Circumstantial evidence must be satisfactorily established and must bring home the offence to the accused beyond reasonable doubt.

JUDGMENT :

K.P. Mohapatra, J. - Deceased Noorjahan, true to her name, was a beautiful young unmarried maiden living with her mother P.W. 2 Khatija Bibi and brother P.W. 14 Babuji Khan at Pariakhemundi. She was unfortunate for reasons more than one. She was born deaf and dumb and from childhood suffered from T.B. which remained suppressed on account of medication, but at times she vomitted blood. Her health was, therefore, delicate. Her parents had given liberty to her to move freely in the town, perhaps to compensate for her disability. This liberty proved fatal unexpectedly in the circumstances narrated below.

2. Respondent Nos. 1 and 2, Vijaya and Ramesh respectively, two young persons had an evil eye for the deceased. They took into confidence Respondent No. 3 Damayanti said to be a young woman of questionable character so as to procure the deceased in order to enable them to satisfy their lust. The opportunity came in the evening of 22-4-1981 when the deceased alone came to see a movie picture in Laxmi Talkies of the town in the first show. She enjoyed the movie picture and was seen coming out of the hall and proceeding towards her house at about 9.00 p. m. she, however, did not reach home.

3. The members of her family, particularly her mother P.W. 2 became anxious and sent a close relation P.W. 1 and her son P.W. 14 in search of her. They made enquiries at several places and ultimately came inside Rani Padmavati U.P. School and discovered the blood stained Langa (a ladies wearing apparel) belonging to the deceased lying near the well inside the school compound. They looked around and saw blood stains on the verandah of the school building. They also noticed a few jasmine flowers floating on the water of the well. The other members of the family, such as, P.W. 2, were summoned to the place and the Langa of the deceased was recognised. Foul-play was suspected and as P.W. 1 was sent to Parlakhemundi Police Station to lodge F.I.R. (Ext. 1/1) after which investigation commenced.

4. During investigation, the dead body was brought from inside the well of the school compound and was sent for post-mortem examination. Blood stained materials including wearing apparel of the deceased, as well as Respondent Nos. 1 and 2, were seized and were sent for chemical examination and sarological test. Services of a tracker dog were utilised for identification of Respondent Vijaya. After close of investigation, charge-sheet was submitted against the Respondent for having committed offences under Sections 302, 354 and 321 read with Section 34, as well as for attempt and abetment to commit the offence of rape u/s 376 I.P.C.

5. The Respondents denied their complicity in the murder and the other offences for which they were charged. Their defence was that the deceased was a chronic T.B. patient and out of frustration she might have committed suicide by jumping into the well.

6. Learned Sessions Judge, Berhampur, on an exhaustive scrutiny of the prosecution evidence came to hold that there was neither direct evidence nor circumstantial evidence of credible nature so as to link the Respondents and make them responsible for the attempted rape and murder of the deceased. Accordingly, he found them not guilty of the charges framed against them and recorded an order of acquittal against which the present appeal was filed.

7. Mr. Jairaj Behera, learned Additional Standing Counsel, on behalf of the Appellant, and Mr. S.D. Das, learned Counsel appearing for the Respondents, placed the entire prosecution evidence both oral and documentary before us. While Mr. Behera felt diffident to support the prosecution case on evidence so as to displace the order of acquittal, Mr. Das submitted that there could at best be the following circumstances for implication of Respondents with the incident:

(1) Respondents Vijaya and Ramesh had an evil eye for the deceased and had previously teased her;

(2) On the date of occurrence after the first show of the movie picture in Laxmi Tal