The admission of guilt by the accused, combined with corroborating testimonies from injured witnesses, sustains the conviction under relevant IPC sections despite the absence of one material witness.

JUDGMENT :

Manish Choudhury, J.

This criminal appeal from Jail under Section 383 , Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 [‘CrPC’ or ‘the Code’, for short] is directed against a Judgment and Order dated 25.11.2019 passed by the Court of learned Additional Sessions Judge [FTC-1], Margherita, Tinsukia in Sessions Case no. 10[M] of 2016, which arose out of G.R. Case no. 891/2015 and Margherita Police Station Case no. 300/2015. The accused-appellant faced the trial for causing injuries to two persons, namely, [i] Swanand Oreya; and [ii] Jeewan Machi Barla, along with a charge of attempting to commit murder on one of them.

2. By the Judgment and Order dated 25.11.2019, the Court of learned Additional Sessions Judge [FTC-1], Margherita, Tinsukia has found the accused- appellant guilty for committing the offences under Section 324 , Section 326 and Section 307 of the INDIAN PENAL CODE [IPC]. The accused-appellant has been sentenced to undergo simple imprisonment for two years under Section 324 , IPC for causing hurt to Swanand Oreya by a dao. The accused-appellant has also been sentenced to undergo rigorous imprisonment for ten years and to pay a fine of Rs. 5,000/-, in default of payment of fine, to undergo simple imprisonment of another 3 [three] months under Section 326 , IPC for causing grievous hurt to Swanand Oreya by the dao. He has also been sentenced to undergo imprisonment for life and to pay a fine of Rs. 10,000/-, in default of payment of fine, to undergo simple imprisonment for further 6 [six] months under Section 307 , IPC for attempting to commit murder of Swanand Oreya. The accused-appellant has been sentenced to undergo rigorous imprisonment of 2 [two] years under Section 324 , IPC for voluntarily causing hurt to Jeewan Machi Barla by a dao. The sentences are ordered to run concurrently and it has been observed that the period already spent in custody is to be set-off under Section 428 , CrPC, wherever applicable.

3. The investigation was set into motion on institution of a First Information Report [FIR] by one James Oreya before the Officer In-Charge, Margherita Police Station on 28.10.2015 against the accused-appellant [hereinafter also referred to as ‘the appellant’, at places, for easy reference]. In the FIR, the informant had inter-alia alleged that at about 06-30 p.m. on 27.10.2015, when his younger brother, Swanand Oreya and his companion, Jeewan Machi Barla were sitting beside a fire in a Tongi Ghar [a watchman’s shed in paddy field to save paddy from insects, birds, wild animals, etc.] in the enclosed yard of a co- villager, Manchuk Nag, the appellant with a Kalam [pruning] dao in hands, climbed that Tongi Ghar. After climbing, the appellant, out of his previous grudge, caused grievous injuries to both Swanand Oreya and Jeewan Machi Barla by hacking them with the sharp Kalam dao with an intention to kill them. The informant mentioned that at the time of lodging the FIR, both the injured persons were undergoing treatment at the Assam Medical College & Hospital [AMCH] at Dibrugarh in very critical conditions. The informant further mentioned that as he was busy with the medical treatment of