Rajen Karmakar vs State of Assam

Ajit Singh, C.J

This judgment shall decide Crl. Appeal No.6(J) and 7(J), both of 2015, as they arise out of the same impugned judgment.

Two appellants, namely, Rajen Karmakar and Nandalal Karmakar have been convictedunder Section 302/34 of the Indian Penal Code and

sentenced to imprisonment for life and fine of Rs.5000/- each with default stipulation. They have also been convicted under Section 201/34 of the

Indian Penal Code and sentenced to rigorous imprisonment for five years and fine of Rs.3000/- each with default stipulation. The jail sentences have

been ordered to run concurrently.

The victim of the incident was Anjan Goala, aged 55 years.

According to the prosecution case, on 8.12.2010, sometime around 4.30 p.m., whenAnjan Goala was returning from market towards his house, the

appellants, on way, assaulted him with lathi and stone. Thereafter, they dragged Anjan Goala by tying rope around his neck. On hearing the shouting

outside on the road, Bishnu Goala (PW 2) and his sister Priya Goala (PW3) came out from their house and saw the appellants assaulting and dragging

Anjan Goala. Both of them then narrated the incident to other persons, who gathered later at the place of occurrence. They also narrated the incident

to their father - Arun Goala (PW1) when he returned home. Arun Goala, in turn, lodged an Ejahar on 9.12.2010 at Police Station Borkhala, District

Cachar, wherein he named the appellants as assailants of Anjan Goala and also mentioned the names of Bishnu Goala and Priya Goala as eye

witnesses to the incident. Assistant Sub Inspector â€" Ramapada Chakraborty (PW 10) of Borkhala Police Station immediately rushed to the place of

occurrence. There he drew the sketch map Exhibit 6 and recorded the statement of witnesses - Bishnu Goala and Priya Goala. He then also

apprehended the appellants from their house for interrogation. Station Officer â€" Bidhan Chandra Nath (PW 11) of that Police Station, after returning

from leave, took over the investigation from Ramapada Chakraborty. On 12.12.2010, he, in the presence of F.R. Laskar, Executive Magistrate,

recovered the body of Anjan Goala from a forest place led by the appellants. The body was, in fact, exhumed with the help of two Sweepers, namely,

Biswajit Fulmali (PW 8) and Fagun Fulmali (PW 9) from a pit where, it was buried by the appellants and on the same day, the body was sent for post

mortem examination.

Dr. Gunajit Das (PW7) conducted the post mortem examination on the dead body ofAnjan Goala. He found the body had skeletonised at left upper

limb from the shoulder joint and left lower limb from hip joint. Anterior thoracic wall and anterior abdominal wall were also missing with exposure of

abdominothoracic organs. Soft tissues had decomposed. He also found 3rd degree burn injuries on the body. According to his post mortem

examination report Exhibit 3, Anjan Goala died due to ante mortem burn injuries. The report also says that even other injuries were ante mortem and

they were caused by blunt objects.

During trial, the appellants abjured their guilt and pleaded that they were in themarket at the time of incident. They, however, did not examine any

witness in support of their defence. The trial court, essentially, relying upon the evidence of eye witnesses - Bishnu Goala and Priya Goala as well as

the post mortem examination report convicted and sentenced the appellants as aforesaid.

It is argued on behalf of the appellants that in the absence of any reliable evidence,the trial court has illegally convicted them. The Additional Public

Prosecutor, on the other hand, defended the conviction and sentence of the appellants.

As mentioned above, Bishnu Goala and Priya Goala are eye witnesses to the incident.They are also brother and sister. They have deposed in one

voice that on the day of occurrence, both were in their house and at about 4.20 PM, they heard shouting outside on the road. They, therefore, rushed

to the place of occurrence and saw the appellants assaulting Anjan Goala with lathi and stone. They also saw the appellants dragging Anjan Goala by

tying rope around his neck. According to the evidence of Bishnu Goala, when later some persons gathered, he narrated the incident to them and on

returning home, he narrated the incident to his father- Arun Goala. In the brief cross examination of these two witnesses, nothing has been brought out

to discredit them. Arun Goala has corroborated the evidence of both Bishnu Goala and Priya Goala. He has deposed that when he returned home

on the date of incident, he was told by Bishnu Goala and Priya Goala about the incident whereafter he lodged the ejahar against the appellants.

Dasarath Ghatowar (PW 4) and Gurucharan Bhumji (PW 5) are Nayak and Secretary ofthe Village Defence Party. They have testified that the

appellants had led the police in the presence of Executive Magistrate to a forest place and showed the spot, where the body of Anjan Goala was

buried. According to them, on the instruction of police, body of Anjan Goala was dug out with the help of two Sweepers, namely, Biswajit Fulmali and

Fagun Fulmali. They have also deposed that the body parts were half burnt. Dasarath Ghatowar and Gurucharan Bhumji apparently had no enmity

with the appellants and, therefore, we find no good reason why they would depose against the appellants. Biswajit Fulmali and Fagun Fulmali in their

evidence have confirmed that under instruction of police they had dug out the body of Anjan Goala in the presence of appellants and one Executive

Magistrate. Likewise, Dr. Gunajit Das, in his post mortem examination report, has confirmed that Anjan Goala died due to burn injuries and other

injuries on his body were ante mortem in nature, which were caused by blunt objects. The post mortem examination report, thus, also corroborates the

evidence of Bishnu Goala and Priya Goala that Anjan Goala was assaulted by the appellants with stone and lathi.

Lastly, although, the appellants have stated that they were in the market at the time ofincident, they could not prove their defence by adducing any

evidence. Had the appellants been in the market, they would have met some people there, who could have been examined as defence witnesses. The

defence of the appellants has, therefore, rightly been disbelieved by the trial court.

For these reasons, we have no hesitation in holding that appellants alone were theperpetrator of crime. They, after assaulting Anjan Goala with

stone and lathi, dragged him to an isolated place and after burning him, buried his body to conceal the evidence. The appeal has no merit and is

accordingly dismissed.