MUNNI KHATOON Vs. STATE OF BIHAR

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Appellants in all the aforesaid four Appeals were convicted and sentenced by a common judgment and order passed in Sessions Trial No. 73 of 2010 & 407 of 2010 / 49 of 2010 by learned Additional Sessions Judge, F.T.C. II, Sitamarhi , and as such, all the aforesaid four Appeals were heard together and are being disposed of by this common judgment. By judgment dated31.01.2012 all the aforesaid six appellants were convicted for commission of offence under Section 302 / 34 and Section 120(B) of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 (hereinafter referred to as the "I.P.C.") and by order dated:- 02.02.2012 all the aforesaid appellants under Section 302/34 of the I.P.C. were sentenced to undergo imprisonment for life and to pay fine of Rs. 10,000/- each and in default of payment of fine they were directed to further undergo rigorous imprisonment for one year. Under Section 120(B) of the I.P.C. all the appellants were sentenced to undergo rigorous imprisonment for seven years and to pay a fine of Rs. 1000/- each. In default of payment of fine they were directed to further undergo rigorous imprisonment for one month. The judgment of conviction and sentence was passed by Sri Sudhakar Singh, learned Additional Sessions Judge, F.T.C. II, Sitamarhi ( hereinafter referred to as the "trial judge") in Sessions Trial No. 73 of 2010 & 407 of 2010 /49 of 2010 ( arising out of Nanpur P.S. Case No. 53 of 2009).

(2.) Short fact of the case is that on 15.05.2009 at 21.00 Hours (9.00 P.M. ) Officer-in-charge of Nanpur Police Station, S.I. Sri Asrar Ahmad (P.W. 8) recorded fardbyan of Abdul Mallick Hashmi, S/o Late Md. Shoib, resident of village : Balasat , P.S. -Nanpur, District Sitamarhi. The said fardbyan was recorded near the house of Mukhiya - Munni Khatoon [ appellant in CR. APP (DB) No. 190 of 2012]. The informant in his fardbyan which was recorded near the door of Mukhiya - Munni Khatoon disclosed that since last two days Mukhiyapati / Abdul Allam [ appellant in CR. APP (DB) No. 305 of 2012 ] was asking the informant to call his son - Sadab so that bond for the purposes of marriage may be prepared. For this very purpose on 15.05.2009 at 7.30 evening he with his son - Sadab and his Sarhu ( husband of sister of his wife ) / Manjoor Ahmed Gausi (P.W. 4 ) reached to the house of Abdul Allam (Appellant) and they entered inside room whereas other co-villagers who had also gone with him namely Abdul Majeed ( P.W. 1), Aftab Alam ( P.W. 3), Samud ( P.W. 2) and Juhi ( not examined ) remained standing outside the house. Informant further stated that all of them ( three persons) in room sat on chairs and started discussing with Abdul Allam. In the meanwhile, his son demanded water, which was provided by younger daughter of Abdul Allam. Thereafter, Abdul Allam asked from them as to what they really wanted. Suddenly from inside, (1) son of Abdul Allam namely Md. Ekbal carrying iron rod, (2) son-in-law Ishteyaque @ Jaan Babu carrying hathori ( hammer), (3) brother of his son-in-law Heera carrying iron khanti in his hand (4) maternal nephew i.e. bhanja of Abdul Allam namelyRashid carrying piece of wood, (5) maternal nephew ( bhanja )- Arshad carrying wooden Musal who were inside house arrived in the room. Abdul Allam exhorted to tie Sadab by rope whereupon all of them caught hold of his son and by plastic rope they tied his hand and Abdul Allam with wooden Musal started assaulting him and simultaneously he was exhorting using filthy language to break his hand and legs and kill him whereupon all the accused persons who were in room also started brutally assaulting him. The informant and his Sarhu tried to save his son, however they were pushed out of the room and he further stated that Mukhiya -Munni Khatoon who was outside the room, brother of son -inlaw of Abdul Allam namely - Mister , maternal nephew ( bhanja) / Asjad all caught them and forcibly ousted them from the house and closed the door. Informant's son was crying cpkvks cpkvks and all the accused persons were brutally assaulting him. While his son died then Abdul Allam with the help of other accused persons untied the rope which was tied in the hands of his son and threw his son out of the house. The reason for the occurrence was explained by the informant that his son - Sadab since last one year was in love with the married daughter of Abdul Allam namely : Sabiha Saheen. They were meeting secretly and girl was also ready. The son of informant was studying Engineering in Jamia Milia, Delhi College. About 15-20 days back daughter of Abdul Allam namely- Sabiha Saheen had fled from the house of her husband which was in Ahmedabad and came to Delhi to his sonSadab. Thereafter, Allam carried his daughter to his village - Balasath. The informant claimed that Abdul Allam with his associates in deep conspiracy in the garb of preparing bond for marriage had called his son and in presence of him and his sarhu - Manjoor Ahmed Gausi killed him. The fardbyan was read over to him and after finding the same correct he put his signature. On the basis of the said fardbyan on 15.05.2009 at 23.55 hours ( 11.55 P.M. ) a formal F.I.R. vide Nanpur P.S. Case No. 53 of 2009 was drawn for commission of offence under Section 302, 120(B) of the I.P.C. against (1) Abdul Allam, S/o Abdul Jalil; (2) Md. Ekbal, son of Md. Abdul Allam, (3) Ishteyaque @ Jaan Babu, (4) Heera [ both sons of Muzaffar Hussain ] (5) Rashid, (6) Md. Arshad [both son of Mesih Alam ], ( 7) Munni Khatoon , W/o Abdul Alam, ( 8) Mister and (9) Asjad.

(3.) After registering F.I.R. Police investigated the case and finding the accusation true against four accused persons, namely: (1) Abdul Allam (2) Ishteyaque (3) Md. Heera and (4) Arshad on 09.11.2009 charge- sheet was submitted keeping investigation pending against others. Thereafter, on 11.11.2009 learned Chief Judicial Magistrate, Sitamarhi took cognizance of offence and case was committed to the court of Sessions on 08.02.2010 and it was numbered as Sessions Trial No. 73 of 2010. Subsequently, on 15.04.2010 supplementary charge-sheet was submitted against three accused persons namely: Munni Khatoon, Md. Ekbal and Rashid however, two F.I.R. named accused persons were exonerated by the Investigating Agency. After submission of supplementary charge- sheet and completion of formalities under Section 207 of the Cr.P.C. case of three accused persons were committed to the court of Sessions on 26.07.2010 and it was numbered as Sessions Trial No. 407 of 2010. Subsequently, both the trials were amalgamated and trial proceeded. In the case on 09.06.2010 in Sessions Trial No. 73 of 2010 charges were framed against five accused persons, namely: (1) Abdul Allam (2) Ishteyaque @ Jaan Babu (3) Md. Heera (4) Rashid (5) Arshad for offence under Section 302/ 34, 302/149 and 120(B) of the I.P.C. and in Sessions Trial No. 407 of 2010 charge against remaining accused including Munni Khatoon was framed on 10.08.2010 for offence under Section 302/34, 302/149 and 120(B) of the I.P.C. On 10.08.2010 itself both the trials were amalgamated and it proceeded.