KHUDIRAM BOSE Vs. EMPEROR

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The appellant Khudiram Bose was placed on his trial before the Sessions Judge of Mozufferpur. charged under Section 302, Indian Penal Code, with having committed murder by causing the deaths of Mrs. Kennedy and Miss Kennedy by means pi an explosive bomb on the 30 April 1908 or in the alternative with having abetted the commission of the murders by Dinesh Chunder Roy or some person or persons unknown. The appellant pleaded guilty to the charge of murder. The Sessions Judge recorded the plea, but decided to hear the evidence and to try the appellant. He also asked a pleader to assist the accused in his defence. The trial was with the aid of assessors both of whom unanimously found the appellant guilty of murder. The Sessions Judge agreeing with the opinion of the assessors convicted the appellant of the offence charged and sentenced him to death under Section 302, Indian Penal Code. The case has been submitted to this Court under Section 374,, Criminal Procedure Code, for confirmation of the sentence, and the appellant has also filed an appeal.

(2.) The case for the prosecution was as follows: On the 30 April 1908 at, 8-30 P.M., Mrs. and Miss Kennedy left the Station Club in Mozufferpur to drive home in a single-horsed carriage. Their carriage is similar in appearance to that which the District Judge, Mr. Kingsford, was then using. On their way home the ladies had to take the road turning to the right or west after leaving the Club grounds and to pass in front of the compound of the house occupied by Mr. Kings-ford. The night was dark. As the carriage reached the eastern gate of Mr. Kingsford's compound, two men ran towards it from the opposite or southren side of the road where they had been concealed under the trees, and one of them threw a bomb or both threw bombs into the carriage. Aloud explosion followed and the horse bolted with the carriage It was stopped after a short distance and taken back to Mr. Kingsford's house. The body of the carriage was then found to have been shattered and the two ladies to have sustained terrible injuries. The syce who had been standing on the footboard at the back of the carriage was picked up near the eastern gate insensible and wounded. Miss Kennedy died of her injuries within an hour. Mrs. Kennedy survived till the morning of the 2nd May, when she also died of the injuries which she had sustained. The syce at time of trial had not recovered. The medical officers who examined the ladies both before and after death, and also the syce, have given their evidence and it leaves no doubt that the injuries which caused the deaths of the two ladies as well as those received by the syce were caused by an explosive bomb. The nature of the injuries leaves no reasonable doubt that the intention of the person or persons who threw the bomb or bombs was to cause the deaths of the inmates of the carriage. Whether his intention was to cause the death of the two ladies or of some one else does not affect his or their guilt (see Section 301, Indian Penal Code) and there can be no doubt that the person or persons who threw the bomb or bombs committed the offence of murder. As to the above facts there has been no contention in the appeal.

(3.) The questions we have to decide are, whether the appellant is the man who threw the bomb or one of the men who threw the bombs; if there were more than one, or whether supposing the bomb to have been thrown by his companion, the appellant is equally guilty of the offence by reason of the fact that the act was done in furtherance of the common intention of them both (see Section 34, Indian Penal Code). The case for the prosecution is that the appellant and his companion were both present at the scene of occurrence with the common intention of killing the District Judge by means of an explosive bomb, and, if this was so, and one only of them threw the bomb in prosecution of their common intention, the other was equally guilty of the offence of murder (see Foster's Crim. L. 350.)