Subodh Nath & Anr vs State Of Tripura

2. The facts very briefly are that on 09.10.1998, Ashutosh took out his cows for grazing but did not return home till dusk and his cousin, Kripesh, along with others searched for Ashutosh but could not find him. On the next day (10.10.1998) at about 8.30 a.m., he again went out looking for Ashutosh and found his dead body with injuries lying in a jungle at Nalia Tilla. Kripesh then lodged an FIR at the Panisagar Police Station and the police registered a case and held an inquest over the dead body of the deceased. In course of the investigation, the police apprehended Pranajit, who was working as a labourer under Ashutosh and Kripesh, from District Cachar and brought him to Dharamnagar and during interrogation Pranajit disclosed that Ashutosh had been killed by the two appellants. The statement of Pranajit was also recorded under Section 164 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (for short ‘Cr.P.C.’) and on completion of the investigation, the police filed charge-sheet against the appellants.

3. At the trial, the prosecution examined a total of 19 witnesses. Kripesh, the informant, was examined as PW-1, Patal, the elder brother of Pranajit, was examined as PW-2 and he stated that PW-13 had disclosed to him that the appellants assaulted the deceased by an axe and a lathi. Pranajit was examined as PW-13 and he has stated that he had gone along with the deceased to graze cows at Nalia Tilla and the appellant no.1 had dealt an axe blow on the deceased while the appellant no.2 dealt a lathi blow on him. The appellants did not produce any evidence in their defence. The trial court convicted the appellants under Section 302 read with Section 34 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 (for short ‘the IPC’) and sentenced them to imprisonment for life and a fine of Rs.5000/- each and in default, to undergo further imprisonment for a period of one year. The appellants filed Criminal Appeal No. 22 of 2004 before the High Court, but by the impugned judgment the High Court maintained the conviction and sentence and dismissed the appeal.

11. Regarding the appeal of the appellant no.1, PW-13, who was working as a daily labourer under the deceased and PW-1, has clearly stated that he accompanied the deceased for grazing cows to the rubber garden at 2.00 p.m. on the date of the incident and at about 4.00 p.m., the appellant no.1 along with appellant no.2 went there armed with axe, lathi and gun and the deceased directed PW-13 to bring the cows so that they could proceed towards their house, but at that moment appellant no.1 dealt an axe blow on the deceased and thereafter he took out a gun from the jungle near the place of occurrence and shot at the victim and on seeing the incident he tried to run away from the place of occurrence. PW-13 has further stated that he returned home and had not disclosed to anyone about the incident because he was afraid of the appellants. PW-13 has further stated that on the next day in the morning he went to the house of PW-2 and narrated the story to him and being afraid of the appellants, he left for Cachar and he was arrested by the appellants and brought to Panisagar and thereafter he narrated the entire story to the police officer.

Provided that the Board may, for any adequate and special reason to be mentioned in the order, review the case and pass appropriate order in the interest of such juvenile.

14. In the result, we hold that the appellant no.1 was guilty of the offence under Section 302 of the IPC and we accordingly dismiss the appeal of the appellant no.1. We, however, allow the appeal of the appellant no.2, set aside the impugned judgment of the High Court and the judgment of the trial court qua the appellant no.2 and remit the matter to the Juvenile Justice Board of North Tripura district for disposal in accordance with the 2000 Act within four months of receipt of a copy of this judgment.