' Ahmad son of Ramzan, aged 50/55, armed with Toka, has been convicted under section 302, P.P.C.
For the murder of Mst. Sharifan aged 20, his daughter, and vide judgment, dated 18-7-1981 of the Sessions Judge, Jhang he was sentenced to life imprisonment plus fine of Rs,1,000 or in default to undergo one year's rigorous imprisonment with the direction that if the fine was realized 50 per cent of the same be paid as compensation to the heirs of the deceased excluding the appellant.
The appeal of the convict is being disposed of by this judgment.
2. The occurrence took place on 20-10-1980 at about 3-30 p.m.Within the area of Basti Usman Nagar Dakhli village Wasu Astana at a distance of 14 miles from Police Station Athara Hazari, District Jhang. F.I.R. (Exh.P.J.) was lodged on the same day at 4.30 p.m. By Faiz Muhammad (P.W.7), step-father of the deceased, and it was recorded at the police station by Tila Muhammad S.I.
(P.W.11).
3. The motive for crime as stated in the F.I.R., is that the appellant had divorced his wife Mst. Allah Jawai (P.W.8) and the deceased was his daughter from her. At the time of divorce, the deceased was about nine years old. Mst. Allah Jawai P.W. Got married to Faiz Muhammad P.W. And the deceased as a young child came to live with her. She was brought up in the house of Faiz Muhammad P.W. Who subsequently married her to Khuda Baksh i,e, nephew of the appellant. She remained married to him for about 21 years but thereafter left the house of her husband due to domestic trouble and had filed a suit for dissolution of her marriage as against Khuda Bakhsh. It is stated in the F.I.R. By Faiz Muhammad P.W. That the appellant had been insisting on him and Mst.
Allah Jawai P.W. That the deceased should be sent back to her husband and that if she did not go, he would kill her. It is stated that in this background the appellant had murdered the deceased.
4. In the F.I.R. The occurrence is reported to have taken place in the following manner:-- On the fateful day, the deceased had gone out in the bush to ease herself alongwith her mother Mst. Allah Jawai (P.W.8). When suddenly the appellant appeared there armed with Toka. He got hold of the deceased and after felling her down on the ground started giving her successive Toka blows on the neck. On this Mst. Allah Jawai P.W. Raised alarm and, therefore, Faiz Muhammad (P.W.
7), step-father of the deceased, Ghulam Shabir (not produced but given up as unnecessary) and Kamir (P.W.9), related to Faiz Muhammad P.W. As well as the appellant, rushed to the scene of crime and witnessed the same. The appellant ran away holding threats but the deceased died on the spot. Leaving behind Kamir P.W. And Ghulam Shabir (not produced) to guard the dead body Faiz Muhammad P.W. Proceeded to lodge the report.
5. From a perusal of the F.I.R. It appears that the occurrence was witnessed by Mst. Allah Jawai (P.W.8), mother of the deceased, Faiz Muhammad (P.W.7), step-father of the deceased, Kamir (P.W.9), relative of both Faiz Muhammad P.W. As well as the appellant, and Ghulam Shabir who has not been produced.
6. The appellant was arrested on 22-10-1980 by Tila Muhammad S.I. (P.W.11). At the time of his arrest, blood-stained Chadar (Exh.P.5) was got removed from his person and taken into possession vide memo. Exh.P.H., dated 22-10-1980. The attesting witnesses of the memo. Are Sultan (P.W.6), Amir son of Ghulam Muhammad (not produced) and Tila Muhammad S.I. (P.W.11). At the instance of the appellant bloodstained Toka (Exh.P.4) was recovered from his house after digging earth and taken into possession vide memo. Exh.P.G., dated 22-10-1980. The attesting witnesses are the same.
According to the reports of the Serologist (Exhs.P.L/1 and P.M/1) both Toka and Chadar were found to be stained with human blood.
7. The appellant in his statement before the trial Court stated that Mst. Allah Jawai P.W., his ex-wife, was woman of bad character and had developed illicit relationship with Faiz Muhammad P.W. She left his house and got a decree for dissolution of marriage. Thereafter she married Faiz Muhammad P.W. He admitted that the deceased who was his daughter, had gone alongwith her mother Mst.
Allah Jawai P.W. And started residing with Faiz Muhammad P.W. He also admitted as correct that the deceased wa married to Khuda Bakhsh, his nephew, but stated that 2i years thereafter Khuda Bakhsh drove her out of his house leavelling charge of adultery against her. Therefore, according to him, Khuda Bakhsh was not willing to keep her as his wife, as she was a woman of bad character.
He denied that he had ever gone to the house of Faiz Muhammad P.W. And Mst. Allah Jawai P.W.
