MT GAJRANI Vs. EMPEROR

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This is a criminal appeal by Mt. Gajrani and Mula, both of Shahjahanpur district, each of whom has been sentenced to death, under Section 302, Penal Code, in the case of Mt. Gajrani, and under Secs.302 and 109, Indian Penal Code, in the case of Mula, by the learned Sessions Judge of Saharanpur. There is also the reference from the learned Sessions Judge for the confirmation of his sentences. The offence in the case is the alleged murder of Girja Shankar, the husband of Mt. Gajrani, by the administration by her of arsenic at Laksar railway station on 29th. March 1932, causing his death in the early hours, of the following morning at about 5-40 a. m. In a case of murder by poison there are three main points to be proved: I firstly, did the deceased die of the poison in question; secondly, had the accused got the poison in question in his or her possession; and thirdly, had the accused an opportunity to administer the poison in question to the deceased. If these three points are proved, a presumption may under certain circumstances be drawn by the Court that the accused did administer poison to the deceased and did cause the death of the deceased. It is not usual that reliable direct evidence is available to prove that the accused did actually administer poison to the deceased. The evidence of motive which is frequently given in these cases is of subsidiary importance, and the mere fact that the accused had a motive to cause the death of the deceased is not a fact which will dispense with the proof of the second and third points that the accused had the poison in his or her possession, and that the accused had an opportunity to administer the poison. In the present case the most important question is whether the prosecution has succeeded in proving that the deceased did die. of arsenic poison. The prosecution is faced with the serious difficulty at the outset that the corpse of the deceased was cremated, and therefore the body was not available for the purposes of chemical examination to see whether it contained arsenic or not. The story of the prosecution is as follows: Girja Shankar, the deceased, was an inhabitant of a village called Jatpura, in thana Shahabad, district Hardoi and he was a Brahmin, and his wife belonged to village Barhmula, in Shahjahanpur district. The witness for the prosecution Dayashankar on p. 16 stated that for six years Mt. Gajrani had been living in a village called Chanda in Shahjahanpur district at the house of her maternal uncle, and that he and his brother Girja Shankar, deceased had gone many times to bring her away, and that Mula, accused and her maternal grandmother did not let her go with them. As Mt. Gajrani is aged 22 years, it is clear that she has not lived with her husband since she. was 16 years, if indeed she lived with him as his wife for any appreciable period at all. The case for the prosecution is that Mula, the accused, had an intrigue with Mt. Gajrani, and there is evidence for this of Hasnu, a pointsman at Kahilia railway station, and of Ganga Ram of Chanda. The accused Mula was at that time also a pointsman at Kahilia railway station in Shahjahanpur district. Girja Shankar, deceased was a pointsman further up the line at Seohara railway station. Girja Shankar came to Chanda to take away his wife, and he left Chanda accompanied by his wife and the accused Mula. They all three went by train to Seohara about 21 or 22 March, 1932, and they stayed there a few days. This station is in Moradabad district. The deceased and the two accused left Seohara about 27 or 28th, according to the statement of Chandra Sen, and they went for a few days to Hardwar, which is a famous place for Hindu pilgrims from all parts of these provinces.

(2.) The next date which is fixed is 28thMarch, on which Mula and Mt. Gajrani arrived at Landhaura station from Hardwar, and they proceeded to reside in the quarters assigned to Mula who had been transferred to Landhaura as a pointsman a considerable time previously but he had not joined his appointment. On the next day, 29 March, Girja, deceased arrived alone at Laksar by train from Hardwar. We should mention that Laksar is a railway junction, the line running to Hard-war in one direction, and to Landhaura. in another direction and to Seohara in a third direction. Girja was attempting to trace his wife and Mula and he got the assistant station master at Laksar to send a phone massage to Landhaura inquiring whether Mula had joined his appointment. The answer was in the affirmative, and a further question was then asked whether he had a woman with him, and the answer was again in the affirmative. Girja then stated to the assistant station master at Laksar, Mr. Hayde, that the woman in question was not the wife of Mula but was the wife of Girja. Girja then went to Landhaura on that evening and found his wife at the quarters of Mula, and. Mula refused to give her up and assaulted Girja causing him some injuries. Other pointsmen intervened and induced Mula to hand over the woman and Girja took her. apparently reluctantly, with him by a. train which arrived at Laksar at 8-5 p. m. We have verified these times from the railway guide of that period. Girja while at Laksar had a quarrel with his wife and is alleged to have struck her because she had run away with a man who was of a lower caste. He then, according to the evidence of various pointsmen, went off with hi? wife in the train which left at 10-37 p. m. It was necessary for him to wait for his period at Laksar because the train by which he arrived did not proceed further down the line. The witnesses state that he was in sound health when he departed. The witness Phul Khan pointsman stated that the woman was seated in a female compartment and the deceased was seated in a male compartment when they left by this train.

(3.) The train arrived at Najibabad after about an hour, the scheduled time being 11-32 p. m. Several witnesses are called from Najibahad to state that Girja was seriously ill when lie arrived. He was vomiting and passing motions and restless and moving his hands and feet. The assistant station, master Sagarmal states that the woman said that they came from Hardwar and that the man was suffering. He thought it might be a case of cholera; so he sent him to Najibabad civil hospital with a note. He says that the deceased was passing motions on the platform and was also vomiting. The letter in question states: "Please attend to the man suspected to be attacked by cholera got down by 10-Down of date." The doctor in question, Dr. Parmanand Joshi, states that it was 2 a. m. (he by error said "p. m.:" it was "a. m.") when the deceased was brought to the hospital accompanied by Mt. Gajrani; that the deceased was practically in a state of collapse; that Mt. Gajrani said they had gone to Hardwar to bathe and on return from Landhaura to Laksar the patient grew worse but they could not stop at Laksar as they had only one day's leave. This story of course was not accurate, if the doctor is correctly reporting what the accused stated. The doctor proceeds: As I had no isolation ward;? in my dispensary compound and municipal huts wore located at an uninhabitable place and the woman had lots of ornaments on her body so I did not press her to go there with her husband. I took the patient to be a case of cholera and gave the woman six doses of mixture and then the woman and others at once took away the patient with my reply to the station master.