NAFR HIGH COURT OF CHHATTISGARH, BILASPUR CRA No. 761 of 2018 (Arising out of judgment dated 07.04.2018 passed in Sessions Trial No.26/2017 by the Additional Sessions Judge, Pratappur, District Surajpur, Chhattisgarh)

1. Ramvriksha @ Krishna S/o Late Moharsai, aged about 50 years;

2. Manmati W/o Ramvriksha @ Krishna, aged about 40 years;

Both are R/o Village Singhari, Police Station Pratappur, District Surajpur Chhattisgarh.

---- Appellants Versus  The State of Chhattisgarh, through the Station House Officer, Police Station Pratappur, District Surajpur, Chhattisgarh.

---- Respondent For Appellants :- Mr. Jameel Akhtar Lohani, Advocate /

Panel Lawyer, appointed by Chhattisgarh High Court Legal Services Committee.

For Respondent-State :- Mr. Arvind Dubey, Govt. Advocate.

Division Bench Hon'ble Shri Justice Sanjay K. Agrawal &

Hon'ble Shri Justice Sanjay Agrawal Judgment On Board (29.07.2024)

Sanjay K. Agrawal, J

1. Invoking criminal appellate jurisdiction of this Court, the present criminal appeal under Section 374(2) of CrPC has been filed by the appellants herein namely Ramvriksha @ Krishna (A-1) & Manmati (A-2) calling in question the legality, validity and correctness of the judgment of conviction and order of sentence dated 07.04.2018 passed by the Additional Sessions Judge, Pratappur, District Surajpur, Chhattisgarh in Sessions Trial No.26/2017 whereby the appellants have been convicted for offence punishable under Section 302 read with Section 34 of the IPC and sentenced to undergo imprisonment for life and ₹

pay fine of 500/- each; in default of payment of fine, they have to undergo additional imprisonment for 6 months.

2. The case of the prosecution as unfolded during the trial is that on 04.09.2017 at about 3:00 pm at village Singhari, Police Station Pratappur, District Surajpur Chhattisgarh, the appellants (A-1 & A-2) herein, in furtherance of their common ा(cid:2)ा(cid:3)

intention, assaulted their aunt ( ) Bhinsari Bai (now deceased) by axe and hammer and also strangulated her by which she suffered grievous injuries and died. The said incident was reported by Subraj (PW-1), husband of the deceased and uncle of the appellants, pursuant to which merg (registration of unnatural death) and FIR were registered vide Exs. P/1 & P/2, respectively. Nazari naksha was prepared vide Ex.P/4. Inquest proceedings (Ex.P/14) were conducted and the dead body of the deceased was sent for postmortem. As per postmortem report (Ex.P/16), proved by Dr. Rajesh Shresht (PW-8), cause of death was asphyxia due to respiratory tract obstruction and nature was homicidal. Pursuant to memorandum statement of the appellants (Ex.P/6 & P/7), axe and hammer were seized vide Exx.P/8 & P/9, respectively. Other articles were also seized. Seized articles were sent for chemical analysis to FSL and as per FSL report (Ex.P/25) on the weapons of offence i.e. axe (Article D) and hammer (Article E) blood or human blood was not found.

3. After due investigation, appellants were charge-sheeted for the aforesaid offence and the case was committed to the Court of Sessions for trial in accordance with law. The appellants/

accused persons abjured their guilt and entered into defence.

4. During the course of trial, in order to bring home the offence, the prosecution has examined as many as 9 witnesses and exhibited 27 documents whereas, the appellants in defence have neither examined any witness nor exhibited any document. Statement of the appellants were recorded under Section 313 of CrPC in which they denied the circumstances appearing against them in the evidence brought on record, pleaded innocence and false implication.

5. The learned trial Court after appreciating the oral and documentary evidence available on record, convicted the appellants for the offence as mentioned in the opening paragraph of the judgment, against which this appeal has been preferred by the appellants herein questioning the impugned judgment of conviction and order of sentence.

6. Mr. Jameel Akhtar Lohani