MUNESHWAR KISKU Vs. STATE OF BIHAR

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THIS appeal has been preferred by the convict in Sessions Case No. 18 of 1989 of Deoghar District by way of Prisoner 's Petition. His petition duly forwarded by the Jail Superintendent of Central Jail, Bhagalpur has been treated as Memo of appeal in this case. The appellant has been convicted of the offence under Section 302, I.P.C. and has been sentenced to undergo R.l. for life for the same. He has also been convicted u/s 498A I.P.C. and has been sentenced to undergo R.l. for two years for the same. Both the sentences have been ordered to run concurrently. The aforesaid orders of conviction and sentence were passed by the Sessions Judge, Deoghar on 3rd July 1991.

(2.) THE brief history of the case is like this : On 3th April 1988, the Police Officer of Karon Police Station in the district of Deoghar received some information by way of general rumour that there was a murder in the village Ekdwara within that Police Station. In order to verify the information, A.S.I. D.N.Paswan proceeded for the P.O. village in the evening and on arriving there, he recorded the fard beyan of one Circal Hansda son of late Thakur Hansda at 9.30 P.M. The fard beyan was recorded in presence of the Mukhiya of Baijutarn Gram Panchayat and Sarpanch Sattar Khan. The informant Circal Hansda stated before the Police Officer that his daughter Kushum Majhian was earlier married to one Muneshwar Kisku @ Gutha Kisku son of Madan Kisku of Tola Kus -maha of village Jorasimal within P.S.Mad -hupur. The marriage had taken place about 5 years earlier and from this marriage, said Kushum Majhian had given birth to a male child. At the relevant time, the said male child was about 3 years of age. According to the informant, the daughter of the informant was kept properly by her in -laws for some time and thereafter they started illtreating her and torturing her mentally as well as physically. Further, according to the informant, on the past Saturday, the said Kushum was assaulted by her husband and when the informant learnt about it, he sent his wife to village Kusumaha to fetch his daughter. Accordingly, the wife of the informant went to the Sasural of her daughter and brought her back to her own house. However, the son of said Kushum could not come with her, as he was not allowed to go by the son -in -law i.e. the husband of Kushum. Thereafter on the following Thursday, the informant had gone away to his Sasural along with his wife and they left behind their daughter, Kushum, a sister 's daughter Tumbhi aged about 10 years and two young sons and old mother. He had gone to his Sasural in village Dhawatanr within the same PS. Thereafter in the night of Friday at about 1.00 A.M., a few persons of his village came to the Sasural of the informant and informed him that his daughter was stabbed by his son -in -law and she (Kushum) had died. Thereupon, the informant took his wife and his brother in -law Beldeo Marandi with him and rushed to his village. He arrived there and found that the dead body of his daughter was lying in the verandah of his house and a blood stained knife was also lying there. However, he was told by his sister 's daughter and his sons that in the previous night at about 10.00 P.M. his son -in -law Muneshwar Kisku came and knocked the door and entered in the Angan. Thereafter while Kushum was sleeping on a cot along with cousin sister Tumbhi, the said Muneshwar came near the daughter of the informant Kushum and started pressing her mouth on which the victim started crying and her cousin sister also got up, the two sons of the informant also got up on noise and all of them saw this incident. Thereupon the said Muneshwar threatened them to keep quiet and go and sleep, otherwise he would kill them along with their elder sister. Out of fear, the three young children kept quiet and accused Muneshwar hit his wife Kushum with a knife and she started writhing in pain. Thereupon the assailant fled away leaving behind his wife. However, on hulla, many people came and they saw the victim injured and she told them that her husband Muneshwar had stabbed her and had fled away. After recording the fard beyan' (Ext -3), the Police Officer read over the same to the informant who found it correct and put his signature (Ext -1) and the two witnesses, i.e., Mukhiya and Sarpanch also put their signatures. These signatures are marked Ext -1/1 and 1/2 respectively. Thereupon on the basis of the fard beyan, a formal F.I.R.(Ext -4) was drawn up in the P.S. and case was registered. In the mean while, after recording the fard beyan, in anticipation of the registration of the case, the said A.S.I. D.N.Paswan started preliminary investigation. He prepared a seizure list by seizing the blood stained knife and some other articles from the P.O. and he prepared the inquest report (Ext -5) and sent the dead body for P.M.Examination. Subsequently, the P.M. Examination was held and the Police Officer also procured the P.M. Report (Ext -2). He recorded the statements of witnesses and later procured the P.M. report and on completion of investigation, submitted charge sheet in the case. Accordingly, cognizance was taken and the case was committed to the court of sessions. After the sessions case was registered, the Sessions Judge, Deoghar framed charge against the accused in the case and proceeded with the trial. On completion of the trial, the judgment and order as stated above, were delivered and on being dissatisfied with the judgment and order of the trial court, the appellant has filed this appeal.

(3.) THE broad fact gathered from the prosecution story are that the appellant was married with the deceased 5 years ago. The couple had begot a son who was aged about three years at the relevant time. The victim Kushum was ill -treated by Sasural people prior to the incident. The incident took place on 29th April 1988 in the night. It was a Friday. Prior to it, on Saturday, the deceased was brought by her mother from her Sasural to her parents house where the occurrence took place and on Thursday, the informant and his wife had gone away to the Sasural of the informant. However, a sister's daughter of the informant and his two young sons, apart from his old mother, were left behind in the house and in the night of 29.4.1988, while the inmates of the house were sleeping, the appellant Muneshwar came and got the door of the house opened and then he slept in the Angan but subsequently, he started pressing the neck of the victim, his wife and when Kushum started moving desparately to rescue herself, her cousin sister Tumbhi (RW.6) got up and saw this incident. Thereafter, the two sons of the informant, namely, Bajjan Hansda (RW.7) and Vimal Hansda (RW.5) got up and they also saw it. However, they were threatened by the appellant at the point of knife and were asked to keep quite. They kept mum out of fear and the appellant hit the victim with a knife in her chest. She started bleeding and writhing in pain and then the appellant left the blood stained knife on the cot and ran away through the open door. On hulla being raised by these three children, present in the house, other village people assembled and they saw the victim lying on a cot in an injured condition and bleeding and writhing in pain and on their arrival, they were told by the victim that her husband Muneshwar had stabbed her. Some of those persons tried to search the appellant but he escaped. After some t me, the victim died of the injuries sustained by her. Thereafter some persons of the village went to the Sasural of informant and gave them information regarding this incident. In the mean while, the village Choukidar was informed by the villagers and he had gone away to the Police Station to inform the Police about the occurrence. When the informant came to his house, he saw the dead body of his daughter lying on the cot. He also informed the Mukhiya of his Gram Panchayat (P. W. 12) and the Sarpanch of the village of the appellant. Both of them learnt about the occurrence from the witnesses and they kept waiting for arrival of the Police Officer and when the Police Officer arrived, the informant gave his statement in presence of these two persons. Accordingly, the fard beyan was recorded. The inquest report and seizure list were also prepared in presence of the Mukhiya and the Sarpanch and the I.O. recorded the statement of witnesses and inspected the P.O. Subsequently, after completing the formalities, and after procuring the P.M. Report (Ext -2), submitted charge sheet in this case.