AMBUJ SHARMA Vs. STATE OF BIHAR

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The present criminal appeal has been preferred against the judgment of conviction and order of sentence dtd. 16/12/1995 passed by 1st Additional District and Sessions Judge, Jehanabad in Sessions Trial No. 149 of 1994 (arising out of Kurtha P.S. Case No. 236 of 1993, G.R. No. 1539/1993), whereby and whereunder the appellant has been convicted under Sec. 302 and 304B of the Indian Penal Code and has been sentenced to undergo rigorous imprisonment for life under sec. 302 of the Indian Penal Code. No separate sentence has been awarded for the offence punishable under sec. 304B of the Indian Penal Code.

(2.) The present case got initiated on the basis of fardbeyan of the appellant, wherein he has narrated that in the intervening night of 19th-20/12/1993 at around 2 a.m., when the appellant and his wife (deceased) were sleeping in the room built at the roof of the house, his wife woke up upon hearing some noise. The wife of the appellant (deceased) went out of the room with a torch in her hand and the appellant followed her. In the light of torch flashed by the wife of the appellant (deceased), the appellant saw one Brij Nandan Sharma and Shashi Bind Sharma, who were carrying rifle in their hand, Sita Ram Singh, Navlesh Sharma and Yogendra Sharma were also present with arms in their hand. In the courtyard, Awadhesh Sharma, Nagendra Sharma and 5 to 6 persons were also present, who were unknown to this appellant. The accused persons, who were on the roof, started moving towards the appellant upon which the wife of the appellant (deceased) asked the appellant to run away. The appellant started fleeing away. In the meanwhile, Brij Nandan Sharma asked Shashi Bind Sharma to fire upon the appellant. Upon the exhortation so made, Shashi Bind Sharma with an intention to kill the appellant opened gun fire. However, the bullet hit the wife of the appellant (deceased). The appellant raised alarm and in order to save his life, escaped from the place of occurrence and took shelter in the house of Shailendra Kumar. The accused kept firing upon the appellant. However, he did not sustain any bullet injury. Upon hearing the sound of bullet and the alarm raised by the appellant, the family members of the appellant woke up and his brother Arjun Sharma, his friend Anil Singh, Amrendra Kumar, Jitendra Narayan Singh and some other villagers came and identified the aforementioned accused while they were fleeing away from the place of occurrence. When the appellant along with other persons reached at the roof, he saw that his wife has been hit by a bullet in her head and she was lying dead. The reason for the occurrence has been narrated in the fardbeyan to be political rivalry between the appellant and one Ram Jatan Sinha.

(3.) On the basis of the fardbeyan of the appellant, Kurtha P.S. Case No. 236 of 1993 was registered and the investigation was carried out by the police. During the course of investigation, the Investigating Officer inspected the place of occurrence and recovered two empty cartridges and torch. He also prepared the inquest report of the dead body of the deceased and recorded the statement of the witnesses. While the investigation was under process, on 26/12/1993, the father of the deceased came at the police station and gave a written report, upon which the Investigating Officer (P.W. 6) recorded the statement of the father of the deceased and also recorded the statement of brother of the deceased among other relatives. The Investigating Officer collected some letters written by the appellant and deceased and the same was kept in the case diary. The Investigating Officer came to the conclusion that the murder of the deceased has been committed by the appellant himself for demand of dowry and, as such, after completion of the investigation, he submitted charge-sheet against the appellant under Ss. 302, 201, 498A/34 of the Indian Penal Code and Sec. 27 of the Arms Act. The Chief Judicial Magistrate took cognizance of the offence on 9/6/1994 and thereafter committed the case to the Court of Sessions. On 23/8/1994, charges under Sec. 302 and 304B of the Indian Penal Code were framed against the appellant. The appellant pleaded not guilty and claimed to be tried.