EMPEROR Vs. HARI RAMJI PAVAR

JUDGEMENT

(1.) In this case the accused was charged with Committing the murder of a boy named Vishwas on the 13th of August last, the murder having been caused by drowning the boy in a river. He was tried by the Sessions Judge of Ahmednagar, who, in agreement with the assessors, has found him guilty. He has been sentenced to death subject to confirmation by this Court.

(2.) We have heard full arguments in this case. The case for the prosecution depends mainly upon the evidence of the witnesses, Daji and three boys, Babaji, Farya and Bhika, and upon certain circumstances.

(3.) It will be convenient at the outset to deal with the point about which we felt some difficulty and on which we invited arguments at the bar. That relates to the admissibility of the evidence of these three boys. Two of them are seven years old and one of them is nine years old, and we find it stated in the judgment of the learned Sessions Judge that " an oath was not tendered to the boys as they appeared to be too young to understand it but they promised to speak the truth". The original record of the depositions of these boys in Marathi does not show that no oath was administered. But the notes of evidence in the Judge s own haud-writing show that the boys wero not examined on oath but wore examined on simple affirmation to speak the truth. In the diary of the case the boys are stated to have been examined like other witnesses on solemn affirmation. Though we had some difficulty in determining in this case as to what actually happened, I think the statement in the judgment makes it clear that the boys were examined not on oath, i. e,, as I understand, no solemn affirmation in the form prescribed by the High Court was administered as required by the Indian Oaths Act.