RAJA Vs. STATE

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THE appellant Mst. Raja, was tried in the court of the Addl. Sessions Judge, Srinagar, on a charge, of murder under Section 302 R. P. C. for causing the death of her husband, Mohd Sidiq, by administering poison to him. On consideration of the evidence the learned Addl. Sessions Judge, found that the offence stood proved against her. He, therefore, convicted and sentenced her to imprisonment for life under Section 302 R. P. C. By means of this appeal, she has challenged the conviction as also the sentence imposed upon her. Along side, the Addl. Sessions Judge has made a reference for confirmation of sentence of life imprisonment imposed cm the appellant. This judgment will govern the disposal of the both the appeal and the reference.

(2.) THE case of the prosecution was that the appellant, was the legally wedded wife of Mohmad Sidiq deceased, They were married about 15 years before the occurence took place, Sometime after the marriage with Mohmad Sidiq she, however, developed liaison with one Ghulam Mohd Haroo alies Lola Haroo. She wanted to marry him she, therefore tried and even persuaded her husband Mohmad Sidiq to divorce her, Mohd Sidiq refused to succumb. Her attempts and persuations for divorce, failed. Therefore, she tried other means. She went to a peer and invoked his spiritual powers in order to bring about a severance of her marital wedlock with her husband. This effort too had not effect Ultimately on the night between 7/8th of September. 1966, when the deceased was lying ill, she administered arsenic to him though pretending to give him the medicine prescribed by the doctor. The Addl. Sessions Judge held the case to be proved in its entirety and convicted and sentenced the appellant as aforesaid.

(3.) THERE is no dispute that the deceased died because of the tact that a heavy doze of arsenic was administered to him. The only question to be determined is whether the offence has been brought home to the appellant. Before dealing with this question, it will be advantageous to refer to the decision of the Supreme Court in Ram Gopal Vs. State of Maharashtra, A.I.R. 1972 S. C. 555, in which it has been held as follows: "In a case of death by poisioning it is only when the motive is there and it is proved, that the deceased died of the poison in question, that the accused had the poison in his possession and that he had an opportunity to administer the poison to the deceased that the court can infer that the accused administered the poison to the deceased resulting in his death,"