GULZAR BIBI Vs. STATE

JUDGEMENT

(1.) L . The appellant, Gulzar Bi, has been convicted by the learned Sessions Judge, Poonch under section 302 R. P. C. and sentenced to imprisonment for life. By this appeal, the appellant has challenged her conviction and the sentence imposed on her. Alongside the learned Sessions Judge has made a reference for confirmation of the sentence imposed on the appellant. On 17 -5 -76, after hearing the learned counsel for the parties, we made the following order :

(2.) WE now proceed to give our reasons.

(3.) BRIEFLY stated, the prosecution case is that on the night intervening 2nd and 3rd August, 1972, the accused caused the death of her husband, Anayat Ullah, by giving axe cuts on his neck while he lay asleep on a cot in the verandah of his house. It is suggested that the accused wanted to get rid of her husband because he always beat and maltreated her which had strained their mutual relations to such an extent that even a petty incident sparked off trouble and friction between them, the last in the series being the one which took place in the course of the day on 2 -8 -72 when a young goat, out of their herd of sheep and goats tended by their son, Shabir, died in the grazing land. As the story goes, Shabir brought the corpse of the goat to his house and informed his mother about it death and himself took refuge in the house of his paternal aunt for fear that his father might beat him and, in the evening, when the news of the death of the goat and disappearance of the boy reached the deceased, he got infuriated and gave a severe beating to the accused which provided an immediate provocation to her for putting an end to his life during that night. Having murdered the deceased, as the story goes further, the accused wrapped the body in a blanket (Loi) and tide a rope round it and, then put it in a room inside the house with a wicket basket and a quilt to cover it. On the day following the night of occurrence, as the story goes still further, the accused locked the house and left for her parented house in order to escape the consequence of her act. Enroute she met Mohd Sharief P. W. 3 who was on his way back to his home from village Sagra with a grass -load on his head and was sitting under the shade of a willow tree in order to relieve himself of fatigue. Mohd Sharief accosted her. In the course of the conversation she became nervous and admitted before Mohd Sharief that she had killed the deceased with an axe and hid the body inside the house. Mohd Sharief reprimanded her and resumed , his trek back to his home, carrying the bundle of grass on his head. In the way he saw Mohd Yakoob chowkidar, Noor Hussain and Manda P. Ws engaged in a friendly chat. He went upto them and informed them of the incident. They asked him to get back the accused and themselves went straight to the house of the deceased where they found his body lying hidden in the hind room. Soon the news spread in the village and the people gathered at the house. Meanwhile Mohd Sharief alongwith the accused arrived there. The first report of the occurance EXP. A was given to the police by Monda and Abdual Ghani Numberdar P. Ws. The police took up the investigation, in the course of which they made certain recoveries, particularly, that of the axe at the instance of the appellant. As a result of the investigation and the committal pro -proceedings, which followed, the accused was tried, convicted and sentenced, as aforesaid.