Briefly stated, case of the prosecution is that the complainant Farmida Begum (PW7) lost her husband about four years prior to the occurrence.The appellant Banne Khan had been pestering her to marry him, but she refused his offer.On 09.04.92 at about 7.00 AM in the morning, appellant Banne Khan is stated to have visited the house of the complainant and repeated his proposal of marriage to her.She, however, declined the offer and refused to marry him.Son of the Crl.A.179/95 Page 1 of 7 complainant, Salim (PW6) also told the appellant to leave.After some time the complainant went to fetch water from the house of a neighbour.When she was coming back after fetching water, at about 7.30 AM, appellant Banne Khan is stated to have attacked her with a knife and inflicted knife injuries on her chest, head, nose, left shoulder, left buttock and right side of the stomach.The incident is stated to have been witnesses by PW5 Vinod Kumar, a neighbour and PW6 Salim, son of the complainant.Because of the injuries, the complainant became unconscious.She was shifted to GTB Hospital by her son.The information about her admission in GTB Hospital was conveyed to the Police Station, which was recorded in the daily diary register as DD No.6A at the Police Station, Seelampur and investigation of the case was entrusted to ASI Kadam Singh.ASI Kadam Singh visited the hospital and obtained the MLC of the complainant who was declared unfit for statement.Thus, he appended his endorsement on the copy of DD No.6A and sent it to the Police Station for registration of the case under Section 307 IPC.A.179/95 Page 1 of 7After registration of the formal FIR, investigation was entrusted to ASI Kadam Singh.He recorded the statement of the witnesses and after completing the formalities of investigation submitted the challan against the appellant.Appellant was charged under Section 307 IPC, to which he claimed to be not guilty and claimed to be tried.A.179/95 Page 2 of 7A.179/95 Page 2 of 7On conclusion of trial, learned trial Judge relying on the testimony of the witnesses PW5 Vinod Kumar, PW6 Salim and PW7 Farmida Begum, convicted the appellant under Section 307 IPC and sentenced him vide impugned judgment and order on sentence.Learned counsel for the appellant has submitted though the learned trial Judge was right in convicting the appellant for assault and inflicting injuries on the person of Farmida Begum(PW7) with a knife, he erred in convicting the appellant under Section 307 IPC.He has submitted that the trial Judge failed to appreciate that there was neither any motive nor any intention on the part of the appellant to commit murder of complainant Farmida Begum.He has further submitted that the Trial Court also failed to take note of the fact that the prosecution had miserably failed to prove the nature of the injuries caused to the complainant which could give rise to an inference that those injuries were caused with an intention to commit murder.He has urged us to set aside the conviction under Section 307 IPC and convert it into the conviction under Section 324 IPC.Learned counsel for the State, on the other hand, defended the conviction under Section 307 IPC.In our view, the aforesaid refusal ordinarily would not push a reasonable person to take such an extreme step to assault the lady with the intention to take away her life.However, the fact remains that different people react to a situation in different manner.Therefore, in order to infer whether or not the appellant had intention to commit murder of the complainant Farmida Begum, it is essential to advert to the medical evidence with a view to find out the place of injuries as well as the nature of injuries.In absence of the medical evidence, we find ourselves handicapped in coming to a conclusion about the place and the nature of injuries suffered by the complainant Farmida Begum which could help in coming to the conclusion about the intention of the appellant Crl.A.179/95 Page 5 of 7 behind the assault on the complainant.Since the prosecution has failed to produce the best evidence pertaining to the injuries suffered by the complainant and the nature of the injuries, the benefit of the lapse must go to the appellant.A.179/95 Page 6 of 7Therefore, there is no need to direct his arrest for undergoing the sentence.Appeal is disposed of accordingly.

Cited provisions: Section 307 in The Indian Penal Code; Section 302 in The Indian Penal Code; Section 324 in The Indian Penal Code; Section 325 in The Indian Penal Code; Section 326 in The Indian Penal Code