MD MANJOOR Vs. STATE OF BIHAR

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Heard Mr. Kanhaiya Prasad Singh, learned senior counsel for the appellant and Mr. Ganesh Prasad Jayaswal. Additional Public Prosecutor for the State.

(2.) The sole appellant. Md. Manjoor, has been found guilty for offences under Sections 302, 376 and 201 of the Indian Penal Code and has been sentenced to undergo rigorous imprisonment for life under Section 302, IPC, ten years under Section 376, IPC and two years under Section 201, IPC. All the sentences have been directed to run consecutively.

(3.) The prosecution case, briefly stated, is that PW 6 Md. Taiyab had gone to Benipatti Hospital on 14.5.1991 at about 7.30 a.m., for treatment of his minor son Mokhatar Ahmad and his wife and father also accompanied him. His daughter Asma Khatoon, deceased. was left alone in the house and at about 8.30 while Asma Khatoon had gone to ease herself in the west of the village near Kathi bridge and when the informant came from Benipatti at 11 a.m., he did not find his daughter Asma Khatoon in the house, he made search for her but she could not be found out. However, in course of search, the informant met Sunita Devi PW 8 who informed him that when she had gone towards west of Bachhraj river she had seen this appellant committing rape upon Asma Khatoon. She further stated before him that she had gone to ease near the river and there she had seen the appellant committing rape upon Asma Khatoon deceased in the bush of Kanchan and the appellant on seeing her started abusing and asked her to go back. She accordingly came back to her house out of fear and reported the matter to her father PW 2 and uncle Deochandra Thakur (Not examined) and on this information PW-2 and his brother Deochandra Thakur went in search of the appellant and when they reached near the river they found Md. Manjoor appellant standing in the river and despite their persuasion, he did not come out of the river and, therefore, Deochandra Thakur assaulted him with fists and lathi and came back. On this information, the informant suspected the hands of appellant Md. Manjoor in disappearance of his daughter Asma Khatoon and accordingly, he went to the river along with Sunita and found trampling marks on the earth, grass and bush and he started searching his daughter and when she was not found out, he requested Mungai Sahani (Mukhia) PW 4, who was fishing in the river, to put his net in the river in order to make trace of the deceased and Mungai Sahani threw his net in the river and brought out the dead body of Asma Khatoon. On that point of time Md. Habib PW 1 also came there and he narrated to the informant that he had also come to know about this occurrence from daughter of Reban Thakur PW 2. The matter thereafter was reported to the police and the police came to the place of occurrence and recorded fardbeyan of the informant PW 6 and thereafter a formal first information report (Ext. 4) was drawn up and a case under Sections 302 and 376 of the Indian Penal Code was registered against the appellant. Md. Manjoor.