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TMI Blog1955 (11) TMI 49X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... en Chhanga and Gunga an illicit intimacy appears to have developed with the result that some months before the date of the occurrence, i.e., 17-1-1954, Gunga left her husband's protection and house and went away with her paramour Chhanga. The old man finding himself without a household assistant prevailed upon his wife and Chhanga to come back to his home on the promise, it is said, of leaving his property by will to both of them and of sharing his wife with Chhanga. In pursuance of the promise he executed a will bearing date November 3, 1953, bequeathing his property to both of them. He is even said to have shared his wife's bed on alternate nights with Chhanga. At about 7 o'clock in the morning of 18-1-1954 Chhanga's father, Mansukhi, lodged a first information report at police station Biswan, district Sitapur, which was recorded in his own words. That information sets out in a nutshell the whole prosecution case and may therefore be reproduced as follows : I live in village Dhaukalganj. My son Chhanga was in the service of Chhutanni Pasi of the village, son of Maiku for the last three years. Chhanga contracted illicit intimacy with the wife of Chhutanni. T ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... recorded the same was taken down. It is correct. I affix my thumb impression. 2. Though this first information report complains of the murder of the informant's son, it contains information about the murder of the appellant's wife also. The time of the occurrence is stated in that report as one pahar after nightfall , which would be between 8 and 9 P.M. But as the information was lodged by an illiterate person belonging to the Pasi caste and as Chhanga was decoyed at about that time, the occurrence might have taken place shortly after that time. The Sub-Inspector of Police arrived at the scene of occurrence 11 miles distant from the police station, at about 11 A.M. He sent the dead bodies for post-mortem examination, took charge of the bloodstained earth in the field of Chandra Bhal where Chhanga is said to have been murdered and seized the gandasa (Ex. II) and hasia (Ex. III) from the barotha (entrance hall) of Chhutanni's house. He also prepared site plans of the two scenes of occurrence. After police investigation the three persons named in the first information report as the culprits were placed before the Magistrate holding the enquiry preliminary to the ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... gai. Their fields surround the field of Chandra Bhal in which the gram crop was standing at the time and where Chhanga was said to have been murdered. They claim to have reached the place at the nick of the time on hearing the shrieks of Chhanga that he was being done to death. They claim to have seen Chhutanni sitting on the chest of Chhanga and giving gandasa blows on the neck and the other two accused holding the victim down by the head and the feet. The learned Sessions Judge relying upon their direct testimony, corroborated by the nature of the injuries found on the person of Chhanga, and the existence of strong motive to get him out of their way convicted the accused persons under Section 302/34, Indian Penal Code and sentenced Chhutanni to death and the other two to transportation for life. 5. In the second trial only two of the accused, viz., Chhutanni and Gokaran figured as the accused persons. The learned Temporary Civil and Sessions Judge of Sitapur found it proved on the testimony of the alleged three eye-witnesses, Ram Narain (P. W. 3), Bhagwan Din (P. W. 4) and Dhina (P. W. 7) that Chhutanni dealt gandasa blows while sitting on the chest of the deceased Gunga, w ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... Sentence Reference No. 10 of 1955 by the same Bench. The learned Judges agreed with the trial Judge in accepting the evidence of the three eye-witnesses aforesaid. They also agreed that there was sufficient motive for the appellants in that case to commit the crime. They found that illicit intimacy could spring up on account of there being sufficient proximity and opportunity and that there was nothing surprising that there was a liaison between Chhanga and the woman Gunga, who was about twenty years his senior. They repelled the contention of the appellant that the story of the illicit intimacy was unbelievable. The fact that Chhanga was a young man, who though married for four or five years before his death, had not the company of his wife, lent additional support to the prosecution case that there was such an intimacy between the two persons who were almost simultaneously done to death. They also found that the admitted execution of the will by the appellant Chhutanni in favour of the two victims and the agreement to share the woman were mere pretences to lull the victims into security. They also found that Gokaran, Chhutanni's son-in-law, would be naturally intereste ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... on that there had been a failure of justice by any defect in the procedure adopted, except suggesting that the appellant had been prejudiced by being tried in two separate proceedings. It was suggested that if all the accused had been tried at the same trial it may be that the High Court would have rejected the direct testimony of the three eye-witnesses even as it did in the case of the appellants in the other appeal. But clearly there is no substance in this contention. In the first instance, the learned Sessions Judge out of abundant caution separated the trial in respect of the two murders to obviate any objections that might have been taken to a joint trial on the ground that the two murders had taken place at different places. It is not necessary for us to pronounce at this stage on the wisdom of the course adopted in holding two separate trials. There is no illegality or irregularity in holding separate trials of the same accused persons even in cases where a single trial could have been permissible under the Code of Criminal Procedure. The learned Sessions Judge chose the lesser of the two evils by directing two separate trials. Secondly, the same learned Judges heard ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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