BishnuSarkar

conviction for the offence of culpable homicide not amounting to murder punishable under Section 304 Part I read with Section 34 IPC and sentence of rigorous imprisonment for a period of 10 years and fine?- There is no evidence to suggest any pre-meditation on the part of the appellants to assault the deceased leave alone evidence to show that assailants intended to kill the deceased. There was no previous enmity between the parties who were residents of the same locality except that there was a minor incident in which some hot words were exchanged between the deceased and Sudhir. Even on the following day i.e. on 22nd May, 2001 the incident near the drain involved the appellant-Bishnu Sarkar and the complainant- Debabrato Mazumder son of the deceased. It was only when the deceased noticed the incident and intervened to save the complainant, that Madhab Sarkar started assaulting the deceased and inflicted injuries on his body that resulted in his death. Both the Courts below have no doubt believed the prosecution case that appellant-Bishnu Sarkar was exhorting appellant-Madhab Sarkar to assault the deceased and, therefore, convicted him under Section 304 Part I with the help of Section 34 IPC. A distinction has, however, to be made in the facts and circumstances of the case between the sentence awarded to the appellant-Bishnu Sarkar who is over sixty five years old and that to be awarded to appellant-Madhab Sarkar. In the totality of the circumstances to which we have referred above, we are of the view that a rigorous sentence of three years to appellant no.1-Bishnu Sarkar and seven years to appellant no.2-Madhab Sarkar would meet the ends of justice. The sentence of fine and imprisonment in default of payment thereof will, however, remain unaltered. We accordingly allow the appeal in part and to the extent indicated above in modification of the orders passed by the Courts below.

REPORTABLE IN THE SUPREME COURT OF INDIA CRIMINAL APPELLATE JURISDICTION CRIMINAL APPEAL NO. 876 OF 2012 (Arising out of S.L.P (Crl.) No.546 OF 2011) Bishnupada Sarkar & Anr. …Appellants Versus State of West Bengal …Respondent J U D G M E N T T.S. THAKUR, J. 1. Leave granted. 2. This appeal arises out of … Continue reading →