JUDGMENT :

Ajay Bhanot, J

1. The jail appeal arises out of the judgment and order dated 16.01.2002 passed by the learned Special Judge (E.C. Act), Rampur in S.T. No.7/97 under Section 302/34 of the IPC. The learned Trial court has convicted the appellant-accused for an offence under Section 302 of the IPC and has imposed a punishment of life imprisonment along with a penalty of Rs.5,000/-, in default of payment of such penalty, an additional term of six months imprisonment has been imposed upon the appellant.

2. In the instant case, the criminal law process was set in motion after a F.I.R. lodged in regard to the incident of crime.

3. The FIR was lodged by an eye witness to the crime one Zahid. The FIR contains a brief but a clear account of the prosecution case. The FIR was lodged on 10.09.1996 at Patwai Police Station.

4. The prosecution case as set out in the FIR asserts that Shahjahan, daughter of Manjoor Husain, (wife of one Shakeel), was staying with her father in village Patwai for the past two years. Shahjahan had illicit relations with one Wahid-appellant, resident of Senfani. Ahmed Nabi was the brother-in-law of Wahid. Ahmed Nabi belonged to the village of the complainant-Jahid. The complainant-Jahid and his cousin-Dilawar, son of Badalu, Kayum, son of Dhoomi and Shakeel, son of Gulami, all residents of village Ajitpur, P.S.-Civil Lines, District-Rampur had arrived at village Patwai to take Shahjahan, wife of Shakeel back to her marital home. The members of the community intervened and held a panchayat where it was resolved that Shahjahan would be sent back to her marital home with her husband. The panchayat of the community members convinced Shahjahan to live with her husband Shakeel in her marital home at Ajitpur. The decision of the community panchayat was honored and Shahjahan left along with the aforesaid person after bidding farewell at 8.30 p.m. The party of the aforesaid persons was waiting at the Patwai crossing for the last bus, when at 8.45 p.m., Wahid of Senfani Bale arrived and told the aforesaid party that he would not allow Shahjahan to go to Ajitpur. Shahjahan told him that Dilawar will not let me go with you and he has to be removed from the path/their midst. At this point, Wahid took out a tamancha (country made pistol) and shot at Dilawar. At the time of incident nearby shops were lit up. Dilawar was felled to the ground by the bullet injury. Out of fear none of the members of the party chased Wahid. The complainant party took deceased-Dilawar to the police station in an injured state.

5. To bring home the charge nine witnesses were examined by the prosecution. In addition the prosecution tendered documentary and expert evidence. The following witnesses were examined by the prosecution, namely, P.W.1-Jahid, P.W.2-Kayum, P.W.3-H.C.88 Udaiveer Sharma, P.W.4-Salim Mian, P.W.5-Krishna Kumar Tyagi, Sub-Inspector, P.W.6-Roopram, P.W.7-Ram Avtar Arun, P.W.8-Dr. Kafil Ahmad Khan and P.W.9-Rajesh Babu. The complaint was marked as Exh. Ka-1, chik report marked as Exh.Ka-2, general diary report marked as Exh. Ka-3, inquest report marked as Exh.Ka-4, challan of the dead body marked as Exh.Ka-5, letter/majrubi to the C.M.O. marked as Exh. Ka-6, photograph of the dead body marked as Exh.Ka-7, death memo marked as Exh.7Ka/7, letter to the R.I. marked as Exh.Ka-8, site plan marked as Exh.Ka-9, original documents and handwriting marked as Exh.10 and post mortem report marked as Exh.Ka-12.

6. The F.I.R. was lodged with promptitude on 10.9.1996 at Patwai Police Station under Section 307 of the IPC. After the death of Dilawar section 302 I.P.C. was incorporated in the F.I.R. The incident occurred at 8.45 p.m. on 10.09.1996. The scribe of the FIR was one Salim Mian-P.W.4 and the scribe of the chik was Head Muharir-Udaiveer Sharma-P.W.3 were duly examined. The witnesses duly proved the respective documents. The distance between the place of incident and the police station is about 22-30 steps. There is no slippage of time from