hari Singh (CW -2), examined by us during the hearing of the appeal. Both these witnesses immediately informed Nand Lal (PW -2), the Pradhan of the Panchayat, who, in turn, gave a ring to the Police. Police, headed by PW -9 SI Naresh Kumar, reached the spot around 2.30 a.m. Inquest was conducted. Several injuries were noticed on the dead body. It was sent to Zonal Hospital, Mandi, where postmortem was conducted by PW -3 Dr. Jiwa Nand Chauhan, who noticed the following antemortem injuries on the dead body: