EMPEROR Vs. HARKUMAR BARMAN ROY

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This is a Reference under Section 374 of the Criminal Procedure Code made by the Additional Sessions Judge of Mymensingh. There is also an appeal against the sentence of death by the appellant.

(2.) The prosecution case is as follows. Ganga Moyi Dasya was a tenant and a near neighbour of the accused. Between these there had been a dispute, for some time before the present occurrence, with regard to the occupation of a certain bari which was in possession of Ganga Moyi, the deceased.

(3.) On the 3rd September 1912 Ganga Moyi, at about noon, is said to have been sleeping in the bari in question, while her daughter-in-law Bagala Moyi Dasya (P. W. 1) was in the kitchen, which is just to the west of that bari, at a distance of five or six cubits, when suddenly Bagala heard a sound as if something had fallen down, and going to the bari she saw the accused cutting Ganga Moyi on the neck with a dao. She went to the uthan of the bari and began to scream; she id also said to have seen the accused running away. It is said that her screams attracted people who happened to be present in the near neighbourhood. The first man to arrive was one Syed Ali Kari (P. W. 2). He questioned Bagala, who told him that Harkumar, the accused, was the murderer. Other people also are said to have come up, to whom also she made the same statements.