JUDGMENT
Y. Ibotombi Singh, J.
1. A man starts to seek his origin when he cannot control his carnal desire. Therefore, a person, who cannot control his such sexual desire, has become a menace to society. This case illustrates the brutal or ferocious acts of a person who could not control his carnal desire.
2. Shri Taranath Tamuli lodged the First Information Report (Exhibit-1) on 5-10-1984 at 4.30 p.m. on the basis of report from Madan Nayak, Chowkidar. It was stated that accused Hem Chandra reported the Chowkidar in the morning that he had killed a woman of the tea garden in the night and concealed the dead body inside the nulla of Section 14 of the garden. Case was registered at Chabua Police Station and investigated into. The accused also surrendered before the Officer of Chabua Police Station that day. The case being committed to the Court of Session, the accused Hem Chandra Nayak faced trial for the charges under Sections 376/302/201 of the I.P.C. by pleading not guilty. The Sessions Judge found the accused guilty of all the three charges and sentenced him to suffer imprisonment for 7 years with fine of Rs. 1,000/-, imprisonment for life and imprisonment for 2 years with fine of Rs. 200A for the offences under Sections 376/302/201, I.P.C. respectively. Hence, this appeal by the accused-convict.
3. The prosecution case was that deceased Assambati Bhumiz was returning home alone after enjoying ‘Puja Ceremony’ in the night of 4-10-1984. On her way, she met the accused and requested him to escort her.* Taking advantage of her helpless state, the accused dragged her inside the tea garden and forcibly raped her; and then pressed her neck on the ground and cut her throat with a knife causing death. The accused concealed the dead body inside a nulla to destroy evidence of the crime. On the following morning, the accused, in order to give relief to his tormented mind, came to the house of Madan Chowkidar (P.W. 2) and informed him that he had killed a woman and asked him to report the matter to the Manager. Thereafter, the accused went to Chabua Police Station and surrendered before the officer. His confessional statement was recorded by the Judicial Magistrate (P.W. 8) on 11-10-1984 in accordance with the provision of Section 164, Cr. P.C.
4. The Investigating Officer recovered the dead body of the deceased from the said nulla on the pointing out of the accused and held inquest over the dead body. Some bruise marks were found over the forehead and one incised wound on her neck.
5. Doctor N. Sonowal (P.W. 10) performed autopsy over the dead body of the deceased Assambati Bhumiz and found the following injuries:
1. “10 x 3 cm. skin-deep incised wound on the right side of the forehead,
2. 1 x 2 cm. x skin-deep in the middle of forehead.
3. 5 cm, x 2 cm. x skin-deep in the middle of the forehead.
The following incised wound found in the neck:
1. 10 cm. x 3 cm. incised wound on right side of the neck as its upper part cutting skin, muscle, vessels, trachea and oesophagus. The tail of the wound was on the right side,
2. 10 cm. x 3 cm. incised wound present on the lower part of the front of the neck cutting skin, muscles, vessels and trachea. 10×4 cm. multiple abrasion on the chest wall.
The Doctor opined that the injured died instantaneously due to shock and haemorrhage as a result of the cutting of the throat. It is proved beyond doubt that death was due to unlawful violence or criminal act. There is no dispute about it. On examination of the private part of the deceased and presence of semen therein, the doctor opined that she was raped before causing her death. Therefore, the only point for our determination is as to whether the accused was responsible for the murder after committing rape on her.
6. There was no eye-witness of the occurrence. The conviction of the accused, was entirely based on the confession of the accused before the Magistrate and also on the extra-judicial confession made by the accused before Madan Chowkidar (P.W. 2).
7. Shri K. P. Pathak, the learned Advocate (Amicus Curiae) has strenuously urged that the accused did no make any confession voluntarily and that the statement Exhibit-2 being not voluntary, the conviction on its basis is not sustainable; and that the extra-judicial confession by the accused is also not acceptable, Smt. M. Sarma, the learned Public Prosecutor, on the other hand, submits that . the confession (Exhibit-2) was voluntary and true; and the learned Sessions Judge rightly convicted the accused relying on confession before the Magistrate and extra-judicial confession before a witness.
8. In support of the submission, Mr. Pathak has refered to the case of Kuthu Goala v. State of Assam reported in 1981 Cri LJ 424 (Gau). It was held that when in capital case the prosecution demands a conviction of the accused primarily on the basis of confession, the Court must apply double tests, (i) whether the confession is perfectly voluntary and (ii) if so, whether it is perfectly true. These are well-settled proposition of law. On the first point, Mr. Pathak has made twofold argument; firstly, that the accused was not given sufficient time for reflection; and secondly, that he was not properly cautioned prior to the recording of the confession.
