KRISHNA ORAON Vs. STATE OF JHARKHAND

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THIS appeal is directed against the judgment of conviction dated 5.7.2005 and order of sentence dated 12.7.2005 passed by the 1st Additional Sessions Judge, Gumla, in Sessions Trial No. 245 of 2003 whereby and whereunder the court having found the appellant guilty of committing murder of Aiju Beck and also for causing murderous attempt on the wife of the deceased as well as house trespass recorded the order of conviction under sections 302/34, 307, 324 and 452 of the Indian Penal Code and sentenced him to undergo rigorous imprisonment for life and to pay fine of rupees ten thousand to be paid to Filiziri Beck, the wife of the deceased, with a default clause for the offence under section 302 of the Indian Penal Code and further to undergo rigorous imprisonment for ten years for the offences punishable under section 307 of the Indian Penal Code. No separate sentence was passed for the offence punishable under sections 324 and 452 of the Indian Penal Code.

(2.) THE case of the prosecution, as has been projected, is that one Raju Oraon, the younger brother of the appellant, had previously asked for money from the informant Subhash Beck (PW 1) for purchasing wine, but when the informant refused to oblige him, he was inflicted with injuries with a knife for which a case was lodged under sections 324/327 of the Indian Penal Code. The said accused Raju Oraon was arrested and was remanded to jail custody. Thereupon, the informant PW 1 went to Chhattisgarh for pursuing his studies. He came home for deposing in the case the date of which had been fixed as 22.5.2002. The accused persons since last two dates were pressurizing them not to give evidence. When they did not accede to their request, the accused persons threatened them with dire consequences.

(3.) ON 22.5.2002, the informant deposed in the case and came home. In the night, while his father, Aiju Beck, was taking rest in the courtyard after taking his meal and his mother, Filiziri Beck (PW 4) was sitting near the door, one Surender Ram, all on a sudden, came and asked from his father about the whereabouts of Subhash Beck (PW 1), upon which his father expressed his ignorance. Meanwhile, the appellant as well as Mangal Oraon came armed with tangi and Balua and all the three started assaulting his father over his neck, chest and shoulder. On Seeing this, his mother Filiziri Beck (PW 4) ran towards inside the house, but the appellant came inside the room by chasing her and assaulted her with tangi at several parts of her body as a result of which she sustained number of injuries. While the father of the informant and mother were being assaulted by the accused persons, the informant (PW 1) was taking meal at the kitchen from where he saw the accused persons assaulting both his father and the mother. Meanwhile, PW 2 Suresh Beck and Santoshi Beck PW 3, the brother and the sister of the informant, who were over the roof also saw the accused persons assaulting the deceased as well as their mother. Thereupon, when information was received by the Sub Inspector of Police A.K. Khalko of Gumla P.S., he reached at the place of occurrence on the same night at about 10.00 p.m. and recorded the fard beyan (Ext. 1) of Subhash Beck (PW 1) on the basis of which a formal F.I.R. was drawn. Thereafter, the matter was taken up for investigation. During investigation, the investigating officer held inquest on the dead body of the deceased and then sent the dead body for post mortem examination which was conducted by Dr. Nawal Kishore Sinha (PW 6). On holding autopsy, the doctor did find the following injuries on the person of the deceased: