SUKRU SA Vs. STATE OF ORISSA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THIS appeal is directed against an order of the Sessions Judge, Bolangir convicting the appellant under Section 302 of the Indian Penal Code on the finding that he committed the murder of his two sons aged 9 and 6 years respectively and sentencing him to imprisonment for life. The appellant is the eldest of three brothers, the two others being Sadhu Sa P. W. 1 and Rengu Sa P.W. 2. Of the three brothers the appellant alone was married. P. W. 5 Sova is his wife. They had three children -two sons Fakir and Prafulla and a daughter. The appellant and his two brothers were staying in the same house in mouza Kutumdola. On the night of 15th October, 1969 the members of the family retired to bed after dinner. P. W. 5 with her three children slept in the kitchen. She and her daughter slept on one cot and her two sons slept on an adjoining cot. Appellant and P. W. 1 slept on the verandah of the Dhabaghar at a distance of about two cubits off from the place where P. W. 5 and her children were sleeping. At a distance of about ten cubits from them P. W. 2 slept on the verandah adjoining the courtyard. At about midnight, P. W. 2 heard some sound in the kitchen and got up shouting 'Chor' 'Chor'. He then found the appellant going out of the kitchen by opening the door. Hearing the shouts, P. W. 5 the wife of the appellant got up and Meti P.W. 6 a neighbour also came to the spot with a lantern on hearing the hullah raised by P. W. 2. They all found that the two sons of the accused werp lying dead on the cot with bleeding injuries. Information was lodged at the Police Station which is eighteen kilometres off from the village at 7 -30 a. m. on the next day by P. W. 1and at 9 -30 a. m. the Sub -Inspector of Police came to the spot. He held inquest over the dead bodies and sent them for post -mortem examination. The appellant in the meanwhile had gone away from the village to mouza Charbahal which is twelve miles off from the place of occurrence and had taken shelter in the cow -shed of one Basu Sahu (P. W. 7). Basu Sahu saw him there on the early morning following the occurrence, and on being questioned, he told him that he had killed his sons and had come away. Information about the occurrence had also been sent by P. W. 2 through P. W. 4 and one Madhu of his maternal uncle in mouza Burda. They got information at Burda that the appellant was at Charbahal. They went and found him there and brought him to the village and produced him before the Sub -Inspector who arrested him and seized from him under the seizure list Ext. 5 a Lungi which he was wearing and another Lungi with which he had covered himself. These Lungis, which were subsequently sent to the Serologist, were found to be stained with human blood. The medical Officer P. W. 9 who performed the autopsy of the dead bodies found two incised wounds 3.1/2" x 3/4 1.1/2"and 2.1/2" x 1/2 1.1/2" over the right side of the neck of Fakir and opined that his death was due to extensive shock and haemorrhage as a result of those fatal injuries. On the body of Prafulla he found a deep punctured wound over the back of the left side neck and an incised wound 3.1/2" x 3/4" x 1" over the back of the left shoulder, which had cut all the underlying soft structures and blood vessels and opined that the death of the boy was due to profound shock and haemorrhage as a result of the fatal injuries.

(2.) IN due course the appellant was put on trial in the Court of Session where he pleaded not guilty and denied having committed the murder of his two sons. He also denied being in his house on the night of occurrence.

(3.) THE finding of the learned Sessions Judge that it is the appellant who caused the death of his two sons is not seriously assailed. The Post -mortem certificates Exts. 13 and 14 coupled with the evidence of the doctor P. W. 9 leave no doubt that the death of the two boys was homicidal and that they died as a result of the injuries inflicted on their persons. There is positive evidence of P. Ws. 1 and 2 the brother of the appellant and of his wife P. W. 5 that after dinner on the night of occurrence, the appellant slept on the verandah very close to the kitchen inside which were sleeping P. W. 5 and her three children. There is the positive testimony of P. W. 2 the brother of the appellant that on hearing some noise inside the kitchen room he got up and found the appellant coming out of the room and going away towards the bustee. Immediately afterwards it was discovered that the two unfortunate boys were lying dead with cut injuries on their bodies. The Lungi which the appellant was wearing and the Lungi with which he had covered himself and which were recovered from him by the Police were found stained with human blood. Immediately after the occurrence he was absent from the house. These circumstances are sufficient to sustain the finding that it is the appellant who inflicted the injuries on his two sons which resulted in their death, apart from the extra judicial confession which he had made before P. W. 7. We are, therefore, satisfied that the learned Sessions Judge is correct in his finding that it is the appellant who caused the death of his two sons.