9. The accused was produced before the Judicial Magistrate Shri F. Hussain for the first time on 10-10-1984 for recording confession, but the Magistrate remanded him to judicial custody that day after giving necessary caution. On 11-10-1984, the accused was produced before the Magistrate from jail and after giving required caution as per items of para 5 of the confessional statement form, the accused was again giving 2 1/2 hours time for reflection. After expiry of the reflection period, in order to ascertain the voluntariness of the accused to make confession, the Magistrate for his satisfaction put questions to the accused under para 6 of the Form and recorded the answers given by the accused. This was done in Assamese language and runs as follows:
Q. ;- Do you know that I am not a Police Officer but a Magistrate?
A. : — Yes, I know.
Q. : – Do you know that you are not bound to confess?
A. : – Yes, I know.
Q. : – Do you know that the confession will be used in evidence against you?
A. : – Yes, 1 know.
Q. : – Have you came to confession upon being tutored by others?
A. : – No, I have come to confess according to my own will.
Q. : – Will you tell the truth? A. : -Yes, I will.
After such examination, the Magistrate became satisfied that the accused was prepared to make the confession voluntarily, and then recorded his statement in the language spoken by him.
10. On careful scrutiny of the evidence of the Magistrate (P.W. 8) and the recording of the entries systematically into the confessional statement form, we find that the formalities of the provision of Section 164 of the Code of Criminal Procedure had been complied with on the first day. The accused was remanded to judicial custody after giving due caution with reference to the items under para 5 of the Confessional Statement Form, Again on the next day he was given 2 1/2 hours time after fresh caution. The period given to the accused, with repeated caution to make up his mind and to remove the external fear, pressure or tutoring, if there was any, was fairly sufficient. All precautions had been taken by the Magistrate by putting questions to the accused after the period of reflection was over in order to ascertain if he was prepared to make the statement. After all these formalities, when the accused had expressed his willingness to make the statement, then the Magistrate recorded the statement of the accused. The accused did not complain of any fear or pressure from any quarter before the Magistrate during cautions on both the days and during examination under para 6 of the Confessional Statement Form. On careful scrutiny of all aspects and tests, we find that the accused made the statements voluntarily. The submissions of Mr. Pathak has no force.
11. A confession recorded under the provision of Section 164, Cr. P.C. becomes voluntary and free when it is made by the accused out of repentance, after due caution with reasonable time for reflection in order to remove completely any threat or torture, inducement or promise by the arresting agency and it precludes the possibility of tutoring.
12. The confessional statement of the accused runs as follows:
STATEMENT
Question : – What have you got to say?
Answer : – Last Thursday, on the day of Puja, I came out to the road after taking liquor at home. Then I saw a woman coming back after seeing ‘puja’. She asked me to escort to her house. I took her alone. On our way, I dragged her inside the Tea garden and had sexual intercourse with her forcibly in the bye-lane inside the garden. After the intercourse, she suddenly bit my lips and cut me in the shoulder with the knife she was carrying. I then killed her by pressing her neck, and cut her neck with the knife.
Question : – What did you do with the dead body?
Answer : – I dragged the dead body to a nearby ‘Nulla’ where I covered it with earth.
Question : – What about the knife?
Answer : – I threw the knife into the garden. On the following day I told the Chowkidar of the garden about the occurrence. From there I went to Chabua Thana and myself reported about the occurrence there. I showed the dead body to Police. I also showed them the place where I had thrown the knife, but I could not find out the knife.
13. The confessional statement disclosed descriptively how the lady sought escort of the accused on her return from puja that night, and the manner of her dragging inside the tea garden by the accused and had sexual intercourse forcibly on her, and the design of killing her by pressing her neck and cutting it with a knife. It is further disclosed how he concealed the dead body inside the nulla and threw away the murder weapon ‘knife’ in order to disappear the evidence of the crime. It is also disclosed that in the morning he reported the incident to the Chowkidar of the garden and then surrendered himself at the Police Station, and thereafter pointed out the dead body to Police at the place of concealment. There was no eye-witness of the occurrence. It occurred at dead of night while the lady was alone returning from puja in helpless state. It would be only in the knowledge of the assailant as to how and in what manner the occurrence took place in that night. Some pieces of. circumstantial evidence are available on record to corroborate the confession.
14. The proved medical evidence that sign of sexual intercourse on the deceased was present and that the death was caused as a result of cut over her neck are corroborative piece of evidence to the confession of the accused on his version of committing rape and cutting her neck with a knife. Further, the facts of recovery of the dead body from inside the nulla near the place of occurrence is corroborative to the version of the accused that he concealed the dead body there. His surrender at the Police Station and reporting the occurrence to Madan Chowkidar had been corroborated by the evidence of Madan Chowkidar and the Investigating Officer. Thus, the confession had been corroborated in this manner.
15. The confessional statement was voluntarily made by the accused. It disclosed the true picture of the occurrence resulting the death of Smt. Assambati Bhumiz and inculpating himself as the assailant of the crime. We find no infirmity in the confession and accept it as true.
