JUDGMENT

1. Ratan Singh, a hillman from the Almora district, is alleged to have murdered his wife, Naruli, in the village in which he lives on the night of the 26th of February 1921. Guman Singh, his father, is alleged to have discovered the fact of the murder directly after it was committed and to have intentionally omitted to give information in respect of it. A First Class Magistrate in the Almora district committed the father and the son jointly to the Sessions Court. The Sessions Court convicted the son of murder and sentenced him to death, subject to confirmation by this Court, and sentenced the father to six months' rigorous imprisonment u/s 202 of the Indian Penal Code. The case having come up before this Court in appeal and under reference for confirmation, our attention was drawn to the fact that a joint trial could only have been justified under the provisions of the law if the conditions of Section 239 of the Code of Criminal Procedure were complied with. It cannot possibly be said that an offence u/s 202 of the Indian Penal Code, of intention ally omitting to give information respecting the commission of a murder, was committed in the same transaction as the murder, for