NASIR MOHD Vs. STATE

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The accused-appellant who was the husband of deceased, Amina, who succumbed to the injuries inflicted upon her in the land/field belonging to father of the accused situate at village Hill Mohra, tehsil Mahoore on 11-4-1997, was charged and tried for commission of her murder in the Court of Addl. Sessions Judge Reasi. Learned Addl. Sessions Judge by his judgment dated 15-11-2000 convicted the appellant u/S.302 RPC and sentenced him to undergo imprisonment for life with a fine of Rs. 1000/- and in default of payment of fine to suffer further simple imprisonment for three months. Aggrieved by the conviction and sentence the accuseed-appellant has come in appeal whereas learned Addl. Sessions Judge has made a reference for confirmation thereof. The appeal and the Criminal Reference are being taken up together for disposal.

(2.) The case of the prosecution before the trial Court was that Talib Hussain, father of the accused, .was in possession of State land which he had encroached upon. He sold that land to Gania, Ali and Dilhi but the deceased, wife of the accused, was opposed to the sale transaction. Two other sisters of the deceased, Mst. Phoolan. PW 2 and Gulzar Begum, PW 3 were also married to other two brothers pf the accused namely Abdul Gafoor and Jan Mohd. On the day of occurrence it is alleged that a quarrel between the accused and the deceased over the issue of the land took place. the purchasers pf the land. were bringingthe land under plough. During the quarrel between the two the deceased left the house and ran towards the said land. The accused followed the deceased. When the deceased and the accused had left the house the father of the accused asked PW 2, Mst. Phoolan to go after them for bringing them back to the house. PW 2 when reached on the spot she found the deceased Mst. Amina lying in an injured condition on the ground. The accused with an axe in his hand was found standing nearby. She started wailing and then accused ran away from the spot. PW Siraj Din who is the informant was returning to his house after his Friday prayers through the forest near Dhara of Talib Hussain, the father of the accused, heard some noise, so he went on spot and saw the deceased lying there on the ground in an injured condition and by her side PW 2 was crying. The deceased was having a deep injury on her head and within few moments she breathed her last. Having seen this he went to Police Post Chasana on 12-4-1997 at 10 A. M. and lodged a written report Ex PW1 and in support thereof also stated that it was a farflung area and because of darkness after staying for the night in the way he could come to the Police Post in the morning. The report was entered as report .No 5 in the DDR dated 13-4-1997 and cppy of the same was sent to Police Station Mahore. On receipt of copy of the report FIR No. 47/97 was registered at the police station on 13-4-1997 at 750 hours for. commission of offence u/s. 302 RPC. Copy of the FIR was forwarded to the Court of judicial Magistrate Mahore where it was received on 17-4-1997 at 12 A.M. As no senior officer was available in the police station investigation into the case was commenced by Abdul Hussain HGC PW 14. During the course of investigation body of the deceased was seized and postmortem got conducted. From the scene of occurrence plain and bloodstained earth was seized, the wearing apparel of the deceased were also seized and the accused was arrested. After postmortem the dead body was handed over to PW 4, father of the deceased for conducting her last rites. On 21-4-1997 the accused while being in custody made disclosure statement Ex PW HN in presence of PW 1 Siraj Din and one Ghulam Nabi and disclosed therein that he had concealed the axe with its handle in the forest of Mohrahill under the stories in a Kassi. Pursuant to the disclosure statement at the instance of the accused axe, the weapon of offence was recovered by the police and seized vide seizure memo Ex PW HN/Z in presence of PW Siraj Din and one Ghulam Nabi After the seizure the weapon of offence and other articles were sent for forensic examination. Statement of the witnesses u/s. 161, Cr.P.C. were also recorded PWs 9 & 10 namely Lateef and Sardar Mohd stated about the extrajudicial confession of the accused. After completion of investigation a charge sheet u/s. 302, RPC was instituted in the Court of Judicial Magistrate Mahoore on 31-5- 1997 who committed the ease for trial to the Court of learned Addl. Sessions Judge Reasi in view of nature of the offence involved, being exclusively triable by the Court of session. Learned Addl. Sessions Judge by his order dated 13-8-1997 charged the accused u/s. 302, RPC for having committed the murder of deceased Amina with the axe blow inflicted by him. The accused pleaded not guilty, hence the prosecution was directed to lead evidence. Prosecution examined PWs. 1 to 6 namely Siraj Din, Mst. Phoolan, Mst. Gulzar Begum, Ali Mohd., Dil Mohd. and Chandia as witnesses of the occurrence. It also examined PW 9 & 10 Mohd. Lateef and Sardar Mohd. for proving the extrajudicial confession of the accused. Other witnesses PWs Surjeet Singh, Krishan Chand Patwari, Mohanlal Sharma Tehsildar and the Investigating Officers, Abdul Hamid and Ch. Haqnaswaz, besides Dr. Bachitter Singh, who had conducted autopsy on the dead body of the deceased were also examined.

(3.) After closure of the prosecution evidence, statement of the accused was recorded u/S. 342 Cr. P. C. in which he put forth simple denial and entered the defence and examined three defence witnesses for prepounding the story that the deceased had climbed upon a tree for cutting the branches where from she fell down on stones and sustained injuries, resulting into her death. Learned Trial Court rejected the story of the defence and accepted the evidence of the prosecution and convicted and sentenced the accused as aforesaid by mainly relying upon the evidence of PW 2 Mst. Phoolan.