SESSIONS JUDGE, KHOWAI DISTRICT, TRIPURA Vs. STATE OF TRIPURA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The appeal under Sec. 374 of Cr.P.C. and reference under Sec. 366 of Cr.P.C. arise out of common Judgment and Order of conviction and sentence dtd. 23/11/2022 passed in connection with ST(T-1)09 of 2022 by the learned Sessions Judge, Khowai, Tripura whereby the learned Court below convicted the appellant for the commission of offence under Sec. 307 of IPC and sentenced him to suffer R.I. for 10 years and to pay a fine of Rs.10,000.00, i.e. to suffer S.I. for 2 months and convicted under Sec. 302 of IPC and sentenced to death as per law. Learned Court below also passed an order to pay compensation of Rs.5,000.00 each to the victims namely Smt. Mina Paul (Debroy) wife of the Convict and Karnabir Das. The conviction and sentence are challenged by the accused. In view of capital punishment, a reference for confirmation of the death penalty is also placed for our consideration.

(2.) The brief fact of this case is that on 26/11/2021 at about 11.00 p.m. the brother of the informant namely, Sri Pradip Debroy went to sleep after dinner. After that all of a sudden, the informant and other inmates of the house including his elder brother Amalesh Debroy heard a cry coming from the room of Pradip Debroy. Immediately they rushed to the room of Sri Pradip Debroy and told him to open the door but he did not. Then they broke the door of the veranda and went near the door of the room. When they peeped through an opening of the door, they saw the dead body of Aditi, the younger daughter of Pradip lying on the ground. They also noticed that Pradip was attacking his elder daughter and his wife with a big crowbar. After a while, he opened the door and chased the informant and others to kill. The informant Raju Debroy and his mother and others could manage to save themselves but the elder brother of the informant namely, Amalesh could not run away. Amalesh was killed by Pradip with a crowbar infront of the room of Amrit Debroy who was the uncle of the informant. When their uncle tried to resist, he was also attacked. After that, on hearing the sound of a vehicle he became naked and started running with the crowbar along the Bir Chowmohoni road. At that time, the vehicle of police came and when it stopped in front of the house of the Pradhan, Pradip attacked one police with a crowbar and also attacked the vehicle of the police. He also chased police and went along Bir Chowmhoni road. He attacked one Autorickshaw and also attacked one Krishna Das and his son Karnabir Das. Subsequently, the informant learned that the injured police officer succumbed to his injuries at GBP hospital. It is also learned by the informant that the injured Krishna Das was declared brought dead at Khowai Hospital. Karnabir Das, the son of Krishna Das and Smt. Mina Paul (Debroy), the wife of Pradip Debroy suffered serious injuries and were shifted to GBP Hospital. It is further alleged that Pradip killed his elder daughter Mandira. The informant came to know that the name of the police officer who died was Inspector Satyajit Mallik. Hence the FIR was lodged by Raju Debroy against his brother Pradip Debroy.

(3.) On 27/11/2021 at 06.31 hours on receipt of the ejahar from Raju Debroy, the brother of accused Pradip Debroy, a case was registered being KHW PS case No.108/2021, u/s. 302/307/326/333/353/427 of IPC.