RAM GOBINDA GHOSE Vs. EMPEROR

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The appellants in this case,. Ram Gobinda Ghose, Dhokari Mistry, Dharani Rout and Kanti Mukherji were tried by the learned Sessions Judge of Birbhum and a jury, on the charge of murdering one Atul Singh. Another person, Phani Bhusan Roy, was charged at the same trial with conspiracy to murder Atul. No other charges were framed in the case. The charge of conspiracy against Phani Bhusan Roy was tried with the aid of the jury sitting as assessors, and the learned Judge acquitted him on that charge. On the murder charge, the jury, by a majority of 4 to 3, returned a verdict of guilty against the present appellants.

(2.) The case for the prosecution was briefly that one Furi Domi was the mistress of all five men. Latterly she transferred her affections to the deceased Atul Singh, who was the owner of a small rice business situated beside the Suri Ahmedpur road. Because of this, the appellants and Phani Bhusan conspired to murder Atul. On the 18 Asarh at about 4 to 4-30 P. M. the witness, Kali Moira was cycling along the road and took shelter from a shower in the verandah of Atul's shop. He saw the four appellants in the shop, two of them holding Atul, and the others armed with a dao and a katari respectively. They threatened him and he went off, but told the witness, Shankar what he had seen. That night the dead body of Atul was discovered in the shop by a chaukidar. There were two gaping wounds in the neck. The chaukidar had been called by the dead man s-servant, Bhandal Hari who informed him that he had taken Furi to Atul's shop that day at about 4 o clock in the afternoon and had seen the appellants in a garden close by at that time. Bhandal came back some time later and called Atul, but as he got no answer he informed the chaukidar who entered the shop and discovered the body.

(3.) The case came up to the Court of Session in March. The witness, Kali Moira, then went back on the story he had told before the Magistrate in the committing Court and alleged that it had been extorted from him by the police. After a certain number of witnesses had been examined for the prosecution, the jury for some reason, not apparent on the record, were discharged, and the case came before another jury in April 1937. At this trial which has given rise to the present appeal, the witnesses, Kalo and Bhandal were declared hostile, and Puri Domi was not examined at all. The only evidence therefore directly connecting the appellants with the murder of Atul was the statement made by Kalo Moira before the committing Magistrate, the truth of which he denied in the Sessions Court on two occasions. While it is impossible to say, in view of certain decisions of this Court, that Kalo's statement before the Magistrate was not evidence, we are definitely of opinion that the learned Judge in his charge to the jury did not emphasize, in the way he should have done, the necessity for very great care and caution on the part of the jury before they decided to act upon a statement of such a character. The learned Judge did not moreover, in our opinion, lay sufficient stress on the very peculiar fact that the three most material witnesses in the case were declared by the prosecution to be hostile.