MST ARANDATTI Vs. STATE

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THIS is an appeal against an order of the Sessions judge, Kashmir, by which the appellant, Mst. Arandatti, has been convicted Under Sections 302 and 201, IPC for respectively having caused along with her paramour, Mohd. Bhat approver, the death of THEer husband, Sri Kanth, Patwari, and disappearance of the evidence of this offence and sentenced to life imprisonment and to four years' rigorous imprisonment. The case is also before us for confirmation of the sentence of life imprisonment on a reference by the Sessions Judge, Kashmir, Under Section 374, Criminal P. C.

(2.) THE prosecution story, as mainly disclosed by Mohd. Bhat approver in his deposition before the committing Magistrate from which he resiled in the Sessions Court and which has been transferred to the Sessions file by the trial Judge Under Section 288, Criminal P. C, is briefly as follows: Mst. Arandatti, 24 years old, had been the wife of Pt. Sri Kanth Patwari, deceased, who was aged 55 for the last 15 years or so. She was now fully grown up and young, while her husband was old, ugly and one eyed. For sometime Sri Kanth, deceased attached her brother Prem Nath, P. W. 3, to himself for helping him in his patwar work. Towards the end of 2008 Sri Kanth became dissatisfied with Prem Nath. He thought he was pilferring things from his house and then Mohd. Bhat approver, P. W. 1, who was literate and had read upto the middle standard appeared on the scene. Sri Kanth took him as a substitute for Prem Nath and made him assist him in his work. Mohd. Bhat came to Sri Kanth's house frequently and he did it even while the Patwari was absent from his house. Mohd. Bhat was only 23 and the two young people, Mst. Arandatti and he, soon grew fond of each other and it is alleged that an illicit intimacy developed between them. This led them to devise plots for the removal of obstruction to their guilty love. Different schemes for doing away with the Patwari entered their minds. s At first it was thought that the Patwari should bo killed while he would be out on tour in his Circle. This,' however, could not mature. Mohd. Bhat then suggested to Arandatti to poison her husband. She would not accept this suggestion, because she felt that in these circumstances slie would have to face the music all alone. Eventually it was decided to kill him in his house at Kulgam and then to bury his corpse in the ground floor. With a view to carry out this nefarious design, according to the approver, it was decided that he should live in the house concealed from all, a long time before the actual execution of the plot and so, as he puts it, he remained there concealed for 26 or 27 days and dur- ing this time he dug a pit in the Vatu (a small entrance chamber of the house in the first storey) on the right side of the door. This pit was prepared about 10 or 15 days before the murder. It was then covered with small planks and earth. The approver says that he did not go out from this house during these days even to answer the call of nature and Arandatti did the scavenging for him. A few days before the occurrence the approver placed the knife which he had brought from Punjab for the commission of this offence with Arandatti and she kept it safe in a box. On 26th Phagan 2010 Sri Kanth went to the house of his wife's step-father, Deva Ram, at Mangalpora to condole with him on his father's death. Arandatti could not go because she vvas pregnant. On 27th Phagan 2010 in the afternoon Sri Kanth deceased returned to his house at Kulgam. He purchased some meat and other provisions from the Bazar and told his wife to prepare food for Badri Nath Patwari, P. W. 12 and Kashi Nath Girdawar, P. W. 13, whom he had asked for midday meal on the next day. Then he visited the temple in the evening. At that time Arandatti told the approver to conceal himself under a cot in their bed room on the second storey. He did as he was told and the appellant covered the cot with a 'duree' and gave the knife and a torch to Mohd. Bhat Sri Kanth deceased returned from the temple and after taking their meals the couple repaired to the bed room and went to sleep together in a bed spread on the floor. After about two hours, when both Sri Kanth and Arandatti were fast asleep, Mohd. Bhat approver came out of his hiding place and dealt a knife blow to the deceased in all probability on his fore-head. He was lying in his bed with face upwards. The deceased was awakened and he snatched the knife from the hands of his assailant who was sitting on his chest at that time. Mohd. Bhat then gagged the mouth of the deceased with his one hand and with the other pressed his throat. It was at that time that the appellant was awakened and the approver told her to take out the torch from his pocket and light it. She did it and they saw that the deceased was still holding the knife in his hand. The appellant wrested it from him and gave it to the approver. The appellant then gagged the mouth of the deceased, while the approver cut his throat. According to the approver, half of the throat of the deceased was cut, his blood flowed freely and the deceased breathed his last. The deceased was then put in the bed sheet. The appellant lighted a lantern and then both of them carried the body of the deceased to the entrance chamber in the ground floor. There they lowered the body in the pit which had already been prepared and then covered it with earth till it was made level with the floor. Then the approver dug another pit parallel to the first pit on the left side of the door and in that clothes of the deceased which were blood stained were concealed. Then this pit was also filled up likewise. The lower part of the walls of the upper room and its floor were covered with blood stains when blood rushed out of the throat of the deceased. According to the approver these stains were removed by them by scratching the walls and the floor and this earth was also deposited with the clothes in the second pit. All this was accomplished till three in the night. The approver then left the house with a Chadar of the deceased Patwari given to him by the appellant as it was cold. The approver then went to Srinagar via Anantnag and as he had little money with him he sold the Chadar for Rs. 32/- to one Rasool Dar Dalai, P. W. 4, in Zaina Kadal. After going to different places in the valley he left for Amritsar on or about the 1st of Baisakh 2011.

