Calcutta High Court Upholds Life Sentence In Double Murder-Dacoity Case

The Calcutta High Court bench of Justice Debangsu Basak and Justice Md. Shabbar Rashidi has dismissed three connected criminal appeals and upheld the conviction and sentence of the appellants for offences of dacoity with murder arising out of the brutal killing of two women at village Kandra, District Burdwan, on 1 October 2011.

The appeals arose from a common judgment of conviction dated 26 April 2018 and order of sentence dated 30 April 2018 passed by the Additional Sessions Judge, Katwa, in Sessions Trial No. 07 of 2012.

The victims, Rekha Rani Roy, the landlady, and Gouri Majhi, her tenant, were found dead inside the house with their throats slit, and several gold ornaments and personal articles were missing, indicating commission of dacoity accompanied by murder.

The prosecution case, based entirely on circumstantial evidence, established that the appellants were seen at the house of the deceased shortly before the incident, and that during investigation they made disclosure statements leading to recovery of looted ornaments and weapons from their respective houses.

The recovered articles were identified by the daughters of the deceased Rekha Rani Roy in a duly conducted test identification parade and again during trial. Medical evidence conclusively proved that both deaths were homicidal, caused by sharp cutting weapons, and sufficient in the ordinary course of nature to cause death.

Rejecting the appellants' contentions regarding absence of motive, contradictions in evidence, defective test identification parade, and improper examination under Section 313 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, the High Court held that the chain of circumstances was complete and unerringly pointed to the guilt of the appellants.

The Court distinguished the Supreme Court decision in Madhu v. State of Kerala (2012) 2 SCC 399, observing that the facts of the present case clearly supported lawful recovery under Section 27 of the Evidence Act and credible identification of stolen property. The Court further noted that the appellants failed to offer any explanation as to how they came into possession of the stolen articles, which strongly incriminated them.

Accordingly, the High Court affirmed the conviction of the appellants under Sections 448, 396, 302 and 412 read with Section 34 of the Indian Penal Code and the sentence of life imprisonment for the offence of dacoity with murder, with other sentences to run concurrently.

All three appeals were dismissed, connected applications were disposed of, and the benefit of set-off under Section 428 CrPC was directed to be given to the appellants.

Case: Krishna Kanta Dhar & Others Vs. The State of West Bengal

Case No: CRA 367 of 2018

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