Judgement

SEN, J. :- Appellants Asharfi Lal and Babu who are real brothers, are under sentence of death on their conviction under S. 302 read with S. 149 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 for having committed the brutal murders of their two nieces Kumari Sumati, aged 14 years and Kumari Kalkanta, aged 20 years, daughters of their pre-deceased paternal cousin, and under S.307 read with S. 149 of the Indian Penal Code for having attempted to commit the murder of Smt. Bulakan, widow of Devi, and sentenced to undergo rigorous imprisonment for 7 years. The remaining appellants Ganga Prasad and Hemraj, two sons of Asharfi Lal, and Mata Badal, son of Babu, have been convicted under S. 302 read with S. 149 of the Indian Penal Code for having committed the two murders in furtherance of the common object of their unlawful assembly and each of them sentenced to life imprisonment. They have also been convicted under S. 148 for the a attempted murder of Smt. Bulakan. There was long drawn litigation between the Smt. Bulakan on the one hand and the appellants on the other in respect of certain agricultural property. The last of the series of the litigation was a proceeding initiated under S. 145 of the Criminal P.C., 1973 on a report made by Smt. Bulakan, PW 1. To wreak their vengeance, the appellants effected an entry on the night between August 13/14, 1984 into the courtyard of the adjoining house where the three ladies were sleeping on three different cots. The testimony of Smt. Bulakan, PW 1 shows that she woke up hearing the shrieks of her younger daughter Kumari Sumati and found that appellant Mata Badal was perched over the lower part of the body of Kumari Sumati pressing down her legs while appellant Babu repeatedly struck her with a gandasa and severed her neck. The girl died almost -instantaneously, her head hung down the cot partially attached to the neck. Smt. Bulakan further deposed that appellant Asharfi Lal struck her other daughter Kumari Kalkanta on the neck and face with a banka while appellant Hemraj chopped off the right hand of the girl with a gandasa. She also shrieked and appellant Ganga Prasad struck her on the face and upper part of the body with a gandasa. She ran from her house through the village abadi and fell down near the house of Kandhai, PW 2, which was some 30-40 paces away. She narrated the incident to Kandhai who immediately ran and informed Bhagwati Prasad Pandey, PW 3 who resided some 200 paces away. The Village Pradhan Bhagwati Prasad Pandey, PW 3 accompanied by some of the villagers arrived at the house of Smt. Bulakan and saw the deceased Kumari Sumati lying dead on the cot and Kumari Kalkanta lying unconscious in a pool of blood on another cot. She subsequently died in the hospital.

2. Learned counsel for the appellants made no endeavour to challenge the conviction of the appellants for having committed various offences with which they were charged, and rightly so. The conviction of the appellants rests on the unimpeachable and truthful evidence of Smt. Bulakan who was herself the victim of the murderous assault, as corroborated by PW 2 Kandhai and PW 3 Bhagwati Prasad Pandey. She is a natural witness and has given a vivid description of the entire incident resulting in the gruesome deaths of her daughters Kumari Sumati and Kumari Kalkanta. It is established in evidence that immediately after the occurrence she named all the assailants. The first information report (Exh.Kal) lodged by Bhagwati Prasad Pandey PW 3, the Village Pradhan, contains the names of the assailants. The 1st Additional Sessions Judge, Barabanki by his judgment and sentence dated August 23, 1985 convicted the two appellants Asharfi Lal and Babu under S. 302 of the Indian Penal Code on two counts of murder and awarded them capital punishment. He also convicted Ganga Prasad and Hemraj, two sons of Asharfi Lal, and Mata Badal, son of Babu, under S. 302 read with S. 149 and sentenced each of them to undergo life imprisonment. All the appel