JUDGMENT :

Manish Choudhury, J

This Criminal Appeal from jail is preferred against a judgment and order dated 05.04.2019 passed by the trial court of learned Sessions Judge, Sivasagar in Sessions Case no. 03(S-S)/2019. By the said judgment and order dated 05.04.2019, the learned trial court has convicted the accused-appellant for the offence of murder under Section 302, Indian Penal Code [IPC] and he has been sentenced to undergo rigorous imprisonment for life and to pay a fine of Rs. 2,000/-, in default of payment of fine, to undergo simple imprisonment for further 1 [one] month.

2. The case of the prosecution, in brief, is that on 26.09.2019, one First Information Report [FIR] was lodged before the Officer In-Charge, Bakata Nemuguri Police Station, District – Sivasagar by one Sri Cheni Chetiya [P.W.1] alleging, inter alia, that at around 1030 a.m. on that day, his younger brother, Akoni Chetiya had a quarrel with the accused, Sri Nitul Duara from the same village. In the course of quarrel, the accused assaulted Akoni Chetiya with a saw and as a result of the assault, Akoni Chetiya sustained grievous injury. He was immediately taken to and admitted at Bakata Konwarting Community Health Centre. Due to excessive loss of blood, Akoni Chetiya was thereafter, sent to Assam Medical College & Hospital [AMCH] at Dibrugarh. But, he was declared dead at the AMCH.

3. On receipt of the FIR [Ext-3], the Officer In-Charge, Bakata Nemuguri Police Station registered a case being Bakata Nemuguri Police Station Case no. 28/2018 [G.R. Case no. 1726/2018] under Section 302, IPC and taken up investigation of the case himself as the Investigating Officer [I.O.].

4. After registration of the case, Sri Prabhat Saikia [P.W.8], the I.O. visited the place of occurrence and prepared a sketch map of the place of occurrence [Ext-4]. On the date of the incident itself i.e. on 26.09.2018, the accused was taken into custody. The statements of the witnesses were recorded by the I.O. One saw was seized by the I.O. on 26.09.2018 by a seizure list [Ext-2] in presence of witnesses and the same was stated to have been seized from the accused. An inquest report [Ext-5] was prepared by the I.O. at the Casualty Department, AMCH on 27.09.2018. Thereafter, the post-mortem examination on the deadbody of the deceased was conducted at the AMCH on 27.09.2018 and a postmortem examination report [Ext-1] was prepared. After completion of investigation, the I.O. submitted a charge sheet under Section 173(2), Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 [CrPC] vide Charge Sheet no. 19/2018 dated 29.11.2018 finding sufficient evidence against the accused in custody to put him on trial for the offence of murder under Section 302, IPC.

5. On submission of the charge sheet, the Court of learned Sub-Divisional Judicial Magistrate, Sivasagar after complying with the provisions of Section 207, CrPC by furnishing copies to the accused, committed the case record of G.R. Case no. 1726/2018 to the Court of Sessions, Sivasagar in terms of the provisions of Section 209, CrPC by the order of commitment dated 27.12.2018 as the offence under Section 302, IPC is exclusively triable by the Court of Sessions.

6. On receipt of the case records on 03.01.2019, pursuant to the order of commitment, the Court of Sessions, Sivasagar registered the case as Sessions Case no. 03(S-S)/2019. As the accused was in jail custody, his production was caused from jail custody. After hearing the learned Public Prosecutor and the learned defence counsel for the accused on the point of charge and upon consideration of the record of the case, the learned trial court framed a charge under Section 302, IPC against the accused on 03.01.2019. When the particulars of the charge was read over and explained to the accused, he pleaded not guilty and claimed to be tried.

7. During the course of trial, the prosecution side examined as many as 8 [eight] prosecution witnesses [P.Ws] in order to bring home the charge against the accused apart from ex