RANCHI, India, Oct. 16 -- Jharkhand High Court issued the following order on Sept. 15:

1. Both the appeals are arising out of common judgment passed in S.T. No. 1110/2001 by learned Sessions Judge, Garhwa whereby and whereunder all the above named appellants have been held guilty for the offence under Section 302 read with Section 34 of the I.P.C. and sentenced to undergo imprisonment for life.

2. We have heard the arguments advanced on behalf of learned counsel for the appellants Mr. A.K. Kashyap as well as learned Additional Public Prosecutor and learned Special Public Prosecutor appearing for the State and perused the record.

Factual Matrix

3. Factual matrix giving rise to these appeals as per Fardbeyan of one Chaturi Yadav dated 08.10.2001 is that the informant along with Rajendra Yadav was going to graze their cattle at the time of sun rise. It was about 05:30 AM while they were present at a distance of 500 yards from the place of occurrence, the informant heard cries of his wife and proceeded to that direction and saw that Ayodhya Yadav and Birendra Yadav were fleeing towards north side. Ayodhya Yadav was having a tangi in his hand. It is further alleged that a woman was also running towards north- western side with empty hands. When informant reached near his wife, he saw her in injured condition sustaining severe injuries on her forehead and she was not in a position to speak anything. The informant has expressed his suspicion that his wife has been killed due to Witch Craft. On last Monday, at about 03:00 PM, informant come Belwa Damar at his Pahi where his wife was also present and disclosed that Ayodhya Yadav and his wife are adamant to kill her, but due to intervention of Chitra and Ram Chandra, they could not succeed. Thereafter, the informant send his wife to Bhojpur from where in the morning she was coming and the accused persons Ayodhya Yadav and Birendra Yadav and Nepuri Devi (wife of Ayodhya Yadav) in a pre-planned manner have assaulted to his wife resulting in her death.

4. On the basis of above information Nagar Untari P.S. Case No. 118/2001 was registered for the offence under Section 302/34 of the I.P.C. After completion of investigation, charge-sheet was submitted against all the above named appellants who claimed to be tried. After conclusion of trial, impugned judgment and order of sentence was passed.

5. Learned counsel for the appellants assailing the impugned judgment has vehemently argued that in the F.I.R. there is simple allegation that Ayodhya Yadav was seen fleeing having tangi in his hand and other two appellants had no arms. The motive for the occurrence was about suspicion of witch craft against the deceased has not been found to be true even by the informant who appointed a 'Dewas' and report was negative. Further after completion of investigation, charge-sheet has not been submitted for the offence under the provision of Prevention of Witch Practices Act, 1999. Therefore, no motive for the occurrence has been proved. The prosecution during trial of the case materially exaggerated and improved the story with a specific case of assault given by the appellants to the deceased by projecting some arms. It is also very strange that as per prosecution the deceased was assaulted at the place of occurrence by tangi, but no blood was found there and nothing has been seized from the place of occurrence.

*Rest of the document can be viewed at: (https://hcservices.ecourts.gov.in/ecourtindiaHC/cases/display_pdf.php?filename=JWh84WYVV%2BM86K4sXzCHn%2BBA%2BS6QQah2aqTs%2BTtnCudo7%2Bht31WNr6FHaZOZbYou&caseno=Cr.A(DB)/806/2002&cCode=1&cino=JHHC010088862002&state_code=7&appFlag=)

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