Heard learned counsel for the appellant and the learned counsel for the State.

2. The appellant is aggrieved by the impugned Judgment of conviction dated 21.03.1996 and Order of sentence dated 23.03.1996, passed by the learned 1st Additional Sessions Judge, Gumla, in S.T. No. 97 of 1993, whereby the appellant Atwa Oraon has been found guilty and convicted for the offence under Section 302 of the Indian Penal Code. Upon hearing on the point of sentence the appellant has been sentenced to undergo R.I. for life for the said offence. It may be stated that there were four accused persons facing the trial, out of whom one accused Lahsu Oraon died during the pendency of the trial itself, whereas the other co-accused Budhni Orain and Swati Orain have been acquitted by the Trial Court below.

3. The prosecution case was instituted on the basis of the written report submitted at Bishunpur Police Station, by the informant Lahsunia Devi, the wife of the deceased Hiramuni Oraon, on 5.11.1992, wherein she has stated that she and her husband were working in their barn at about 5:00 P.M., in the previous evening, when Lahsu Oraon, the elder brother of her husband, came after tending his cattle, and started abusing her husband stating that he had got his gram crop destroyed by his animal. Her husband told him that he would compensate his loss. In the meantime Lahsu Oraon came accompanied with his son Atwa Oraon, and started assaulting her husband. Both of them started assaulting her husband by pressing him on the ground and also by pressing his neck, and assaulting him by fists and slaps. Thereafter, Atwa Oraon brought a tangi from his house and started assaulting her husband by tangi, during which Lahsu Oraon, his wife Budhni Orain and daughter-in-law Swati Orain were holding the deceased to the ground. She has stated that all the accused persons committed the murder of her husband at the spot, and when she tried to save her husband she was also assaulted. Thereafter, she went to her village and informed the villagers and alongwith the villagers she came back again at about 9:00 P.M., in the night, when she found her husband dead. On the basis of the written report given by the informant, Bishunpur P.S. Case No. 63 of 1992, corresponding to G.R. No. 973 of 1992, was instituted against all the four named accused persons, for the offence under Sections 302/34 of the Indian Penal Code, and investigation was taken up. After investigation the police submitted the charge-sheet in the case.

4. After commitment of the case to the Court of Session, charge was framed against the accused persons for the offence under Sections 302/34 of the Indian Penal Code, and upon the accuseds’ pleading not guilty and claiming to be tried, they were put to trial. In course of trial, the prosecution has examined 13 witnesses, including the Doctor, who had conducted the post-mortem examination on the dead body of the deceased. The I.O. has not been examined in the case, and as such a formal witness P.W.-1 Parsuram Singh has proved the formal F.I.R., as Exhibit-1. Another formal witness P.W.-2 Kuldip Singh has proved the post-mortem report as Exhibit-2. Out of the material witnesses examined, P.W.-5 Rabi Oraon has turned hostile and P.W.-8 Sukhnath Oraon was only tendered by the prosecution.

5. P.W.-12 Lahsunia Orain is the informant of the case and the wife of the deceased, and she has stated that on the date of occurrence she was working with her husband in her barn, where Lahsu Oraon came and started abusing her husband, saying that he got his crop grazed by their cow. Her husband said that he would compensate the loss, but Lahsu Oraon assaulted her husband, and Atwa Oraon brought a tangi and he also assaulted her husband, whereas Lahsu Oraon was pressing the neck of her husband. Her husband died at the spot. This witness went to the village raising the alarm and thereafter several villagers came there. By that time the accused persons were also present there. T