JUDGMENT

1. In the early hours of 11th January 1932, Sarju Ahir of village Muhammad Nagar in the Lucknow District was hacked to death with a chopper. He received a great number of injuries of which 19 were incised wounds, the majority on the head, face and neck. The skull and lower jaw were cut through at a number of places and the spinal column was severed by the neck injuries. Sahaj Ram Ahir, aged about 22, has been convicted by the learned Sessions Judge of Lucknow for the murder of Sarju and has been sentenced to death. He has appealed and the reference in confirmation of the death sentence is also before us. The case has been very carefully tried by the learned Sessions Judge and there can in our opinion be no doubt as to the guilt of the appellant. The facts that have been established by the evidence of the prosecution witnesses are that Sarju deceased was married to one Mt. Nanhi. Owing to "the impotence of Sarju, Mt. iNanhi became the mistress of Sahaj Ram, appellant, who was the son of one Mt. Dhanwi who after the death of her husband had married the father of Sarju. Sahaj Ram's intimacy with Mt. Nanhi had extended over five or six years and on several occasions Sarju had complained on the subject to Ghani Ahmad Khan, the zamindar and Mukhia of the village who had warned Sahaj Ram to leave the woman alone. Two or three months before the murder Sarju had left the village for Lucknow where he had obtained some employment and Sahaj Ram was left in undis-puted possession of the woman. Sarju returned to his home on 10th January 1932, and that night he was sleeping in a room in his house with his wife Mt. Nanhi. It was on this very night that Sarju was murdered.

2. Mt. Nanhi was an eyewitness to the murder. The eight-year old son of Mt. Dhanwi was sleeping in the same room and he went crying to Sita Ram, Sahaj Ram's brother. Sita Ram went to the spot and asked Sahaj Ram what had happened to 'which Sahaj Ram replied "jo kuchh hua, achcha hua " Sita Ram was followed by one Mohan Nai and on his questioning Sahaj Ram the latter admitted that he had killed Sarju and asked these witnesses to suggest a way of escape from the consequences. Sita Ram and Mohan advised Sahaj Ram to inform Ghani Ahmad Khan, the zamin-dar and mukhia of what he had done. Sahaj Ram went to mukhia's house and did so, saying to him: mujh se to khata hui, turn mujhe bachao." He further told the mukhia in answer to his question that he had killed Sarju with a chopper which he had hidden in a stack of fodder in the courtyard of Sarju's house. The mukhia locked "up Sahaj Ram in a room in his own house and sent for his gorait Gaya Din Pasi. He then proceeded to the scene of the murder. He directed Sita Ram to search for the chopper in the fodder where Sahaj Ram had said he had hidden it, and a chopper freshly stained with blood was found there. Thereafter the mukhia with Gaya Din took Sahaj Ram out of the room in which he had been locked up and bound him with a rope. Gaya Din asked Sahaj Ram why he had killed Sarju to which Sahaj Ram replied "I have killed him." The Mukhia sent Sahaj Ram to the police station in charge of Gaya Din gorait and others together with the chopper. Most of the above facts find a place in the report made by Gaya Din at the police station. Sahaj Ram's clothes, as well as his person, were found covered, with blood and the stains on the clothes were reported on examination by the Imperial Serologist to be stains of human blood. Apart from this evidence, the truth of which there is no reason to doubt, on 13th January 1932, after passing the night in the jail, Sahaj Ram made a confession before Mr. Barlow, a First Class Magistrate, which corroborates in all particulars the evidence of the prosecution witnesses.

3. The accused retracted his confession before the committing Magistrate and alleged that the murder had been committed by Mt. Nanhi as a result of a conspiracy with Sahaj Ram's brother's brother-in-law Kanhaiya who had been endeavouri