' The appellant was convicted under section 304, Part 1, P. P. C. And sentenced to undergo rigorous imprisonment for seven years. He was also ordered to pay a fine of Rs, 1,000 in default of payment of which he was directed to undergo further R. I. For one year. Out of the fine, if realised, one-half was to be paid to the heirs of the deceased.
2. The deceased in this case are two persons, namely, Mst. Barkat Bibi the wife of the appellant and Muhammad Akram, her paramour. The story is that the appellant had gone to water his fields but when he returned to his house at 1 or 2 a.m. He found Mst. Barkat Bibi, his wife, in a compromising position with Muhammad Akram deceased on the roof of his house. He took up a kassi with which he had been watering his fields and killed Mst. Barkat Bibi and Muhammad Akram in his house.
3. When the charge was put to the appellant, he pleaded guilty and further said that he had killed the two deceased persons on account of grave and sudden provocation.
4. The learned Additional Sessions Judge recorded the statements of the two witnesses, namely, Sher Muhammad (P. W. 2) and Muhammad Ashiq (P. W. 3). Muhammad Ashiq stated that he saw the woman coming downstairs with her trousers in her hand, by peeping above the wall of the house of the accused. After coming down she fell on the cot where her children were sleeping. The two witnesses and one Rehmat then went inside the house and saw Muhammad Akram lying naked there in an injured condition.
5. The plea raised by the accused has been substantially proved and the question is only of quantum of sentence. I have been referred to a number of judgments where the sentence ranges from nine months to three years. The learned counsel for the appellant refers to Abdul Hamid v. The State (1) and Sewa and another v. The State (2). In both these cases the wives of the appellants therein and their paramours had been murdered and a sentence of three years was considered sufficient by two different Division Benches of this Court.
6. Mr. Nasir-ud-Din, the learned counsel for the State cites Mir Muhammad v. The State (3) where a sentence of seven years was awarded to the appellant for causing the death of his wife and her paramour. A perusal of this judgment, however, shows that the allegation of the appellant in that case that he had seen the two deceased persons actually embracing and kissing each other, was not believed by the Division Bench but it wa observed that it was possible that the appellant had seen them together o one cot. I would respectfully follow the standard of sentence set up by two Division Benches of this Court and while maintaining the conviction under section 304, Part I, I reduce the sentence to three years' R. I. The sentence of fine is remitted. {{FOOT NOTE}}
(1) 1972 P Cr. L J 521 (2) 1972 P Cr. L J 1135
(3) 1973 P Cr. L J 293 {{FOOT NOTE}}