IMPORTANT POINT
All enquiries held by the police subsequent to information furnished to it would be treated as investigation even though the formal registration of the FIR takes place only later.

JUDGMENT

H.L. Dattu, J. —

1) This appeal is directed against the judgment and order passed by the Gauhati High Court in Criminal Appeal No. 63 of 2005, dated 26.04.2006, whereby and where under, the High Court has affirmed the order passed by the Sessions Judge, Hailakandi, in Sessions Case No.2 of 2002. The appellants are convicted under Section 302/34 IPC and sentenced to imprisonment for life and to pay a fine of Rs. 10,000/- each, and in default, to undergo further imprisonment for six months each.

2) The case of the prosecution is that, on 07.06.1997 at about 5.00 P.M. the deceased Fanilal Das was returning home on a rickshaw driven by Manilal Das (PW2). The deceased stopped the rickshaw near Shiva temple and after offering his prayer, he came back to the rickshaw and at that point of time, the appellants and others assaulted the deceased and, thereafter, forcibly took him to the house of Kunja Mohan where he was assaulted by all the accused persons. It is their further case, that, one Upendra Das informed the wife of the deceased about the assault on her husband by the appellants and on hearing the same, she came to the place of occurrence and saw the accused persons assaulting the deceased, and on being informed by PW-3, police came to the place of incident and took the injured to the hospital where he was declared dead. After completing the investigation, the accused persons were charge-sheeted. Initially, four accused persons were tried by the Sessions Judge, Hailkandi for commission of the offence under Section 302/34 IPC. During the trial, four other persons were also arrayed as accused and tried along with the appellants. All the accused persons pleaded not guilty. During the course of the trial, the prosecution examined eight witnesses. After completion of the trial, the appellants were examined under Section 313 Cr.P.C., wherein the appellants completely denied their involvement in the alleged offence. The learned trial Judge convicted the appellants and two others for the offence under Section 302/34 IPC and sentenced as stated earlier. This order of the Sessions Court is confirmed by the Gauhati High Court by rejecting the criminal appeals filed by the accused persons.

3) This appeal is filed only by Sambhu Das @ Bijoy Das (Accused No. 4) and Bibhu Das @ Sekhar Das (Accused No. 5).

4) While assailing the judgment and order of the High Court, it is contended by Shri M.N. Rao, learned senior counsel, that admittedly, the Inquest Report was recorded by the Investigating Officer at 9.30 PM and the FIR was lodged by the wife of the deceased at 11.30 PM on 07.06.1997. Therefore, it is contended that the First Information Report loses all authenticity if written after Inquest Report. In aid of his submission, reliance is placed on the observation made by this court in the case of Balaka Singh & Ors. Vs. The State of Punjab,1 [1975(4) SCC 511] and Ramesh Baburao Devaskar and Ors. Vs. State of Maharashtra,2 [2007(13) SCC 501]. It is further contended that the High Court has failed to address itself to certain crucial aspects of evidence and proceeded to dispose of the appeal on general observations and more so, in a very casual and cavalier manner which is impermissible in law. Reliance is placed on the observation made by this court in the case of Badri vs. State of Rajasthan,3 [1995 Supp. (3) SCC 521], Ishvarbhai Fuljibhai Patni vs. State of Gujarat,4 [1995 (1) SCC 178] and Lal Singh vs. State of Madhya Pradesh,5 [2003 (9) SCC 464]. It is further contended that the High Court has erred in not appreciating the fact that the accused has put forward a reasonable defence throughout the trial and as well as in their statement recorded under Section 313 of Criminal Procedure Code. While elaborating this contention, it is stated that prior to the occurrence, the complainant’s husband and her husband’s younger brother Chunnulal Das had got involved in the case regarding the murder of their brother Arun Das and for that reason