EMPEROR Vs. UMRA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This is a petition for special leave to appeal against a sentence of death pronounced on the petitioner by the Sessions Judge of Shahpur and confirmed by the High Court at Lahore.

(2.) The petitioner, with others, organised a robbery in the house of a money- lender. They broke into the house at night and took ornaments, money and other things, from the wife who was in the house (the money-lender himself being absent). Other persons arriving on the scene, two of the gang stationed on the roof fired shots and killed two persons. The conviction pronounced against the petitioner and four others was for the murder of these persons,

(3.) One Misri, one of the party, made a statement to the police, in which he detailed the incidents of the robbery and incriminated the various accused, including the petitioner. The admission of this statement was objected to by the vakil for the petitioner, but it was admitted by the Sessions Judge, and this admission was confirmed by the High Court. The ground for the present application is that the admission of the statement was clearly wrong and that the improper admission of this evidence amounted to a grave injustice and violation of the principles of natural justice, and especial reference was made to the case of Vaithinatha Pillai V/s. The King-Emperor,(1913) L.R. 40 I.A. 193