HAZRAT GUL KHAN Vs. EMPEROR

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This is the case of one Hazrat Gul Khan who has been tried by the learned Additional Sessions Judge of 24 Parganas sitting with jury. The jury found him guilty of murder under Section 302, I.P.C. The learned Judge agreeing with the verdict of the jury has sentenced the accused to death; and his case has been referred to this Court under Section 374, Criminal P.C. for confirmation of the sentence. The accused has also preferred an appeal against his conviction and sentence.

(2.) I may here note that the accused Hazrat Gul Khan was tried on the same charge once before. In that trial the jury unanimously acquitted him. The learned Sessions Judge who tried the -ease referred the case to the High Court and a retrial of the case was ordered.

(3.) The facts of the case are shortly these: The accused Hazrat Gul Khan and the deceased Mahammad Alim whom he was accused of murdering are Peshwaris. The deceased was the brother-in-law of the accused. On the day of occurrence, the 6 of November 1926, at about 8 or 9 p.m. Hazrat Gul Khan and a number of other persons were sitting in a certain baithak khana attached to the house in which the deceased Mahammad Alim lived. Mahammad Alim was lying on a khatia. The accused Hazrat Gul Khan came there and after some time got up and went to a certain waterpot for taking a drink of water. As he did so on passing the khatia on which Mahammad Alim was lying he pulled out a knife and struck the deceased. Mahammad Alim in his stomach. The accused then ran away pursued by some of the witnesses. On their way they met one Gul Hamid who is a watchman in the service of the railway company at Naihati railway station. They told him to try to arrest Hazrat Gul Khan. These witnesses then went to the thana. The thana officer behaved with what can only be described as great slackness. They did not take the trouble of recording statements these persons made to them or of taking cognizance of the case. They told them to fetch the wounded man. The witness returned to fetch him and found him dead. They then took the dead body of the deceased to the thana and a first information was then recorded. Meanwhile the accused Hazrat Gul Khan was arrested at or near Naihati railway station by Gul Hamid and some other railway servants and brought to the thana. On these allegations the accused has been charged with murder. The defence is a plea of innocence. He states that he was arrested as he got down from the train having come from a place called Matiabruz. He did not himself suggest why he had been falsely accused of the charge. It is suggested that some one else, perhaps Habib Sha, one of the witnesses, committed the deed and for some reason or other, which is, not given, Hazrat was accused of doing it.