JUDGMENT :

Manish Choudhury, J.

1. The judgment and order dated 14.02.2015, passed by the learned Addl. Sessions Judge, Yupia, Itanagar, Arunachal Pradesh in Sessions Case No. 128/2002 (FTC) (G.R. Case No. 43/1985), convicting the accused-appellant under Section 302/34 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC in short) and sentencing him to suffer rigorous imprisonment for life and to pay a fine of Rs. 1,000/- (Rupees one thousand), in default, to suffer further simple imprisonment for a period of 3 (three) months, is the subject matter of challenge in the instant jail appeal.

2. The prosecution case is that on 11.05.1985, a complaint in writing was submitted before the Circle Officer, Kalaktang, West Kameng district by one Dorjee Tsering of Betchilling village, against 4 (four) persons viz. Chochung, Choge Chen, Tsering Dorjee and Nowang Norbu stating that on 11.05.1985 at about 02-00 hours, the above accused persons attacked his family and killed his wife and daughter. It was further stated that the complainant was also beaten by them but he somehow managed to escape and that the accused persons also burnt his house and all belongings.

3. On receipt of the above complaint, the Circle Officer forwarded the complaint to the Officer-in-Charge, Kalaktang Police Station with a note to enquire and submit the report by booking the culprits and registering a case against them as deemed fit. On receipt of the said written complaint from the Circle Officer, Kalaktang, the Officer-in-Charge, Kalaktang Police Station treating the said complaint as the First Information Report (FIR), registered a case being Kalaktang Police Station Case No. 02/1985 under Sections 302/436/457/34, IPC. A G.R. case being G.R. Case No. 43/1985 was also, correspondingly, registered. Upon registration of the said case, S.I. Tas Tako, the then Officer-in-Charge, Kalaktang Police Station took up the investigation as the Investigating Officer (I.O.) himself.

4. In the course of investigation, the I.O. visited the place of occurrence (P.O.), drew a rough sketch map of the P.O. held inquest over of the dead bodies of the deceased Namge Bhuti and Nawang Eton and sent the dead bodies for Post Mortem examination. Few materials were also seized viz. (a) wearing apparels containing suspected human blood stains from the possession of accused, Tsering Dorjee and Choge Chen; (b) one pair of half burnt clothing containing suspected human blood from the P.O. and (c) one stone containing suspected human blood. Those seized materials were sent to the Forensic Science Laboratory, Guwahati for expert opinion.

5. In the course of investigation, the I.O. arrested the accused Choge Chen (A-1), Chochung (A-2), Tsering Dorjee (A-3) and Nowang Norbu (A-4) and forwarded them to the Court of Judicial Magistrate, Second Class, Kalaktang for recording their confessional statements and their confessional statements under section 164, Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (Cr.P.C. in short) were recorded on 13.05.1985.

6. Upon completion of investigation, the I.O. submitted a charge-sheet under section 173, Cr.P.C. on 02.01.1986 finding a prima facie case against the afore-mentioned four accused persons under sections 302/436/325/34/120B, IPC and also forwarded the original case diary and all other relevant documents to the Court. From the Court of Judicial Magistrate, Second Class, Kalaktang, the case on 24.05.1985 stood transferred to the Deputy Commissioner, Bomdila for the purpose of trial as the offences under which the charge-sheet was submitted were exclusively triable by the Court of Sessions. On 24.01.1986, the Court of Judicial Magistrate, First Class, Bomdila released the four accused persons on bail. On appearance of the accused persons before the Court, the copies were supplied to the accused persons, A-1, A-2, A-3 and A-4 under section 207, Cr.P.C. and thereafter, the case records of G.R. Case No. 43/1985 were transmitted to the Court of Sessions by its order dated 21.07.1986 in terms of the provisi