NANA LAL Vs. STATE OF RAJASTHAN

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The present appeal has been preferred through jail. The appellant herein has been convicted vide impugned judgment dated 16.10.2004 for offence under Sections 302 and 394 I.P.C., and vide a separate order of even date the appellant has been convicted and sentenced as under:-

(2.) In the present case the conviction rests on circumstantial evidence as nobody had witnessed the occurrence. By way of an appeal preferred, the judgment of conviction and order of sentence has been assailed before us through a counsel appointed as Amicus Curiae for the appellant.

(3.) Before we appreciate the rival contentions raised before us, it would be necessary to give brief gist of the facts of the case. On 15.4.2004 PW-1 Babu @ Mohd. Smile learnt that dead-body of an unidentified woman was lying in a drain of 'Jagpura Nadi'. PW-1 Babu @ Mohd. Smile deposed in court that on 15.4.2004 it was about 6:00 pm when he was grazing goats some children told him that an unidentified woman is lying dead in the drain. He went to the spot and found that both the feet of the woman were chopped off and the dead-body was decomposed due to excessive heat. From the features of deadbody and the clothes worn by the deceased the witness inferred that she belong to Bheel tribe. The information was given by this witness to the police and upon its arrival he made complaint (Exh.P/1), which bear his signature. On the next day the police had taken necessary steps and had made a recovery memo/ panchayatnama of the dead-body (Exh.P/2). This witness proved his signatures on the report (Exh.P/1), Panchayatnama (Exh.P/2) and rough site-plan prepared by the police (Exh.P/3).