SK. HAROON Vs. STATE OF BIHAR

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THIS appeal arises out of judgment and order under appeal dated 24.12.2002 passed by Additional District & Sessions Judge, IInd, Katihar in Sessions Trial No. 33 of 2001/190 of 1993 arising out of Azamnagar P.S. Case No. 16/ 1992 whereby all the three appellants have been convicted for the offence, under Section 302 read with Section 34 of the Indian Penal Code and awarded life imprisonment. The prosecution case is based upon the statement in the FIR lodged by PW -10, Sk. Abdul Rajjak, father of the deceased, Munsera Khatoon who was wife of appellant No. 1, Sk. Haroon. Appellant No. 2, Abdul Sattar and appellant No. 3, Sk. Laloo are father and cousin brother of appellant no. 1. The prosecution case in short is that the deceased aged about 22 years was married to appellant No. 1 about four years earlier and she had a daughter aged about one and a half years who was born in the house of the informant. Thereafter the deceased went to her matrimonial house and stayed for about one month. During that period relation between her and her husband and other family members was not cordial. She came to the informant's house to attend marriage of her brother. After the marriage the informant was ready to send the deceased with her husband but her husband, appellant No. 1 did not agree in spite of advice of his father and mother. The deceased also was reluctant to go with the husband and expressed her views that when her husband and other family members do not like her then there was no point in her going to the matrimonial home. The deceased stayed at her father's house for sometime and then a Panchayati was convened and on account of a decision in the Panchayati 4 -5 days earlier to the occurrence, on last Monday, appellant No. 1 came to informant's house alongwith appellant No. 3 and she went with her husband and all her belongings to her matrimonial house because in the Panchayati it was agreed that she would be kept properly and not subjected to any wrong behaviour in her matrimonial house. On Thursday i.e. 23.1.1992 the informant had a chance meeting with appellant No. 2 in a Hat and he was informed that her daughter is alright. In the evening when he came to his house he met appellant No. 3 who was sitting with son and another son -in -law of the informant. Appellant No. 3 also informed that his daughter was alright and there was nothing to worry and it would be better if informant would come to see her after 2 to 4 days. Appellant No. 3 went away. On Friday i.e. 24.1.1992 at about 7:00 in the morning the informant learnt from his saarhu, Sk. Khabir resident of Kaliganj that his daughter, Munsera Khatoon has been killed by her in -laws. The informant proceeded to village, Nepra where the occurrence had taken place and soon his other family members also arrived there. Several people from village, Kaliganj, Maheshpur and Nepra had assembled there. The informant saw the dead body and noticed an injury near the right eye as well as swelling and scratches on the neck. He also noticed night soil in the petticoat of the deceased. In the FIR it was alleged by the informant that the deceased was not liked by her husband and his family members and with a view to get money through another marriage the deceased had been killed by strangulation. Besides the three appellants the informant also blamed Raushan Khatoon and Arjoo Khatoon, wife and daughter respectively of appellant No. 2 for the offence.

(2.) FROM Exhibit -2, the FIR, it appears that it was recorded on 24.1.1992 at 11:00 A.M. in the Police Station. The investigation was conducted by PW -13, Sub -Inspector of Police, Anil Kumar. He inspected the place of occurrence which was house of the accused persons in village, Nepra. The dead body was in the house on a chauki. According to the I.O. the deceased had slept in the same room alongwith her child and husband. From the place of occurrence he also seized a piece of cloth having blood stains. After preparing inquest report of the dead body he sent the same for post mortem examination to Kishanganj. After arresting the accused and recording the statement of witnesses he submitted first charge -sheet only against appellant No. 1 and thereafter another charge -sheet against the remaining two appellants. After cognizance the case of all the three appellants was committed to the court of sessions. The accused pleaded not guilty to the charges and were put on trial. They were convicted and sentenced by the judgment and order under appeal, as noticed earlier.

(3.) THE prosecution in order to prove its case has examined altogether 13 witnesses. PW -1, Sarful Hoda, PW -8, Mobid Hussain, PW -10, Sheikh Abdul, Rajjak, the informant and PW -11, Md. Sagir are the only material witnesses available to the prosecution besides PW -7, Dl Mahendra Pratap Singh who conducted autopsy and has proved the post mortem report as Exhibit -i and PW -13, Anil Kumar the Investigating Officer. PW -2, Rafique. PW -3, Manjur Alam and PW -6, Noor Atam have been declared hostile. PW -4, Sk. Saidur Rahman, PW -5, Sabiruddin, PW -9, Sk. Hakimuddin and PW -12, Putli Khatoon have been simply tendered by the prosecution for cross -examination.