16. The submission of learned Counsel Mr. K. P. Pathak that a conviction solely on a retracted confession is bad in law has no footing because of the settled principles of law laid down by the Supreme Court in series of cases that a retracted confession if found to be voluntary and true, then it be the basis for conviction without corroboration. There is no rule of law that a retracted confession cannot be the legal basis for a conviction without corroboration. When the Court is satisfied that the confession is voluntary and found it to be true, it becomes a legal basis for conviction without any corroboration. It is only a rule of prudence to seek for corroboration. It is not even an inflexible rule of practice that in no circumstance a conviction on the basis of confession can be made without corroboration. In this connection, we may rely on the decisions of Pyare Lal Bhargava v. State of Rajasthan, Abdul Ghani v. State of U. P. and Shankaria v. State of Rajasthan, respectively. The ratio of these decisions is that it is a rule of practice not to rely upon the retracted confession without corroboration but it cannot be laid down as a inflexible or absolute rule of law that a confession made and subsequently retracted cannot be accepted as evidence of guilt without independent corroboration. However, in the instant case, besides the confession being voluntary and true, it was corroborated by circumstantial evidence referred to above. The confession by itself was sufficient to convict the accused.
17. P. W. 2 Shri Madan Chowkidar gave evidence with regard to the extra-judicial confession of the accused. The accused knew the Chowkidar of the garden from before. He deposed that the accused awoke him from slumber at about 5 a.m. (morning) and said that he had killed a woman and requested him (Chowkidar) to report the matter to the Saheb (Manager) and left saying that he would go to Police Station. The Chowkidar is an independent and disinterested witness. He had no reason nor any occasion to manufacture such a version to falsely implicate the accused. He immediately reported the occurrence to the Manager. In the First Information Report, Exhibit-1, the Manager narrated that Madan Chowkidar informed him that accused Hem Chandra Nayak reported to the Chowkidar in the early morning that he killed a woman in the tea garden in the night and concealed the dead body inside a nulla. Disclosure of these facts in the F. I.R. extended support to the evidence of Madan Chowkidar. The accused also disclosed in his confessional statement that he reported the occurrence to Madan Chowkidar and from there he came to Police Station. On careful scrutiny, we find no reason to suspect the evidence of Madman Chowkidar with regard to extra-judicial confession of the accused before him. We accept the evidence of Madan Chowkidar. It is proved that after committing the crime, the accused visited the house of Madan Chowkidar in the early morning and confessed before him about committing murder of a woman. When the fact of extra-judicial confession comes from the mouth of an witness having no reason to falsely implicate the accused and at the same time the witness is independent and disinterested and that from the circumstances it so appears that the accused out of repentance had reason to disclose his guilt before such witness, the evidence of the witness is to be accepted.
18. The evidence of Madan Chowkidar on the fact of extra-judicial confession before him by the accused had been fully corroborated by witnesses Tara Nath Tamuli and Makdul Tamuli (P.Ws. 1 and 6) who testified that Madan reported to them that the accused told him about killing of a woman and throwing her dead body into the nulla.
19. The judicial confession of the accused coupled with extra-judicial confession had proved beyond reasonable doubt that the accused committed rape and then killed the woman.
20. Mr. Pathak finds fault with the delay in lodging the First Information Report. The occurrence tookplace in the night of 4th/5th October, 1984 and the First Information Report was lodged at 4.30 p.m. on 5-10-1984. The occurrence was not known to any person. The accused disclosed the occurrence in the morning at about 5 or 6 a.m. to witness Madan Chowkidar who reported the same to the Manager of the Tea garden. The Manager deputed two persons to confirm the report at the place of occurrence. After confirmation, the Manager sent the informant to the Police Station for lodging formal F.I.R. with the Police. The Police Station was located at a distance of 8 to 10 K.M. from the place of occurrence. Therefore, we find that the prosecution had reasonably explained the delay in lodging the First Information Report The delay was not significant and there could be no doubt for any concoction in the prosecution case disclosed in the first information report to implicate accused Hem Chandra Nayak.
21. Mr. Pathak has also pointed out certain omission in the investigation of the case, such as, non-seizure of blood-stained earth from the place of occurrence, failure to make proper attempt to recover murder weapon ‘knife’ from the tea garden, failure to get the accused medically examined and chemical examination of his clothing; and submits that these infirmities caused suspicion to the prosecution case. However, we find that these omissions had not caused prejudice to the prosecution case in any manner, because prosecution had entirely relied on the judicial confession coupled with the extra-judicial confession to prove the charges. Deficiency in the investigation with regard to the matters pointed out by Mr. Pathak had not weakened the prosecution case on the face of voluntary and true confession coupled with the acceptable extra-judicial confession.
22. We find that the prosecution had proved the charges of rape, murder and disappearance of evidence of the crime beyond reasonable doubt against the accused-appellant. Learned Sessions Judge had rightly convicted the accused on the charges of Sections 376/302/201 of the I.P.C.
23. In the result, the appeal is dismissed. Send down the records immediately.