EMPEROR Vs. CHANDA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This case has been, referred to mo under Section 429 of the Criminal Procedure Code on account on a difference of opinion between two 3udgea of this Court. The case relates to the death of the girl named Mt. Shakuran who was married to the son of the two accused Chanda and Mt. Ramzano. The girl came to their house to reside as the wife of their son six or seven months before her death. Her age at the time of her death was 15 or 16 years. At the post-mortem examination the Civil Surgeon found an absence of fat in the body and other appearances which pointed to ill-nourishment extending over several months The parties are Muhammadan Telis. It is established that on the day before her death, namely, on 17 January last, the deceased had spilt some oil and her mother-in- law, the accused Mt. Ramzano, gave her a beating. The thing was done openly at about 8 a.m. in the view of a number of neighbours. The stick used is described as a twig or a branch of a tree. Several of the witnesses, both male and female, describe it as about as thick as their thumbs. The only witnesses who give any details, Ismail and Mt. Zamurrad, say respectively that the blows were struck on the arms and back and on the back and shoulder. The girl's father-in-law, the accused Chanda, sat by and did not interfere.

(2.) No one realized at the time that the girl had received any serious injuries. She is not even said to have fallen down as the result of the beating. Next morning she was up and about fetching cowdung cakes as usual. About 9 A.M. (the time is given in the telegram sent to the girl's father by Chanda accused) she collapsed and died. The Civil Surgeon's evidence is that death was due to "shock from several blows on an ill-nourished girl suffering from chronic lung disease."

(3.) The accused was committed to the Sessions Court on a charge under Section 304 of the Indian Penal Code. The Sessions Judge altered the conviction to one under Section 302, but in the end acquitted both accused altogether. The acquittal of Mt. Ramzano is incomprehensible, as on the Judge's own finding an offence under Section 323 of the Indian Penal Code was established against her. The Local Government has appealed, and the learned Government Advocate has pressed for a conviction under Section 304 of the Indian Penal Code, or failing that, for a conviction under Section 323. The learned Acting Chief Justice was of opinion that the evidence established the offence of murder, though in view of the attitude of the Crown, he was content to convict under Section 304 of the Indian Penal Code and to sentence both accused to transportation for life. His view is that the accused subjected the deceased to A continuousand severe course of ill-treatment and starvation which could only have one end if persisted in, and would certainly have terminated in her death from natural causes if they had not accelerated it by beating her.