With a request that the deceased should be made to live with her husband. He disowned Toka and Chadar and stated that he was innocent but had been falsely implicated in this case by the prosecution witnesses who were closely related to each other and that even Kamir P.W. Was not related to him. He claimed himself to be innocent but did not produce any defence. His version was as follows:-- "After the marriage of the deceased with Khuda Bakhsh she developed illicit intimacy with Faiz Muhammad P.W. And her husband Khuda Bakhsh levelled a charge of adultery against her and drove her out of his house. As Mst. Allah Jawai, mother of the deceased, was a woman of bad character, the deceased also followed the suit. Meanwhile she also developed illicit intimacy with her cousin named Zafar. Somebody killed her when she had gone there to meet her paramour at noon time. The occurrence was not witnessed by anybody. As Faiz Muhammad and Mst. Allah Jawai are my dead enemies, they have concocted the story against me and have cited the members of their family as witnesses against me."
' Dr. Munawar Hussain Chaudhary (P.W.4) conducted the postmortem examination on the dead body of the deceased at 10.00 a.m. On 21-10-1980 and found the following injuries on her person:-
(1) Transverse incised wound 13 x 1.5 x 4 c.m. On the front and left side of chin in which lower mandible were cut.
(2) Transverse incised wound 4 x 1 c.m. x muscle deep on the right side of chin, 1 c.m. Below injury No,1.
(3) Transverse incised wound 17 x 5 c.m. Through and through on the front of neck in middle in which the head was only attached by a flap of skin with the body of the back.
(4) Transverse incised wound 7 x .5 c.m. x skin deep on the front of chest upper part.
(5) Oblique incised wound 2 x 0.8 c.m. x skin deep on the front of right shoulder.
' In his opinion the cause of death in this case was shock and haemorrhage resulting from injury No,3 which was sufficient to cause death in the ordinary course of nature. All the injuries were caused with sharp-edged weapon. Injury No, 1 was grievous and the rest were simple. Time between injuries and death was immediate and time between death and post-mortem examination was about 18 hours. In the cross-examination he stated that he did not get vaginal swa bs of the deceased so as to send them for chemical examination. He also stated that he was not aware of any standing instructions from the Health Department that whenever a post-mortem examination was to be conducted on the dead body of a female, then her vaginal swabs must be preserved.
9. I have heard learned counsel for the parties and carefully perused the record. It is a day-time occurrence and the F.I.R. Was promptly lodged. The occurrence has been witnessed by three eye- witnesses, namely, Mst. Allah Jawai, Faiz Muhammad and Kamir P.Ws. According to their version, they saw the appellant giving Toka blows to the deceased who was his daughter. These three eye- witnesses may be related to the complainant side. The point to be considered in such circumstances is as to whether they can be considered as interested witnesses or not. There is nothing on the record to show that they were inimical towards the appellant except that Mst. Allah Jawai P.W. Was his former wife who had married Faiz Muhammad P.W. And Kamir P.W. Was a relative of Mst. Allah Jawai P.W. Even if they were to be considered as interested witnesses, the principle of abundant caution could be applied to the present case and their testimony may not be considered without corroboration. But then even corroboration is forthcoming of their testimony in the form of recovery evidence in this case. According to the prosecution story, the appellant was arrested on the day after the day of occurrence and at the time of his arrest, human blood-stained Chadar was got removed from his person. Thereafter on the same day he led to the recovery of human blood-stained Toka from his house which was dug out from the ground by him. These recoveries have been witnessed by Sultan P.W. And Tila Muhammad S.I. P.W. Even if Sultan P.W. Was to be considered as interested witness, being relative of the complainant side, the testimony of the police officer, in the instant case, should be accepted as there is nothing on the record to show that the investigation had been conducted in a dishonest manner. So far as the defence version is concerned, that is not plausible except that the appellant had stated that the eye-witnesses, in the instant case, were his enemies, that his daughter was a bad character like her mother and that she had gone to meet some paramour and someone had killed her, being an unwitnessed occurrence.
In other words, a perusal of the record would indicate that immediate cause of the occurrence could not be ascertained and it was for this precise reason that the trial Court while convicting the appellant under section 302, P.P.C. For the murder of his daughter, rightly awarded to him the lesser penalty. I have carefully considered the arguments which could possibly be raised in the instant case, but in my view the prosecution has succeeded in establishing its case as against the appellant beyond any shadow of doubt. He has been rightly convicted and sentenced and the conviction as well as the sentence awarded to the appellant are accordingly maintained. This appeal is dismissed, but the Jail authorities are directed to grant the benefit of the provisions of section 382-B, Cr.P.C. Other appellant at the time of the computation of sentence of life imprisonment awarded to the appellant.