Point of Law : Minor inconsistencies in the testimonies of witnesses cannot render the prosecution case bad.

JUDGMENT :

JAY SENGUPTA, J.

1. This is an appeal directed against the judgment and order of conviction dated 3rd April, 2019 and sentence dated 4th April, 2019, thereby convicting the appellant and sentencing him to suffer rigorous imprisonment for life and to pay a fine of Rs.10,000/-, in default to suffer further simple imprisonment for six months for commission of the offence under Section 302 of the Penal Code and to suffer rigorous imprisonment for two years for the offence punishable under Section 324 of the Penal Code.

2. On 25th April, 2013 at about 1.00 hours, the victim’s sister (PW1) lodged a First Information Report with the Ograbraj Police Station against the present appellant, the husband of his sister, alleging commission of offences under Sections 324 and 302 of the Penal Code. In the said complaint, the defacto complainant alleged that her elder sister Hema used to reside with her husband and two minor children at Prem Nagar. The appellant was addicted to liquor and used to assault her sister regularly. After consuming liquor, he would regularly beat up the victim. The victim used to tell them about such assault. The appellant was a truck driver. On 1st April, 2013 the victim went away somewhere without informing anyone. On 18th April, 2013, the victim reported to the Police Station after seeing her photo in the TV channels as a missing person. She told the police that her husband used to beat her up regularly, which prompted her to leave. On the same day the victim came to the informant’s house with her two children, by boat. From that day on she and her two children started residing at the defacto complainant’s house. On 20th April, 2013 at about 7 P.M., when the informant came back from duty she saw the accused/appellant sitting outside the house. The appellant asked her husband and the victim to forgive him and said that he would not repeat the mistakes. The victim and the informant’s husband asked him to get out of the house. He went out and slept in front of the house at night. In the morning, the appellant was not found there. The victim told that her husband had taken away her Birth Certificate, Local Certificate, Aadhar Card and Islander Card, etc. On 24th April, 2013 the informant was sitting inside her house watching television. At about 9.30 P.M. she heard a loud noise from the front of her house. She and her husband (PW3) came out and saw that the appellant was hitting the victim with a ‘dao’ and she was trying to save herself. The informant tried to stop this and in the process received cut injuries at her left hand middle finger and wrist. Blood stated flowing. When her husband tried to save her sister, the appellant hit him thrice with a ‘dao’ as a result of which her husband’s left hand, back and stomach were hit. Then she shouted and took her husband near the house of her sister-in-law (PW2) and told that the appellant was hitting the victim. He sister-in-law (PW2) called up a jeep driver to bring the jeep and also called up the police. They all sat in the jeep and were going to Tushnabad Primary Health Center. In front of Ram Mandir they found a police vehicle and intimated the police about the incident of the appellant assaulting the victim with a dao. The informant and her husband went to hospital for treatment in the private jeep. In the meantime, the police van bought the victim Hema to the hospital for treatment in a police vehicle. The informant’s sister died after examination up by doctor (PW21). During investigation the Investigating Officer arrested the accused, seized the ‘dao’ from him (Exhibit 37) as well as the wearing apparel of the accused. He prepared an inquest report (Exhibit 28) over the dead body of the victim and thereafter collected the post-mortem report (Exhibit 36). He also seized blood-stained earth, a bloodstained pair of slippers and blood-stained pieces of cloth taken from pillow cover, bed sheet, blood-stained broken part of mobile phone, a blood-stained bunch of h