JOSEPH KHARIA Vs. STATE OF BIHAR

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THE sole appellant has filed this appeal against the judgment and order, dated 25.9.1993, passed by the Additional Sessions Judge, Simdega, in Sessions Trial No. 238 of 1989, convicting and sentencing him to life imprisonment under Section 302 of the Indian Penal Code for committing murder of one Boas Kharia.

(2.) THE prosecution case, as set out in the First Information Report, is that the appellant called the deceased to his house for preparation of medicine for his daughter, where after consuming liquor 5/1/2013 Page 5 Shiv Narain Singh Versus State Of Bihar (Haria) they stated quarrelling with each other during which the appellant attacked the deceased with knife, causing incised wound on the left side of his neck on account of which he fell down and died instantaneously. Thereafter, the appellant while trying to escape from the place of occurrence was assaulted and caught hold of by Chandra Singh (PW 10) and was kept in a room and was handed over to the police on the next day.

(3.) THE appellant has denied the charge. The prosecution has examined eleven witnesses in support of its case. PW 1 is a formal witness, who has proved the First Information Report. PW 2 is the chawkidar of the village and is the informant in the present case. He is not an eye -witness. His knowledge about the death of the deceased is based on the informant which he gathered from others, when he visited the place of occurrence. PWs 3, 4, 5, 6 and 10 are the eye -witnesses. PW 7. is the witness on the seizure list. PW 8 has been tendered. PW 9 is not the eye -witness. He learnt about the death of the deceased from others. PW 10 is also not the eye -witness. He reached the place of occurrence when the deceased has already died. PW 11 is a formal witness, who has proved the postmortem report.