Judgment :-

V.S. Sirpurkar, J.

1. Superstition plays a very important role in the Indian society. It is not restricted to any particular religion or a particular section of society including the haves and the have-nots. The present case is one such dreadful and hair-raising example wherein two innocent boys lost their lives while the third barely escaped death. Very unfortunately, in all this, the father and the paternal aunt of the unfortunate boys were involved while their own mother had to remain as a powerless and mute spectator to this gruesome act of cruelty.

2. The sordid saga of un-paralleled cruelty as a result of superstitions took place in the area called Canal Colony situated at Kasba Koraon, P.S. Koraon, District Allahabad where accused No.1 was working as an Amin in Irrigation Department, accused No. 2, Shakila Bano, wife of Siraj Khan, is his daughter, accused No.3 Shahrunnisa is the wife of accused No.1, while accused No.4, Siraj Khan is the husband of accused No.2. The unfortunate deceased who lost their lives were Shamshad Ali, Naushad Ali while Shaukat Ali barely escaped. All the three boys were born to Saharunnisa and Abdul Hafeez Khan and belonged to the tender age of 7 years, 4 years and 3 years, respectively.

3. The gruesome incident took place on 27.10.1978 at about 12:00 noon when the sound of Azaan (call for Namaz) was heard from the quarter of Abdul Hafiz Khan, accused No. 1. It was not a usual time. PW-4, Habib Ullah had gone to the house of Budda Ram in the Koraon colony. Hearing this unusual Azaan, he reached the house of accused No. 1 (hereinafter called "A-1") and peeped through the window and saw that the accused No.2, Shakila Bano (hereinafter called "A-2") was beating the elder son Shamshad Ali with a pipe whereas Abdul Hafiz Khan (A-1), Saharunnisa (A-3) and, Siraj Khan (hereinafter called "A-4") were also present there. He saw Abdul Hafiz Khan catching hold of the boy. He again saw that Abdul Hafiz Khan throttled the neck of the boy as a result of which he died. He further saw that A-2 committed the same act with the other boy who also died. Seeing this horrible site, PW-4 got frightened and started running away. However, the accused shouted that the boys would become alive. At about the same time Ram Hujur Yadav, PW-3 Head Clerk in the office of Belan Canal Divison observed crowd in front of the quarter of Abdul Hafiz Khan, A-1. He saw that the boys had died and were lying near A-2 and she was uttering something in some unknown language and A-1 was repeatedly saying that the two boys who had died would become alive on the sacrifice of the third boy. Whole day was spent in all this when one Shyam Mohan Airan (PW-1) returned at about 7:00 p.m. He also observed crowd in front of the quarter of A-1. He, therefore, called Head Clerk Ram Hujur Yadav and enquired about the crowd and was told that A-2, daughter of A-1 was smitten with some evil spirit. He called others including B.P.Singh, R.R.Singh, Junior Engineers to the house of appellant and found two dead bodies and the injured youngest son. Even then A-2 had caught the hair of the boy and was reciting something and A- 1 was repeatedly saying that the boys would become alive after sometime. Shahrunnisa, the helpless mother of the boys and fourth accused, husband of A-2, both were present there. A report was immediately got prepared by Shyam Mohan Airan (PW-1) by dictating the same to Ram Hujur Yadav (PW-3) which was again fairly drafted by B.R.Singh and Shyam Mohan Airan put his signatures and sent the report to PS koroan by official jeep which was lodged at the police station at 7:30 p.m. The police immediately registered the case under Sections 302 and 307 of the Indian Penal Code and started investigations. When the police reached the spot they found A-2 catching hold of the hair of the boy and A-3 and A-4 were standing on their one leg. Even seeing the police, A-1 was undeterred and claimed that "Paigamber" had possessed the body of his d