Tima @ Tankadhar Mallik vs State Of Orissa

This appeal is directed against the judgment dated 1st December, 2008 passed by the Sessions Judge, Dhenkanal in C.T./SS Case No.122 of 2007 convicting the Appellant for the offence punishable under Section 302 of IPC and sentencing him to undergo Rigorous Imprisonment (RI) for life and to pay a fine of Rs.2,000/- and in default to undergo RI for two months.

The case of the prosecution was that the Appellant murdered one Nakul Mallik at around 7 am on 27th April, 2007 with a knife and this was witnessed by Nirakar Mallik (PW-1), the informant who was also the son of the deceased. According to PW-1, on the previous day, the Appellant abused both the deceased and PW-1. On the day of the occurrence, when the deceased was returning from having attended the call of nature, PW-1 heard the deceased shouting and crying. When he came out of the house, he found that the Appellant had caught hold of the neck of the deceased and was stabbing him on the neck, belly and chest. When PW-1 rushed to save the deceased, the Appellant chased PW-1, who out of fear took shelter in the house of one Nuria Naik.

The cross-examination of PW-1 did not yield much for the defence and his deposition was fully corroborated by the medical evidence of Dr. Santosh Kmar Routray (PW-6) who found the following injuries on the body of the deceased:

“(i). Incised wound of size 3" x 1/2" x 1" on right side of neck above right clavicle, medial aspect involving section of great vessel of neck in a spindle shape manner.

(ii). Incise wound of 2" x 1/2" x 1" in a spindle shape manner on left shoulder.

(iii). Incised wound of 3" x 1/2" x 2" on left anterior of axillary area with serosanguin discharge.

(iv). Incised wound on left hypochondria region of 1 ½" x 2" x 2".

(v) Incised wound on back over intrascapular region of 2" x 1/2" 1 ½ ".

(vi) Incised wound in a spindle shape manner of 1 ½ " x 1/2" x 2" on right hypochondria region.

Again, there was hardly any cross-examination of PW-6 so as to throw any doubt on his opinion that the death was homicidal and resulted from the multiple incised wounds over the dead body.

Considering that PW-1 is a related witness, this Court has again carefully examined the entire evidence on record and found that his testimony corroborated by Gadadhar Mallik (PW-3), an independent witness. Apart from fully corroborating PW-1 on the material particulars, PW-3 also confirms the presence of PW-1 at the time of the murder of the deceased by the Appellant.

Having heard learned counsel appearing for the Appellant and learned Additional Standing Counsel for the State and having carefully examined the entire evidence on record, the Court is satisfied that the prosecution has been able to prove the guilt of the Appellant beyond all reasonable doubt. The impugned judgment of the trial Court does not call for any interference.

The appeal is accordingly dismissed. A copy of this judgment be sent forthwith to the concerned Jail Superintendent who will in turn hand it over to the Appellant and also explain its contents to him.

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