Allowed

Amin Uddin Laskar v. State of Assam and Anr.

Gauhati HC18 May 2018Crl.A./174/2014

Case brief

AI extract

What is this about?

Appellant convicted of murder was acquitted on appeal. The High Court held that private defence extended to causing death when the victim forcibly entered the appellant's house to kidnap his minor daughter, following Supreme Court precedent.

What did the court decide?

Conviction and sentence set aside; appellant acquitted and directed to be released forthwith.

Amin Uddin Laskar Vs State of Assam and Anr. — Murder and Culpable Homicide | Gauhati HC (2018)

¶1

Page No.# 1/6

¶2

GAHC010009832014

¶3

THE GAUHATI HIGH COURT (HIGH COURT OF ASSAM, NAGALAND, MIZORAM AND ARUNACHAL PRADESH)

¶4

Case No. : Crl.A. 174/2014

¶5

1:AMIN UDDIN LASKAR

¶6

S/O LATE SIKANDAR ALI LASKAR, R/O VILL. DHANAHARI PT-III, P.S. SONAI, DIST. CACHAR, ASSAM.

¶7

VERSUS

¶8

1:STATE OF ASSAM and ANR.

¶9

2:MD. MUKABBIR ALI S/O LATE KURMAN ALI VILL. DHANIHARI PT-III P.S. SONAI DIST. CACHAR ASSAM

¶10

Advocate for the Petitioner : MR.B K MAHAJAN

¶11

Advocate for the Respondent :

¶12

BEFORE

¶13

HON’BLE THE CHIEF JUSTICE MR. AJIT SINGH HON’BLE MR. JUSTICE SUMAN SHYAM

¶14

For the Appellant/Accused : Mr.R Ali, learned counsel For the Respondent : Mr.M Phukan, learned

¶15

Additional Public Prosecutor, Assam Date of hearing & Judgment : 18.5.2018.

¶16

Page No.# 2/6

¶17

JUDGMENT AND ORDER

¶18

(Ajit Singh, C.J.)

¶19

The sole appellant, namely, Amin Uddin Laskar has been convicted under Section 302 of the Indian Penal Code and sentenced to imprisonment for life and fine of Rs.5000/- with default stipulation. The trial court however acquitted one co-accused Saiful Alam Laskar @ Saiful Hoque Laskar because the prosecution failed to adduce any evidence against him.

¶20

The victim of the incident was Amrul Hoque Choudhury @ Mohsin Hoque @ Mohsin Ali. He was aged about 30 years and a resident of village Dhanehari, Part-III, falling within the jurisdiction of District Cachar, Assam.

¶21

Facts in short are these. The appellant and Amrul Hoque were co-villagers. On the night of 22.11.2006 at about 6 p.m. one Rehimuddin Choudhury went to the house of Amrul Hoque and asked him to accompany to the house of appellant. Amrul Hoque followed suit. But, after sometime, one another person, namely, Anowar Hussain Laskar informed Mukkabir Ali (PW-1) that his son Amrul Hoque has sustained head injuries after falling on a rock. Mukkabir Ali immediately rushed towards the house of appellant, but on way, he found Amrul Hoque lying injured in an unconscious state in front of the house of Sahabuddin. There he also found some other co-villagers, namely, Ali Haider Choudhury (PW-3), Abdul Rejak (PW2), Abdul Rahman Choudhury (PW-8), Sebur Hussain Choudhury, Kachim Ali Choudhury (PW5) and Abdul Hoque. All these persons seeing Mukkabir told him that Amrul Hoque was assaulted by the appellant, Saiful, Rafiul, Saidul, Basiruddin, Sahabuddin, Asik Uddin and Muslim Uddin. Amrul Hoque was immediately taken to Police Station Sonai, but he died enroute. Then, on the next day, Mukkabir lodged the First Information Report Exhibit 1 wherein he named as many as 13 persons (including the appellant) as the assailants of Amrul Hoque. He mentioned the names on the basis of information given to him by the co-villagers. On receiving the information, Station House Officer -Muslim Ali (PW-15) first went to the place of occurrence and then to the house of appellant. He also took the appellant into custody and recorded his confessional statement. Thereafter, Muslim Ali seized one dao vide Exhibit 2 in the presence of Abdul Hussain Choudhury (PW-9) and Abdul Khalique Choudhury (PW-10) pursuant to the memorandum statement of appellant. He also seized one Shaval vide Exhibit-

¶22

Page No.# 3/6

¶23

3 from the backyard of the house of Chandu Mia Choudhury at the instance of another accused Saikul Alam.

¶24

On 23.11.2006, Dr. Manoj Kumar Sinha conducted the post mortem examination on the dead body of Amrul Hoque. He found two cut injuries on the head and multiple abrasions on both side of elbow joints. He also found one abrasion on left arm and one abrasion over right side of the chest wall. The doctor in his post mortem examination report Exhibit 4 opined that Amrul Hoque died due to head injuries caused by heavy sharp cutting weapon.

¶25

The appellant was produced on 27.11.2006 before the Magistrate for recording his confession. And Md. R.A. Tapadar (PW-14), who was Judicial Magistrate, 1^st Class, Silchar recorded the confessional statement Exhibit 10 of appellant. Muslim Ali after completing the investigation submitted charge sheet only against the appellant and Saiful Alam Laskar for an offence under Section 302/34 of the Indian Penal Code. He did not file charge sheet against remaining 11 persons named in the First Information Report because they were found to have been falsely implicated.

