SAEED-UR-RAHMAN, J.-The appellant Rafique (aged 25 years) was convicted by the Sessions Judge, Sahiwal for an offence under sec--tion 302 of the Pakistan Penal Code on the allegation that on 13th March, 1973 at about 9-10 a.m. He had caused the death of Mst. Seeman deceased and was sentenced to death ; in addition he was also directed to pay fine of Rs. 2,000 or in default to suffer R. I. For a period of six months. The fine, if recovered was to be paid to the heirs of the deceased. The appellant has preferred this appeal against his conviction and sentence and the learned Sessions Judge has also made a reference under section 374, Cr. P. C. For the confirmation of the sentence of death imposed upon him. This judgment will dispose of both these matters.
2. According to the prosecution the appellant was a bad character. About 1i years prior to the occurrence he committed- rape on one Mst. Nuran, a cousin of the deceased for which he was prosecuted. After his release on bail he developed illicit relations with the deceased who was an unmarried young girl. In order to save further humiliation she and her family migrated to Depalpur.
After staying in Depalpur for five or six months they returned to the village. This happened a month prior to the occurrence. After their return the appellant attempted to revive his old relations with the deceased. To avoid the situation Shahan (P. W. 6) a brother of the deceased brought one Jahangir, a relation, to his house with a view to giving the deceased in marriage to him. The appellant resented this. He asked the deceased not to marry Jahangir but instead to live with him as his concubine. The deceased of course refused to oblige him and insisted that she would marry Jahangir.
3. It was alleged by the prosecution that on the morning of 13th March, 1973 at 9.10 a.m. The deceased left her house for a neighbouring village. When she reached near the darbar of Moallam Shah which was at a distance of about 3-- Killas from her own village the appellant stopped her He repeated his demand but the deceased again repelled him. On this he whipped out a knife from his shirt pocket and struck her on the throat. She fell down. He then kicked her twice or thrice, Shahan (P. W. 6), Ghulam (P. W. 7), Ahmad (P. W. 8), Amir and Farzand who were present in the vicinity and had seen the occurrence captured the appellant alongwith his knife. Ghulam (P. W. 7) took away the knife from him. The deceased who was bleeding profusely died on the spot after ten or fifteen minutes.
4. Immediately after the occurrence Shahan (P. W. 6) left for police Station Chuchak which was at a distance of a mile from his village. He reached there at 11.00 a.m. And lodged the F 1. R. (Exh. P. A.). It was recorded by Muhammad Khalid, Muharrir Head Constable (P. W. 9).
5. After recording the F. I. R Muharrir Head Constable Muhammad Khalid (P. W. 9) went to the place of occurrence and reached there at about 12 noon. He formally arrested the appellant at the spot.
Ghulam (P. W. 7) produced the blood-stained knife (P-1) before him. The appel--lant was wearing blood-stained clothes, Jarsi (P-2), Shirt (P-3) and chadar (P-4), at the time of his arrest. Moharrir Head Constable Muhammad Khalid (P. W. 9) took these clothes also into his possession. These recoveries were witnessed by Shahan (P. W. 7) and Amir.
6. Dr. Muhammad Ashraf conducted the post-mortem examination of the deceased. He was out of the country at' the time of the trial. 1n the circumstances the report prepared by him was proved by his colleague Dr. Muhammad Hussain (P. W. 3) who was acquainted with his hand--writing and signatures. According to the report (Exh. P. F.) the deceased bad a stab wound, 7/8--- x ----- x 4" deep on the left lateral aspect of neck, 2"from the medium line and 2" above the left clavicle. This wound was sufficient in the ordinary course of nature to cause death.
7. The appellant pleaded not guilty to the charge against him. He denied that be was responsible for causing the death of the deceased and alleged that he 'had been falsely implicated due to enmity. He pro--duced a copy of a plaint (Exh. D. B.). He did not lead any oral evidence in defence.
8. The ocular account in this case has been provided by three eye--witnesses. They are Shahan (P.
W. 6), Ghulam (P. W. 7) and Ahmad (P. W. 8). Two other persons namely Amir and Farzand were also cited in the F. I. R. As eye-witnesses but they were not examined by the prosecu--tion at the trial. All these eye-witnesses claimed that they were present at the time of the occurrence and had seen the appellant giving a knife blow on the neck of the deceased.
9. It was contended by the learned counsel for the appellant that since the eye-witnesses were closely related to the deceased it was unsafe to rely upon their testimony in the absence of any confirmatory circum--stance. It is no doubt true that the eye-witnesses were closely related inter se. Thus Shahan (P. W. 6) was the brother of the deceased. Ahmad (P. W. 8's) sister was married to Shahan (P. W. 6) and Ghulam (P. W's. 7) A mother Mst. Bibi was a sister of Lal father of Ahmad (P. W.
8). But this fact by itself is no ground for discarding their evidence. It is to be submitted that none of the witnesses had any direct enmity with the appellant. The fact that the appellant was earlier accused of committing rape on Mst. Nuran, a cousin of Shahan (P. W. 6) does not furnish suffi-- cient justification for disbelieving the eye-witnesses. It may be mentioned that the occurrence took place in daylight at a short distance from the village abadi and in the immediate vicinity of the darbar of a Pit. The presence of the three eye-witnesses at the scene of occurrence at the relevant time is not improbable. It is difficult to accept that they would let off the real assailant of the deceased and instead falsely implicate a person with whom they bad no enmity. Apart from that the appellant B was apprehended at the spot. The investigating officer has stated that at the time of his arrest, the appellant was wearing blood-stained clothes. Subsequently, the serologist certified that the blood on these clothes was of human origin. There was no injury on the person of the appellant to explain the presence of blood on his clothes. The document (Exh. D. B.) produced by the appellant in his defence does not in any way detract from the credibility of the witnesses.
We are, therefore, satisfied that the appellant was responsible for causing the death of the deceased and in the absence of any circumstances suggesting diminished liability his conviction under section 302 of the Pakistan Penal Code must be upheld.
10. As regards the sentence the learned counsel for the appellant submitted that the circumstances of the case did not justify the imposi--tion of extreme penalty. He argued that the appellant must have been provoked to attack the deceased but failed to show any basis for his submissions. Taking the ambient circumstances into consideration we d not think that we ought to interfere with the sentence. He made an outrageous proposal to a young girl and when she refused to entertain I he attacked her with a knife on a vital part. He acted like a typical bully. We, therefore, confirm the sentence of death imposed upon him by the learned Sessions Judge.
11. The appeal and the reference are disposed of accordingly.