MANI MOHAN GHOSE Vs. EMPEROR

JUDGEMENT

(1.) In this case the appellant Mani Mohan Ghose has been convicted under Section 364, I.P.C., and sentenced to undergo rigorous imprisonment for six years.

(2.) The prosecution case is this. One Soroshibala was a prostitute and was in the keeping of one Hari Ghose, brother of the appellant Moni Ghose. On 23 December last Moni and one Lakhmi went to the house of Soroshi, the owner of which is an elderly woman named Kali- dasi. Moni represented to Soroshi that his brother Hari was holding a picnic somewhere across the river and had asked him to fetch Soroshi to that place. Soroshi declined to go in the morning, but she agreed to go in the evening. Thereupon in the evening Moni and Lakhmi again came to the house and Moni, it is alleged, induced Soroshi to put on her ornaments, saying that there would be many other women wearing ornaments and that therefore she should also go there properly dressed and wearing ornaments. Moni and Lakhi then took Shoroshi out of the house in the early part of the night and that was the last that Kalidasi saw of Soroshi. Moni and Lakhi took Soroshi in a boat which was rowed by one Bamapada Majhi. Eventually Lakhi got down at one place and Moni got down with Soroshi at another place, and that was the last that Bamapada also saw of Soroshi. It is said that Soroshi had left her room locked up, keeping a dog inside, and that Moni told the bariwali Kalidasi that Soroshi would coma back on the following day. On 24 December however Soroshi did not return, and at night Hari came to Kalidasi's house. Then both Hari and Kalidasi went to Nabadwip thana and there Kalidasi stated to the Sub-Inspector, P. W. D. 21, that her niece Soroshi, a prostitute aged about 22, was taken by Moni Ghose yesterday night to Swarup-ganj, saying that a feast was going on there and Moni's brother Hari had sent Moni to take Soroshi. Hari denied having sent Mani, and Soroshi had gone with ornaments on her person, and Lakhi Majhi accompanied yesterday to take Soroshi. The Sub-Inspector made a record of this statement in the station diary: vide Ex. 5. He asked Kalidasi to bring Soroshi from Swarapgunge and at that time he took no further steps. On the following day, the 25th, at 1 p. m., Kalidasi came to the thana and made the following statement: She searched for Soroshi at Swarupgunge but could not find her; she did not also meet Lakhi or Moni there, and she heard from Buli peshakar that Soroshi did not visit her house and Soroshi had left her dog in her room locked up from outside and so she must have thought of coming back early at the time of departure, and Haridas denied having sent Moni to take Soroshi whom he often visits.

(3.) The Sub-Inspector entered this information in his station diary: vide Ex. 6. After getting this statement from Kalidasi the Sub-Inspector thought he ought to do something and in the evening he went to Swarupgunge side of the river to investigate. He searched for Soroshi and Moni but he could not find them. On the 26 at 6 a. m., he found Moni at his house and questioned him. Moni said that one Nirmal Babu had taken Soroshi away to Darjeeling and further that this Nirmal Babu was a relation of one J. C. Pal Choudhury of Moheshgunge and he worked in a tea garden. Saying this, Moni gave him the key of the lock of Soroshi's room, and it was then opened. On that date the Sub Inspector also examined the boatman Bamapada. Meanwhile he had made inquiries in order to verify Moni's statement regarding. Nirmal and Jyotis, and on getting a reply from the latter he arrested Moni and Lakhi at about 11 a. m. But before that at 9 a. m,. the Sub-Inspector took another statement from Kalidasi, which he recorded in the form of a first information: vide Ex. 1. At that time also nothing definite was known regarding Soroshi's fate and Kalidasi stated that: as Soroshi had not yet returned home she believed that Moni and Lakhi had taken her somewhere and detained her, and she ended her statement by saying that Soroshi might have been killed by the culprits for her ornaments, of which she gave a list. On the 27 following a daffadar found certain pieces of human bones lying on the bank of the river and before that some persons had seen the dead body of a woman lying there. On receiving that information the Sub- Inspector went to the spot,, made inquiries and discovered certain other objects. The prosecution case further is that on 24 December the accused Moni had sold a pair of gold rulis belonging to Soroshi to a goldsmith at Krishnagar. On these alleged facts Moni and Lakhi were put on their trial on a charge under Section 364, I. P.C.