IMPORTANT POINT
The court established that the presence of credible eyewitnesses and corroborating medical evidence can sustain a conviction for murder, even in the absence of the murder weapon, and that minor discrepancies in testimonies do not necessarily invalidate the prosecution's case.

JUDGMENT :

MANISH CHOUDHURY, J.

1. Both these criminal appeals from Jail are directed against a Judgment and Order dated 30.05.2019 passed by the Court of learned Sessions Judge, Dibrugarh in Sessions Case no. 147 of 2016. By the Judgment and Order dated 30.05.2019, both the accused-appellants who faced the trial, have been convicted for the offence of murder under Section 302, Indian Penal Code [IPC] in aid of Section 34, IPC. Both the accused-appellants have been sentenced to undergo imprisonment for life and to pay a fine of Rs. 1,000/-each, in default of payment of fine, to undergo rigorous imprisonment for another one month. It has been directed to pay compensation to the victim son of the deceased under the Assam Victim Compensation Scheme, 2012.

2. The instant case is regarding the death of one Bina Chawra. The investigation of the case was initiated on the basis of a First Information Report [FIR] [Ext.-2] lodged by the son of the deceased, Dipak Chawra [P.W.6] as the informant before the Officer In-Charge, Naohalia Police Out Post on 10.07.2016. In the FIR, the informant had inter alia alleged that his mother, Bina Chawra was a resident of No. 2 Naohalia Village and she passed away while sleeping on bed after having dinner in the night intervening 09.07.2016 and 10.07.2016. When the informant son went to the house of his mother, he found the neck of his mother half-cut towards left side and there was blood on and around the bed. The informant had named the two accused-appellants herein in the FIR and stated that they had gone to the house where the incident had taken place, to sleep and it was them who had killed the mother of the informant by cutting her neck with a sharp weapon while she was sleeping.

3. On receipt of the FIR [Ext.-2], the In-Charge, Naohalia Police Out Post received the same vide Naohalia Police Out Post General Diary Entry no. 182 dated 10.07.2016 and forwarded the original FIR to the Officer In-Charge, Duliajan Police Station for registering a case under proper sections of law. At the same time, Uttam Adhikari [P.W.8], In-Charge, Naohalia Police Out Post & Sub-Inspector of Police took up the investigation of the case. On receipt of the FIR [Ext.-2], the Officer In-Charge, Duliajan Police Station registered the same as Duliajan Police Station Case no. 237/2016 for the offence under Section 302, IPC read with Section 34, IPC and took note of the fact that the In-Charge, Naohalia Police Out Post, Uttam Adhikari [P.W.8], Sub-Inspector of Police had already taken up the investigation.

4. From the evidence/materials on record, it has also emerged that it was at about 12-45 p.m. on 10.07.2016, the I.O. of the case, that is, P.W.8 received an information over phone that the woman named Bina Chawra had been killed. On receipt of the said information over phone, P.W.8 registered the information vide General Diary Entry no. 176 dated 10.07.2016. After making the entry, he along with staff proceeded to the place of occurrence [P.O.], that is, the house of Late Bina Chawra, No. 2 Naohalia Village. At the P.O., the I.O. [P.W.8] found the deadbody of Bina Chawra lying on the floor of the house. The I.O. [P.W.8] drew a Sketch Map of the P.O. [Ext.-4] and also recorded the statements of witnesses. The I.O. [P.W.8] also conducted inquest on the deadbody of the deceased through an Executive Magistrate and the Executive Magistrate prepared an Inquest Report [Ext.-1]. Finding the presence of the two accused persons at the P.O., the I.O. [P.W.8] took them into custody. After sending the deadbody of the deceased to Assam Medical College & Hospital [AMC&H] for post-mortem examination, the I.O. [P.W.8] took both the accused persons to the Naohalia Police Out Post. Thereafter, the son of the deceased, Dipak Chawra [P.W.6] as the informant lodged the written FIR [Ext.-2] at Naohalia Police Out Post. The In-Charge, Naohalia Police Out Post, that is, P.W.8 received the said written FIR [Ext.-2] vide General Diary Entry no. 182 da