RAMA SHANKAR Vs. SARKAR

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THIS is an appeal by Rama Shankar accused, 18 years of age from the Judgment of the learned Sessions Judge, Churu, dated 27th of October 1949 convicting and sentencing him under sec. 302 of the Penal Code to imprisonment for life for having caused the death of his wife Shakuntla by catting her throat.

(2.) THE facts relating to this case are few and may be briefly stated. THE accused and Shakuntla were married on 4th of May 1948 and on the day of occurrence, she was carrying a pregnancy of 4-1/2 months' duration, Shakuntla's father and family lived at Bikaner where the brother of the accused was also living separately. THE accused was, however, visiting his brother at Bikaner from time to time and Shakuntla was also, as will be clear from the detail given elsewhere in this judgment, visiting her father-in-law's family occasionally. P. W. 2 Joti Prasad, father of the accused was Station Master, first at Nagasar and at the time of the occurrence at Sujangarh. With him were also living Sudarshana, his daughter, the accused and three other minor sons Satya Prakash, Puran Prakash and Anil Kumar, Kamla wife of Prem Prabhakar, another son of Joti Prakash. Mt. Shakuntla came to Sujangarh from Bikaner on 30th of May 1949. Nothing happened till last of June 1949. On the night between the 2nd and 3rd of June 1949 Shakuntla was found in a room in the house with her throat cut and a Chhuri was lying nearby. P. W. 1 Sudarshana, sister of the accused woke up on hearing some gurgling noise at about 2 A. M. and on going to the verandah where Shakuntla was sleeping found the bed empty. She looked for her in the adjoining room through the chink of the door which was bolted from inside and found her lying on the ground and gasping for breath. She could see with the help of the lamp which was lighted and shouted for Shakuntla and rapped at the door but no reply was received. Mt. Kamala also Woke up on account of the shouting and other noise and joined Sudarshana. That night Shakuntla had slept alone in the verandah and the accused had made his bed along side of the other members of the family in the compound. THE accused was, however, not in his bed and as Sudarshna looked through the chink of the door again, she found him coming into the room, where Shakuntla lay, from the opposite door after push-ing a chair which had been placed against it. THE accused, on seeing Shakuntla lying in a pool of blood, became alarmed, began to weep and opened the door which had been bolted from inside. On Sudarshna asking the accused what had happened he said "hai, khun ho gaya". As soon as Sudarshna entered the room, Shakuntala expired. THE accused asked her to go and fetch the father but she refused fearing that the grief on the death of his wife may not induce him to kill himself. She succeeded, however in inducing the accused to run back to the Station which was 25 to 30 paces away to inform his father. He came into the house and was so struck at what he saw that he did not talk to anyone beyond giving instructions to change the clothes and cover the blood with sand. It may be pointed out here that when Sudarshna shouted for Shakuntla, the noise was heard on the railway station and Joti Prasad asked the accused to go to the house and see what had happened and also bring a glass of water for him. According to the evidence, that is how the accused happened to come into the house from the back door. Joti Prasad on going back to the Station gave verbal information to Nityanand, Superintendent of Police, who happened to be there in connection with the forthcoming visit of the Premier. Nothing happened at night so far as the Police is concerned and it was at about 8 O' clock in the morning that a clerk from the Thana came and wrote out First Information Report Ex. P-1. THE dead body of Shakuntla was sent to P. W. 3 Dr. Shambhudayal, Assistant Surgeon, Sujangarh who performed the post-mortem examination of Mt. Shakuntla on 3rd of June 1949 Ex. P-12 is the post-mortem report which shows that the deceased had a big incised wound on her throat about 10" long extending from the tip of the mastoid on the left side to the tip of the mastoid on the right side and all the blood vessels, muscles and nerves had been cut through. THE death was due to haemorrhage and shock due to the severing of the big vessels of the neck. According to the Doctor, it was highly probable that it was a case of homicide but he stated as a witness that it was not impossible that it may be a case of suicide. THE doctor also found that Mt. Shakuntla had a prag-nancy of about four months' duration. THE accused was arrested on 3rd of June at 5 P. M. and challaned under sec. 302 of the Penal Code on 14th of June 1949 in the court of First Class Magistrate, Sujangarh and committed to Sessions Court on 16th of July 1949. THE accused pleaded not guilty and stated that his relations with the deceased were cordial and affectionate but he did not know that she was pregnant as he had no access to her since October 1948 and had met her after return to Sujangarh where he found her depressed or despondent. He pleaded alibi and stated that on the night of the occurrence, he was with his father from 11 P. M. to 2 A. M. and that at about 2 A. M. when his father heard somebody calling Shakuntla to open the door, he asked him to go to the house and she what it was and also bring water for him. So he entered the house from the nearest route from the platform which was from the back side and opened the door by pushing a chair which had been placed against it. He admitted having changed the clothes of the corpse under the instructions of his father. No defence was produced. THE prosecution produced six witnesses in all including P. W. 1 Sudarshna, P. W. 2 Joti Prasad and P. W. 6 Prem-narain, Shakuntla's father. THE trial was held by the learned Sessions Judge with the help of three assessors out of whom two returned the verdict that the accused was not guilty. THE learned Sessions Judge agreed with the third assessor and convicted and sentenced the accused as above.