BALIRAM RAI Vs. STATE OF BIHAR

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The present appeal filed by the sole appellant assails the judgment of conviction dated 31st January, 2013 passed by the learned Trial Court in S.T. No. 494 of 2010 whereby he was held guilty under Section 302 IPC and by order of sentence dated 04.02.2013, he was directed to suffer R.I. for life besides imposition of fine with default clause.

(2.) The prosecution case, in short, is that the deceased was living in the house of the appellant with whom he had forcibly married. The informant is the son of the deceased born from Sheru Rai with whom the deceased was first married. On the preceding night of 17.08.2010, the appellant had came home in drunken state and was assaulting the deceased. P.Ws. 1 and 2 went to the house of the appellant, pacified the matter and thereafter returned. The following morning, the dead body of the deceased was found in the house of the appellant. The prosecution case further is that the villagers took the appellant in their custody and upon arrival of the Police, his formal arrest was effected after recording of the fardbeyan. The fardbeyan (Ext.-4) was recorded by the S.H.O. of Balia Belon O.P. (P.W.-8) falling within Kadwa Police Station on 17.08.2010 at 10.30 a.m. at the house of the appellant. P.W.-1 is the uncle of the informant and who became witness to the recording of the F.I.R. The fardbeyan recorded by P.W.-8 was sent for recording of a formal F.I.R. (Ext.7) under the orders of the S.H.O. of the Kadwa Police Station. P.W.-8 prepared the inquest report of the dead body lying at the veranda of the house of the appellant in presence of P.Ws. 4 and 5. The inquest report is Ext.2. The dead body was thereafter dispatched for autopsy. P.W.-3 conducted the post-mortem examination on the dead body on 17.08.2010 and prepared the post mortem report (Ext.-1). Upon conclusion of investigation, charge-sheet was laid against the appellant which gave rise to the present trial in which the prosecution, in order to bring home the guilt, examined 08 prosecution witnesses. The defence also adduced oral evidence and examined D.W.-1 to prove the alibi of the appellant taken by him in his statement under section 313 of the Cr.P.C., 1973 On a critical analysis of the evidence, the learned Trial Court found that there was overwhelming evidence available on record to prove the guilt of the appellant as the deceased was found dead in the house of the appellant. It was a case of homicidal death as she was strangulated. The evidence of the doctor (P.W.-3) had fully supported the prosecution case and, accordingly, the conviction was recorded against the appellant.

(3.) Before dealing with the contentions of the parties, the resume of the witnesses may be stated. P.W.-1 Kalu Rai is the uncle of the informant and also witness of recording of fardbeyan. He has spoken about the incident that had occurred at the house of the appellant on the previous night when the appellant in a drunken state had come home and had subjected the deceased to physical assault. The following morning, her dead body was found. P.W.-2 Manik Rai is the son of the deceased from the first husband. He too has stated about the incident and the fact that the deceased was living since last few years in the house of the appellant. He has also spoken about the assault on her by the appellant on the preceding evening and that the following morning the dead body was found in the house of the appellant. P.W.-3 Dr. Tanvir Haider is the autopsy surgeon who held autopsy and proved the post-mortem report (Ext.-1). P.W.-4 Khidish Rai is a neighbour. From his testimony, it has come that the deceased was although wife of Sheru Rai but she was living with the appellant where she was found dead. He is also a witness to the inquest report. P.W.-5 Bhikhari Rai is the formal witness in whose presence the inquest report was prepared. P.W.-6 Shiv Shankar Rai is a co-villager of the appellant and the prosecution got him declared hostile and cross-examined him to the effect that in his statement made under Section 161 Cr.P.C., 1973 he had fully supported the prosecution case as narrated by P.Ws.-1 and 2. P.W.-7 Tumani Devi is wife of P.W.-5. The prosecution did not rely on her evidence as she was declared hostile. P.W.-8 Yogendra Prasad is the Police Officer who was then In-charge of the Balia Belon O.P. He has deposed that in the morning of 17.08.2010, he got information about unnatural death of a lady in the village. After recording a Sanha, he proceeded to the village where the dead body lying in the house of the appellant was found. The appellant was found captivated by the villagers. He arrested the appellant under a memo at his house and thereafter prepared the inquest report on the dead body and dispatched it under a memo for holding post-mortem examination. D.W. 1 has been examined on behalf of the appellant to support the alibi of the appellant.