IMPORTANT POINT
The prosecution must prove the case for murder beyond reasonable doubt, and lack of supporting evidence can lead to the benefit of doubt for the accused.

JUDGMENT :

[Manish Choudhury, J.] :

The instant appeal from jail is directed against a Judgment dated 03.08.2019 and an Order dated 05.08.2018 passed by the Additional Sessions Judge No. 1, Nagaon [‘the trial court’, for short] in Sessions Case no. 20/2018. By the said Judgment and Order, the accused-appellant has been convicted under Section 302, Indian Penal Code [IPC] and sentenced to undergo rigorous imprisonment for life and to pay a fine of Rs. 2,000/-, in default of payment of fine, to undergo further rigorous imprisonment for 4 [four] months.

2. The investigation was set into motion with the institution of a First Information Report [FIR] by one Sri Pankaj Hazarika [P.W.1] before the Officer In-Charge, Samaguri Police Station on 21.05.2017. In the said FIR, the informant-P.W.1 had inter alia alleged that the accused-appellant, who is the elder brother of the informant-P.W.1, had been asking from their father a share in the compensation amount which the father had received in respect of acquisition of land for construction of National Highway. The FIR had further mentioned that the accused-appellant later on, signed an agreement that he did not want any part of the compensation amount. It was alleged that at about 05-00 a.m. on 21.05.2017, the accused-appellant quarreled with his father again in connection with the compensation amount and in the process, he suddenly bringing a knife from his house, stabbed his father in the abdomen and other parts of his body in the courtyard. As a result, the intestine of their father, Thaneswar Hazarika came out. The informant-P.W.2 had further stated that they took Thaneswar Hazarika to Samaguri Primary Health Centre immediately but finding his condition critical, the Doctors there referred him to Nagaon Civil Hospital. The injured was accordingly taken to the Nagaon Civil Hospital. But therefrom also, finding the condition critical, the injured was referred to the Gauhati Medical College & Hospital [GMC&H], Guwahati. At the time of lodging the FIR, the injured, Thaneswar Hazarika was admitted in the GMC&H. As per the FIR, his condition was serious. On receipt of the said FIR, the Officer In-Charge, Samaguri Police Station registered the same as Samaguri Police Station Case no. 277/2017 for the offence under Section 326, IPC. The Officer In-Charge, Samaguri Police Station had thereafter, entrusted the investigation of the case to P.W.6. P.W.6, Sri Madan Sut, Assistant Sub-Inspector of Police had accordingly took up the investigation. The accused-appellant, later on, surrendered at the Samaguri Police Station on the date of the alleged occurrence i.e. on 21.05.2017.

3. The Investigating Officer of the case, P.W.6 upon completion of investigation, submitted a charge sheet being Charge Sheet no. 299 dated 30.09.2017 under Section 173[2], CrPC finding a prima facie case under Section 302, IPC against the accused-appellant as the injured, Thaneswar Hazarika expired, in the meantime, on 03.06.2017 at the GMC&H while undergoing treatment. On submission of the charge sheet, the learned Judicial Magistrate, First Class, Nagaon upon causing production of the accused-appellant from the judicial custody, furnished copies to him as per the provisions of Section 207, CrPC. As the offence under Section 302, IPC is exclusively triable by the Court of Sessions, the case record of P.R. Case no. 155/2018, arising out of Samaguri Police Station Case no. 277/2017, was committed to the Court of Sessions, Nagaon by an Order of commitment dated 16.02.2018. On receipt of the case record of P.R. Case no. 155/2018, the Court of Sessions, Nagaon registered the same as Sessions Case no. 20/2018 and transferred the case to the Court of learned Additional Sessions Judge no. 1, Nagaon [‘the trial court’, for short] for disposal.

4. After causing production of the accused-appellant from custody, the learned trial court after hearing the learned Public Prosecutor and learned defence counsel and upon perusal of the record