(3.) NEXT morning on 28th Phagan 2010 Badri Nath Patwari, P. W. 12 and Kashi Nath Girdawar, P. W. 13, came to the house of Sri Kanth and had their meals there in the same room in which the murder had taken place during the night. The meal was served by the appellant. They asked her where the deceased vyas and she replied that he had left for work in his patwar circle. According to these two witnesses, the deceased was not seen after that date. They left the house after taking their meals. On the 2nd of diet 2010 the appellant locked the upper room and the entrance chamber and then accompanied by her brother, Prem Nath, P. W. 2, she went to Mangalpora to live with her parents. On 15th Chet 2010 Prem Nath, P. W. 2, sent two written reports Ex. P. H and Ex. P. J. to the Tahsil-dar and Sub-Inspector, Kulgam respectively. In these it was stated that Sri Kanth Patwari had gone from Kulgam to his Circle on 27th Phagan 2010 and had not since returned. A search had been made for him, but he could not be found. It was then added that from the enquiries made it had appeared that the deceased had been given a very harsh beating by Gani Dar, Lumbardar, Redwani, who was inimically disposed towards him and that it was suspected that the deceased had been done to death by Gani Dar. The Ex. P. J, was received in the Kulgam Police Station on 15th Chet 2010 and thereupon Mohd. Syed Investigating Constable P. W. 24, as directed by S. H. O. went to Redwani to make enquiries about Sri Kanth. On 17th Chet the Superintendent of Police reached the spot and under his orders a case Under Section 302, IPC was registered vide Ex. P. A/12. On 20th Chet 2010 the police raided the house of the Patwari in order to get the deceased Palwari's official papers therefrom, Mohd, Syed, Head Con-stable, P. W. 24, went to the house in the evening. accompanied by Prem Nath, P. W. 2 and the Lumberdar, after having made aimless enquiries at Redwani mostly from the people who knew nothing of the occurrence. Prem Nath had brought the key from his sister with which the Patwari's bed room on the 2nd -storey was opened and the official papers of the Patwari were taken from there. It is strange that, though the house was raided, it was not carefully searched 'by the Police, not even the bed room in which the papers were found. The explanation is that Prem Nath had not brought all the keys with himself. Nothing further of note happened except that the police went on making fruitless enquiries 'till the 30th of Chet 2010 when an inland air letter, Ex. P. K. , purporting to have been written by one Shambhu Nath son of Ram Chand of Kulgam with a small chit in it, Ex. P. L. addressed to the Sub-Inspector of Police, was received by the Naib Tehsildar, Kulgam. It was stated in this letter that Sri Kanth Patwari had been murdered at the instigation of Pt. Ram Chand Sodai and that his body was lying in a pit which had been dug in the ground floor. Mohd. Syed, Head Constable, P. W. 24, who was pursuing his enquiries at Redwani received Ex. P. K. and Ex. P. L. at Redwani on the same day, i. e. , 30th Chet 2010. He at once left for Kulgam and there accompanied by Gulam Nabi Lumbardar, P. W. 18, ;gopi Nath petition writer, P. W. 16 and some others went to the house of Sri Kanth deceased. They found the Vatu, i. e. , the entrance chamber of the house, or vestibule locked. Its key was still with the appellant at Mangalpora. The Head Constable removed the staple in which the lock had been fastened from the door and then a search for the pit was made and it did not take them long to discover it in a corner on which some grass and wood were lying. A foul stink was coming therefrom. Mohd. Syed, Naib Tehsildar Magistrate, was then sent for and in his presence the body of the deceased, covered in a sheet, was recovered from the pit (Vide Ex, P. Z.) The police then prepared the necessary documents, Ex. P. Q. (Fard Surat Hal) and Ex. P, A. /14 (Injury statement ). It was stated in these documents that the throat of the deceased had been cut and the injury was about 6 inches in length. The dead body was ther sent to Anantnag for post mortem examination and Arandatti along with her father, Deva Ram, and her brother, Prem Nath, was sent for from Mangalpora and Gwash Lai, P. W. 7, the brother of the deceased5 whose house was adjacent to the house of the deceased and Jagar Nath, P. W. 15, the adopted son of Sri Kanth deceased, who lived with Sri Kanth upto 9th Magher 2010 were also summoned for the purpose of investigation. The post mortem was conducted by Dr. Samsarchand, Medical Officer, Anantnag, on 1st Baisakh. The doctor found an incised wound running, ia the middle of the neck just above thyrod cartilage extending to either side about ten inches in length. The doctor was of the opinion that the death of the deceased was caused by cutting the throat in front involving all the vital structures of the neck including carotid arteries and jugular veins. There was no other external or internal injury on the body. The injury was caused by some sharp-edged weapon. When this witness appeared in Court he was not at all cross-examined.