RASILA Vs. STATE

JUDGEMENT

(1.) RASILA and Kanshi were convicted by the Sessions Judge at Jammu under Section 302 of the Penal Code and sentenced to life imprisonment. The Sessions Judge has referred the case to this Court for confirmation of the sentence as required by Section 374 of the Cr. P. C. as it obtains in this State. And the accused persons have preferred the present appeal against their conviction and sentence.

(2.) THE case for the prosecution is briefly as follows. On 15th July, 1960 Sunder deceased who was a cultivator left his house with the necessary cattle for ploughing his field which was in the neighbourhood of Dudar Nalla in village Hartarian, Tehsil Udhampur. As usual, he came home for his mid-day meal and again went to the field to continue ploughing operations there. Ordinarily, he used to return home by sunset. That day he did not turn up. What is more, one bullock which he had taken for ploughing returned home unled by anybody. This aroused some suspicion in the mind of his son Krishan, P. W. 1. He, therefore, set out in search of his father in the direction of the field where he had ploughed that day. A short distance from Dudar Nalla in the neighbourhood of his father's field he found a bundle of grass, a sickle, a stick and the cap of his father abandoned on the ground. This caused apprehension in the son's mind that some evil had betaken his father. He raised an alarm as a result of which P. Ws, 7 and 12 and C. W. 1 arrived on the spot. Thereafter all of them proceeded towards the field of the deceased and after they went a short distance they found the pair of shoes worn by the deceased thrown on the ground. On going still further they found Sunder lying dead with a string Ex. P6 by his side. The neck of the dead body was badly swollen. As a result of the screams of these persons Dittan, the widow of the deceased, and some others arrived on the scene. After leaving the corpse to be guarded by others. P. W. 1 the son of the deceased accompanied by the Numberdar and the Chowkidar of the village went to the Udhampur police station which was at a distance of six miles and made an oral report there at 9 A. M. the next day. The Circle Inspector of Police, Rasal Singh, P. W. 16 proceeded to the scene of occurrence that afternoon. He also noticed that the neck of the corpse was badly swollen and that the shoes, cap and stick, of the deceased were thrown about in the vicinity. After the formal inquest the corpse was sent for post mortem to the Udhampur hospital. The autopsy was conducted by Dr. Nanak Chand, P. W. 14. The police made further investigation and recorded the statements of several persons. On 1-8-60, the second accused, Kanshi, also made a confession before the First Class Magistrate at Udhampur. After completion of the investigation the accused were sent up for trial which culminated in their conviction and sentence as already stated.

(3.) THE defence of the accused persons, as can be gathered from their statements and also the evidence of the two defence witnesses, is that they are innocent and that the offence was falsely laid at their door by P. W. 1, the son of the deceased, and others with a view to get possession of the land regarding which there had been a long-standing dispute between the deceased and the two accused persons. The suggestion is that death of the deceased for which the accused persons were in no manner responsible was exploited for the purpose of bringing the accused persons into trouble and with a view to baulking them of the land to which they had laid claim as against deceased Sunder and which was alleged to have been occupied by P. W. 1 after the death of his father. This attempt on the part of the accused did not succeed before the learned Sessions Judge who found them guilty and sentenced them to life imprisonment.