The court upheld the death penalty for the appellant, emphasizing the severity of the crime that eliminated his family members in a brutal act.

JUDGMENT :

Rongon Mukhopadhyay, J.

1. Heard Mr. Atanu Banerjee, learned counsel for the convict- appellant and Mr. Vishwanath Roy, learned Special P.P. for the State.

2. This appeal is directed against the judgment and order of conviction and sentence dated 07.10.2024 (sentence passed on 08.10.2024) passed by Sri Rakesh Chandra, learned Additional Sessions Judge-III, Koderma in S.T. No. 31/2020 whereby and whereunder, the appellant has been convicted for the offence punishable under Section 302 IPC and has been sentenced to death along with a fine of Rs. 10,000./-

3. The prosecution case arises out of the written report of Madan Das, in which it has been stated that on 26.11.2019, the informant after having dinner went to sleep, while Gango Das (appellant), who was the neighbour of the informant, along with his wife and two children also went to sleep. The mother of Gango Das, namely, Shanti Devi was sleeping in the veranda along with her granddaughters Nitika Kumari and Chandni Kumari. It has been alleged that Gango Das did not do any work and always used to be in an intoxicated condition. Whenever the wife of Gango Das asked him to do some work, Gango Das used to abuse and assault her. On 27.11.2019 at 2:45AM, there was a quarrel between Gango Das and his wife and in course of such quarrel, Gango Das with a lathi and a knife committed assault upon his wife and children as a result of which all three became injured and both the children succumbed to such assault. It has been alleged that on the alarm raised by Sheela Devi, the mother of Gango Das came out to save her daughter-in-law at which Gango Das committed assault with rod and knife upon Shanti Devi and Nitika Kumari as well as Chandni Kumari and all three of them became injured. On account of the commotion, several persons assembled and the ambulance was also informed. Gango Das, in order to save himself, entered into an adjoining room and locked it from inside. The injured were sent by the Police to the hospital where in course of treatment, Sheela Devi, Shanti Devi and Nitika Kumari died and Chandni Kumari was sent to RIMS, Ranchi for better treatment. The body of Piyush Kumar and Radhika Kumari were sent to Sadar Hospital, Koderma for conducting post-mortem. The accused Gango Das was arrested by the Police from inside the house.

Based on the aforesaid allegations, Nawalsahi P.S. Case No. 86/2019 was instituted against Gango Das for the offences punishable under Section 307 /302 IPC. On completion of investigation, charge sheet was submitted and after cognizance was taken, the case was committed to the Court of Sessions, where it was registered as S.T. No. 31/2020. Charge was framed against the accused under Section 302 and 307 IPC which was read over and explained to him in Hindi to which he pleaded not guilty and claimed to be tried.

4. The prosecution has examined as many as ten witnesses in support of its case:

P.W.1 Chandni Kumari has stated that the incident had occurred at 2:45AM on 26/27.11.2019 when her uncle Gango Das, after having liquor, started making a commotion as he wanted the door to be opened. When her grandmother got up and opened the door, Gango Das assaulted her grandmother with an iron rod on her head and her grandmother fell down on the ground. When she went to the rescue of her grandmother, she was caught hold of her neck and thrown aside as a result of which she became unconscious. In the night, th