Judicial Analysis Court Copy Headnote Facts Arguments Court observation

2023 Supreme(Gau) 944

IN THE HIGH COURT OF GAUHATI, ASSAM, NAGALAND, MIZORAM AND ARUNACHAL PRADESH
Michael Zothankhuma, Malasri Nandi, JJ.
Sunil Murari, Dibrugarh, Assam - Appellant
Vs.
The State of Assam, Represented by the P.P. Assam - Respondent
CRL.A(J) No. 80 of 2020
Decided On : 21-08-2023

Advocates:
Advocate Appeared:
For the Appellant : Ms. B. Sarma - Amicus Curiae.
For the Respondent: Ms. S. Jahan - Additional PP, Assam.

Point of Law : Contradictory statements regarding extra judicial confession made by the accused/appellant, we are of the view that such type of extra judicial confession has no such value in the eye of law

Headnote:
Indian Penal Code,1860 - Section 302 – Criminal Procedure Code,1973 - Section 313 - POCSO Act – Section 4 – Offence of Murder – Appeal against Conviction – Whether circumstances form a chain which is so complete, that there is no escape from conclusion that within all normal and human probabilities, crime was committed by the accused/appellant only – When statement of accused/appellant was recorded under Section 313 Cr.P.C, he did not say anything as to when he had parted from the deceased and there is no explanation from his side as to how incident occurred. Para 43
Finding of Court : It was also not disputed that the accused/appellant had taken the deceased with him on previous evening – On next day morning, dead body of the deceased was found lying in a dilapidated katcha house adjacent to house of complainant – Time gap between period when deceased was last seen with accused/appellant and recovery of corpse of the deceased being quite proximate, non-explanation of accused/appellant with regard to circumstances under which and when accused/appellant had departed company of deceased was a very crucial circumstance proved against him – Prosecution has proved guilt of appellant through last seen theory and other circumstances as discussed above – Entire oral as well as documentary evidence having been considered threadbare by Sessions Court, resulting in holding accused/appellant guilty of charged offence, Court do not find any ground to interfere with judgment recorded by learned Trial Court.
Result : Appeal dismissed

JUDGMENT AND ORDER :

Malasri Nandi, J.

1. Heard Ms. B. Sarma, learned Amicus Curiae. Also heard Ms. S. Jahan, learned Additional Public Prosecutor for the State.

2. This appeal has been preferred by the sole appellant challenging the impugned judgment and order dated 07.12.2019 passed by the learned Sessions Judge, Dibrugarh, in connection with POCSO Case No. 39/2015, whereby the appellant was convicted under Section 302 IPC and sentenced to undergo rigorous imprisonment for life and to pay a fine of Rs. 1,000/-, in default of payment of fine to undergo rigorous imprisonment for 1 month. The appellant was also convicted under Section 4 of the POCSO Act and sentenced to undergo rigorous imprisonment for life and to pay a fine of Rs. 1,000/-, in default of payment of fine to undergo rigorous imprisonment for 1 month. The appellant was also convicted under Section 366 IPC and sentenced to undergo rigorous imprisonment for 10 years and to pay a fine of Rs.1,000/-, in default of payment of fine to undergo rigorous imprisonment for 1 month. All the sentences were directed to run concurrently.

3. The brief facts of the case is that the informant lodged an FIR on 02.01.2015 before the Officer-in-Charge, Duliajan Police Station stating inter alia that on 01.01.2015 his six year old daughter went missing, when she was watching the sports events organized by the local people on the occasion of New Year at No.1 Bardubi Gaon (Gojal Basti). Though he searched for his daughter at night with the help of local people, but she could not be traced out. On the next morning, Biki Tanti, S/o Bijoy Tanti informed him that his daughter was lying on the floor of the rear verandah of an abandoned premise. On receipt of the information he went there with the local people and found the dead body of his daughter. It also appears from the FIR that said Biki Tanti had seen his daughter with the appellant in the evening of 01.01.2015. Accordingly, he suspected that the appellant killed his daughter after raping her.

4. On receipt of the complaint, a case was registered, vide Duliajan P.S. Case No. 05/2015 under Section 302 IPC read with Section 4 of the POCSO Act and investigation was initiated. During the course of investigation, the Investigating Officer visited the place of occurrence, recorded statements of the witnesses, seized the wearing apparels of the victim and the accused/appellant and sent the said seized articles for chemical examination to Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL). Inquest was conducted on the dead body of the deceased and thereafter the dead body was sent for Post Mortem Examination. After completion of the investigation, charge-sheet was submitted against the appellant under Section 302 IPC and Section 4 of the POCSO Act.

5. On appearance of the accused/appellant before the Court of Sessions, charge was framed under Section 302/366 IPC and Section 4 of the POCSO Act, which was read over and explained to the accused/appellant, to which he pleaded not guilty and claimed to be tried.

6. To substantiate the case of the prosecution, 13 (thirteen) prosecution witnesses were examined and marked some documents before the Trial Court as material exhibits. On the other hand, the accused/appellant did not choose to adduce any evidence in support of his case. After completion of the trial, the statement of the accused/appellant was recorded under Section 313 Cr.P.C wherein the incriminating materials found in the evidence of the witnesses were put to him, to which he denied the same and pleaded his innocence. After hearing the arguments advanced by the learned counsel for the parties, the learned Trial Court convicted the accused/appellant as aforesaid.

7. PW-1 is the informant, who is the father of the deceased. He deposed in his evidence that at the time of incident, the age of his daughter was 6 years. His wife died long years back. On the date of occurrence, in the afternoon, after coming back home from his work, he found his daughter missing. He se