ABALU DAS Vs. KING-EMPEROR

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The three accused in this case, Abalu Das, Santiram Das, and Sakalu Das, have been tried by the Sessions Judge of Rungpur with the aid of assessors, convicted of murder under Section 302 of the Indian Penal Code, and sentenced to transportation for life.

(2.) The facts of the case are as follows: The deceased Hur Singh and his mother Dulai lived in the bari of the accused Abalu but it was discovered that Hur Singh had contracted an intimacy with Lakya, the wife of the accused Abalu, and so Hur Singh and his mother were turned out and went and lived elsewhere. Then on the night of the 21 May last Hur Singh, at the invitation of Lakya, went to the bari of the accused and the woman took him inside, whereupon Abalu, Sakalu, his brother, and Santiram, his uncle, seized him, carried him off to some distance, broke both his arms and one of his legs, thrust a stick up his rectum, and left him in the open not very far from his bari, where he was found next morning. Information was then given to the police and he was taken to the hospital, where he died on the 24 of May, in consequence of the injuries he had received.

(3.) There is no direct evidence of these facts; but they appear to be well established by the dying declaration of the deceased, who made three statements: (i) To the persons who first found him, (ii) to the Inspector of Police, and (iii) to the Fauzdari Ahilkar or Magistrate at Cooch Behar. In the first of these statements he said he had gone to a place to the west of bis house to ease himself when he was caught by the accused and treated in the manner above described. But in his subsequent statements he admitted fully that he had gone to the bari of the accused at the invitation of Lakya, because he was carrying on an intrigue with her. The night was dark, but there was no difficulty as to the identity of the accused, because the deceased had lived in the same bari with them, and was able to identify them by their voices. We think there is no doubt as to the veracity of the second and third statements of the deceased, and there is ample corroboration of these declarations in the surrounding circumstances, the evidence of previous intimacy between the deceased and Lakya and the very serious injuries on his body, which ultimately caused his death.