(Delivered by Justice Yatindra Singh, J)

1. Pessimism and hopelessness often drive a person to kill himself. Is this the case here, or was there dacoity in the house?

THE FACTS

2. An incident happened on 29.6.2008 at about 3 - 3:30pm. In this incident Santosh Kumar Barnwal (the Appellant) was injured and his two daughters (one aged about three and half years and the other aged about five and half years) were killed. His neighbour Mala Gupta (the Informant), lodged the FIR (Case Crime No. 1023 of 2008 under section 302, 309 IPC and section 3/25 and 4/25 Arms Act, Police Station Shahpur, District Gorakhpur) at 5:30pm.

3. The allegations in the FIR are as follows:

The Informant is a tenant in the house of RK Verma, Avas Vikas Colony, Harijan Basti, Shahpur. The Appellant alongwith his family also lives next door to her room. He is the son of her munhboli sister;

At about 3 - 3:30pm, the Appellant came back after consuming liquor and closed the latch of his room. Thereafter cries of his children were heard. The Informant saw from the window that the Appellant was hitting his two daughters Runujhun (aged about 3-1/2 years) and Khushi (aged about 5-1/2 years) with the knife. When the effort was made to open the door then, the Appellant did not open and injured himself with the knife.

The police came on the information and broke open the door in front of the informant, her husband Ramji Gupta, Sunil Kumar, and others;

The Appellant and his daughters were found lying soaked in blood and the Appellant had a revolver in his hand. A knife and a sickle (??????) were also lying there;

The police alongwith the residents took the Appellant and his daughters to the medical college, where the doctor declared the daughters to be dead. The Appellant is still under medical treatment;

The information is being given and proper action be taken.

4. The police investigated the case and submitted the charge-sheet against the Appellant. The District Magistrate, Gorakhpur also passed an order on 1.8.2008 sanctioning prosecution under the Arms Act. This case was committed to the sessions court and was registered as ST No. 291 of 2008.

5. The Additional Sessions Judge, Court No. 4, Gorakhpur (the ASJ) framed charges on 24.10.2008. The Appellant was charged under sections 3 and 4 read with section 25 of the Arms Act, and sections 302 and 309 IPC.

6. Among the others, the prosecution filed the following documents:

FIR dated 29.6.2008 (Ex Ka-1);

Written report dated 29.6.2008 (Ex Ka-2);

Recovery memo for blood stained cover of pillow, piece of bed sheet Gadda with cotton dated 29.6.2008 (Ex Ka-3);

Recovery memo of blood stained knife and sickle dated 29.6.2008 (Ex Ka-3/1);

Recovery memo of pistol and live cartridge dated 29.6.2008 (Ex Ka- 3/2);

Charge-sheet dated 14.8.2008 (Ex Ka-4);

Site plan with the Index dated 29.6.2008 (Ex Ka-5);

Post mortem report of deceased Runjhun dated 30.6.2008 (Ex Ka-6);

Post mortem report of deceased Khusi dated 30.6.2008 (Ex Ka-7);

Panchayatnama dated 30.6.2008 (Ex Ka-8);

Letter to CMO for post mortem of Deceased Runjhun dated 30.6.2008 (Ex Ka-9);

Injury report of the Appellant dated 29.6.2008 (Ex Ka-17);

Order of DM dated 1.8.2008 (Ex Ka-19);

Report of Vidhi Vigyan Prayogshala dated 2.2.2009 (Ex Ka-20);

Copy of the report no. 38 of the GD dated 29.6.2008 (Ex Ka-21).

7. The prosecution examined the following witnesses:

Veer Bahadur Yadav (PW-1): Head constable, prepared the chik;

Mala Gupta (PW-2): Informant, an eyewitness, turned hostile;

Ramji Gupta (PW-3): Eyewitness, turned hostile;

Vikrant Mishra (PW-4): Witness of recovery, turned hostile;

Radhey Krishna Verma (PW-5): Scribe of the written complaint, turned hostile;

Sunil Kumar (PW-6): Eyewitness, turned hostile;

Hareshwar Pandey (PW-7): Witness of recovery, turned hostile;

Rajeev Ranjan (PW-8): Investigating Officer (IO);

Dr. TN Jha (PW-9): Doctor, conducted the post mortem;

Onkar Nath Chaubey (PW-10): Constable, accompanied the IO to the spot;

Ram Briksh Ram (PW-11): Sub-inspector, conducted