A conviction for murder may be based on the testimony of a solitary, reliable eyewitness. Once direct evidence exists, motive becomes irrelevant, and the offense is classified as murder if the intent to inflict fatal bodily injury is established, absent proof of mitigating exceptions such as sudden provocation.

JUDGMENT & ORDER :
[Manish Choudhury, J.]

1. This criminal appeal from jail is directed against a Judgment dated 20.11.2019 and an Order on Sentence dated 22.11.2019 passed by the Court of learned District and Sessions Judge, Tirap, Changlang and Longding at Khonsa, Arunachal Pradesh in Khonsa Sessions Case no. 46/2019. By the Judgment dated 20.11.2019, the accused-appellant has been convicted for the offence of murder under Section 302, Indian Penal Code [IPC] and thereafter, by the Order on Sentence dated 22.11.2019, the accused-appellant [hereinafter also referred to as ‘the accused’, at places, for easy reference] has been sentenced to undergo life imprisonment and to pay a fine of Rs. 10,000/-, in default of payment of fine, to undergo simple imprisonment for another two months.

2. The informant, one Sri Kabir Ahmed [P.W.2] lodged the First Information Report [FIR] before the Officer In-Charge, Kharsang Police Station on 11.08.2018 stating inter alia that at around 22-15 hrs on 11.08.2018, there was a quarrel among his labourers at their work site located at Electric Colony, Kharsang under influence of alcohol. During the said quarrel, one of the labourers namely Sri Abul Basar [the accused-appellant] had physically assaulted his co-labourer namely Sri Ajibur Rehman [the deceased] with a dao. The FIR further mentioned that as a result of the assault, the deceased sustained grievous injury on his throat and succumbed to the injury on the spot.

3. On receipt of the FIR, the Officer In-Charge, Kharsang Police Station registered it as Kharsang Police Station Case no. 11/2018 under Section 302, IPC @ 23-30 hrs on 11.08.2018 and took up the investigation of the case himself.

4. Immediately after registration of the FIR and in the course of investigation, the Investigating Officer [I.O.] proceeded to the Place of Occurrence [P.O.] at Electric Colony, Kharsang. It was on the way to the P.O., the I.O. found the accused coming from the opposite direction and on being identified, the accused was apprehended by the I.O. while he was trying to run away. Then, he proceeded to the P.O. As the dead body of the deceased was found at the P.O., the I.O. held inquest on the dead body of the deceased at first and thereafter, prepared a Sketch Map of the P.O. [Ext.-4]. Subsequently, the dead body was sent to the Primary Health Centre [PHC], Kharsang for post-mortem examination. The I.O. recorded the statements of the witnesses under Section 161, Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 [the ‘Code’ or the ‘CrPC’, for short]. During the course of investigation, the alleged weapon of assault, that is, one dao measuring 26.50 inches [full length] with a handle [bamboo] of 14 ½ inches [metal wrapped] was seized at 12-30 hrs on 12.08.2018 in presence of two witnesses viz. [i] Sri Rajesh Sahu [P.W.1] and [ii] Sri Ram Tanti [P.W.3] vide a Seizure Memo, M.R. no. 38/2018 [Ext.-1]. The I.O. collected the Post-Mortem Examination [PME] Report [Ext.-3].

5. After completing investigation into the case, Kharsang Police Station Case no. 18/2018, the I.O. submitted a charge sheet under Section 173[2], CrPC vide Charge Sheet no. 06/2019 dated 10.06.2019 finding a prima facie case against the accused to proceed for