IMPORTANT POINT
Murder and lurking house trespass – Omission of names of accused in FIR is fatal as it goes to very root of matter.

JUDGMENT :

Sandeep Mehta, J.

1. Heard.

2. Leave granted.

3. The appellant-Govind Mandavi¹[Hereinafter, referred to as the “accused-appellant”.], along with co-accused Narender Nag and Mansingh Nureti (both of whom stand acquitted by the High Court of Chhattisgarh at Bilaspur²[Hereinafter, referred to as the “High Court”.]), were put to trial before the learned Special Judge, Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, North Bastar, Kanker³[Hereinafter, referred to as the “trial Court”.], in Special Penal Case No. 65 of 2021. Upon conclusion of the trial, vide judgment and order dated 28th January, 2023, the accused- appellant and co-accused Mansingh Nureti were convicted for the offences punishable under Sections 302/34 and 460 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860⁴[For short, ‘IPC’.], and were sentenced in the following manner:

4. Accused Narender Nag was held guilty of the offences punishable under Section 302/34 IPC and Section 3(2)(v) of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989⁵[For short, ‘SC/ST Act’.], and was sentenced as follows:

5. In appeal, the High Court set aside the conviction of the two co-accused, Narender Nag and Mansingh Nureti, whilst upholding the conviction and sentence of the present accused-appellant, vide the common judgment and order dated 14th January, 2025, passed in the clubbed criminal appeals, including Criminal Appeal No. 1298 of 2023 preferred by the accused-appellant.

Factual Background

6. Succinctly stated, facts germane for adjudication of the present appeal are set out hereinbelow.

7. Heeralal Hidko (PW-1) submitted a merg intimation⁶[(Exh P/1).] (oral report) to the SHO, Police Station Bhanupratappur, District Kanker, Chhattisgarh, on 18th April, 2021, at about 7:25 a.m., alleging inter alia: -

“I am a Native resident of Village Iragaon, Durgupara, I work in Farming sector. Like every day routine, on 17/04/2021, my son Bivan and daughter-in-law Sukmai Hidko both (sic) were sleeping inside the Farm hut around 11:30 my daughter-in-law Sukmai came home and told me that "2 unknown masked persons came at around 11:00 one of whom was tall and another was short-heighted and thin and held sickle In his hand. They called and woke up my husband Bivan and took him away from the farm hut, I followed them and stood on the door. After a while, my husband screamed "Aye Daayi! O Daayii" I got scared and ran away." As soon as I got this news, I took Sahdev Kadiyam, Kushal Kawde and Dhannaram Anchala, and others with me to my field and in the light of my torch, I found my son Bivan lying dead, soaked in blood. My son is dead, some unknown person has killed my son with a sharp weapon. Due to the midnight and it being a forest area, I took care of the dead body of my son, and in the morning, I came here to report.”

8. On the basis of the aforesaid statement, First Information Report⁷[For short, ‘FIR’; Exh. P/2.] No. 106 of 2021, dated 18th April, 2021, came to be registered at the Police Station for the offence punishable under Sections 302/34 IPC against unknown assailants.

9. Evidently, a perusal of the FIR (Exh. P/2) makes it clear that the informant Heeralal Hidko (PW-1) was not an eyewitness to the incident; rather, his knowledge of the occurrence was entirely based on the information furnished to him by Smt. Sukmai Hidko (PW-2), his daughter-in-law and wife of the deceased Bivan Hidko.

10. The statement of Smt. Sukma