BASUDEO MANDAL Vs. STATE OF BIHAR

JUDGEMENT

(1.) 1. The sole appellant herein, namely, Basudeo Mandal has been convicted under Section 302, I.P.C. by the Sessions Judge, Dumka in Sessions Case No. 166 of 1996 dated 23rd March, 1998 for having committed the murders of Jiyalal Sah and his wife Kaushalya Devi. The learned Sessions Judge has awarded the death penalty and has made a reference to this Court for the confirmation of the death sentence imposed by him.

(2.) The prosecution case is that on the night intervening the 23rd and 24th February, 1996, the appellant along with 14 -15 unknown persons entered the house of the informant and, apart from looting away articles from the house and causing injuries to other members of the family, committed murders of Jiyalal Sah, son of the informant and Kaushalya Devi, the wife of Jiyalal Sah. The prosecution case is that it was the appellant who cut the necks of both the deceased causing their death. So far as the other accomplices are concerned, they have not been identified by any of the witnesses and therefore, only the appellant was put up for trial charged of the offence under Section 302, I.P.C.. The fardbeyan of Ram Prasal Sah, the informant, is said to have been recorded at the Sadar Hospital, Dumka, where the injured had been taken for treatment, and on the basis of the said fardbeyan, a formal first information report was drawn up at police station Jama. After investigation, the appellant was put up for trial before the Sessions Judge, Dumka.

(3.) The informant Ram Prasad Sah, who, according to the prosecution, was also assaulted by the miscreants, died a few months after the case was registered against the appellant and was, therefore, not available to depose in the sessions trial.