KAMLA SINGH Vs. STATE

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The appellant Kamla Singh has been convicted under Section 302, I. P. C., for having committed the murder of his two brothers Kailash Singh and Veyas Singh and has been sentenced to transportation for life. The trial was held with the aid of three assessors, one of whom opined that the accused was guilty and the other two that he was not.

(2.) The occurrence is said to have taken place on 2-10-1952, at about 10 p.m. In the family house of the appellant in village Kesrahi within, the jurisdiction of police station Daudnagar, which is at a distance of about four miles from it. All the family members including the appellant, his two deceased brothers and his mother were then living in that house. The house is closed all round with an entrance door on the north. Within the house there is a courtyard and on the east and south of the courtyard are the two closed verandahs. There are in all four rooms therein leaving the 'dwara' where the entrance door is fitted. One of the rooms is situated on the southwest corner of it and is connected with the closed verandah on the south. That room, it appears, is generally used by the family as a cow-shed and pegs are fitted therein to tether animals. It is this room wherein the appellant is said to have assaulted his two brothers with a 'lota' on their heads which caused instantaneous death to Kailash and fatal injury to Veyas Singh who ultimately died soon thereafter as a result thereof.

(3.) The facts leading to the murder have not been in this case challenged. What was pleaded at the trial and argued in this Court in defence was that at the time of the occurrence the accused was insane and he had lost his cognitive faculties and therefore his case falls within the provisions of Section 84; I. P. C., and as such he cannot be said in law to have committed any offence.