¶26

During trial, both appellant and Saiful Alam Laskar abjured their guilt and pleaded false implication. The appellant also retracted his confession and while being examined as an accused under Section 313 of the Code of Criminal Procedure stated that on the night of occurrence, Amrul Hoque armed with a dao, tried to kidnap his minor daughter Hasana Akhtar. One Samuruddin was also with Amrul Hoque and when he intervened to rescue her, a scuffle took place between him and Amrul Hoque. The appellant also stated that he somehow managed to rescue his daughter, but cannot say how Amrul Hoque died.

¶27

The trial court, after carefully examining the evidence adduced by the prosecution, has held that there is not one witness, who claimed to have seen the appellant assaulting Amrul Hoque and causing his death. There is also no evidence to show that appellant had sent Rehimuddin Choudhury to call Amrul Hoque to his house. The trial court has therefore given a finding that there is no eye witness to the incident and this finding, according to the learned Additional Public Prosecutor, is well founded.

¶28

The trial court essentially relying upon the confessional statement of appellant as well as his admission while being examined as an accused about the assault on Amrul Hoque

¶29

Page No.# 4/6

¶30

convicted and sentenced him as aforesaid. As mentioned above, the trial court acquitted coaccused Saiful Alam Laskar in the absence of any evidence against him.

¶31

It is argued on behalf of the appellant that the trial court committed an illegality in convicting him solely on the basis of retracted confession which is a weak evidence. It has also been argued that even if the confession of appellant is accepted he is entitled to the benefit of fifth clause of Section 100 of the Indian Penal Code and therefore his conviction is bad in law. The learned Additional Public Prosecutor, Assam, on the other hand, defended the impugned conviction and sentence of the appellant as passed by the trial court.

¶32

The record reveals that the appellant was given ample time to reflect and he was also cautioned and explained by the Magistrate about the consequences of making confession. The appellant was taken inside the office of the Magistrate without any control of the police and we find that Md. R.A Tapadar strictly adhered to the procedure for recording confessional statement. We are, thus, of the view that the appellant made the confession before Md. R.A Tapadar voluntarily.

¶33

Now the question which calls for our consideration is whether the conviction of appellant under Section 302 of the Indian Penal Code on the basis of his confession is legal and proper. To answer the same, we deem it proper to examine his confessional statement Exhibit 10, which reads as under:-

¶34

“Late Mahsin @ Amrul was my co-villager. Since the last Ramzan month, Mahsin had been speaking indecently with my minor daughter Hasana Akhtar whenever he passed by the front of my house. I objected to his doing that and raised the matter with his father.

¶35

Around 8:00 0’clock on 22.11.2006, Mahsin broke open the door to the room of my minor daughter Hasana and kidnapped her. When my daughter cried out, I came out of the house with a dao in hand. I saw Mahsin dragging away my daughter Hasana by her hand. Samuruddin was also present there. Seeing me, Samuruddin ran away. But Mahsin took out a knife and tried to assault me with that. In order to defend myself and my daughter, I then dealt a cut blow on Mahsin with the dao in my hand. My daughter went home. After dealing the blow, I too, returned home. Later, I came to know that Mahsin had died.

¶36

I came to P.S. and surrendered. The police arrested me there.”

¶37

A bare reading of the above quoted confessional statement clearly reveals that Amrul

¶38

Page No.# 5/6

¶39

Hoque kept a bad eye on the minor daughter of appellant and did not stop harassing her despite appellant objecting against his conduct. The appellant’s complaint to his father Mukkabir Ali also fell into deaf ears. Unable to control his lust, Amrul Hoque on the night of 22.11.2006, around 8 PM, forcibly entered inside the room of appellant’s daughter and kidnapped her. The appellant, on hearing the outcry of his daughter, came out with a dao and saw Amrul Hoque forcibly dragging her away. The appellant also saw Samuruddin accompanying Amrul Hoque, but Samuruddin fled after seeing him. Then, Amrul Hoque tried to kill the appellant with a knife and at that point of time, the appellant, to save himself and his daughter, hit Amrul Hoque with a dao on his hand. Appellant’s daughter on being rescued returned home. After dealing a blow, the appellant also returned home and later he came to know that Amrul Hoque had died. The appellant then went to Police Out Post and surrendered.

¶40

The appellant, however, retracted his confession to a major extent, while being examined as an accused under Section 313 of the Code of Criminal Procedure. But, he maintained that on the night of occurrence, Amrul Hoque along with one Samuruddin tried to kidnap his daughter and while rescuing her, a scuffle took place between him and Amrul Hoque. The appellant further stated that although he managed to rescue his daughter, he cannot say how Amrul Hoque died. Even from the retracted confessional statement of the appellant it is clear that Amrul Hoque forcibly entered inside the house of appellant and tried to kidnap his daughter by dragging her away. The appellant, then, in a bid to protect her, assaulted Amrul Hoque with a dao. No doubt the appellant tried to conceal the fact that he assaulted Amrul Hoque. But, as seen above, immediately thereafter, Amrul Hoque was found near the house of appellant in an injured condition. It was incumbent upon the appellant to explain as to how Amrul Hoque had sustained injuries, which he did not explain and therefore an inference can be drawn against him that he caused fatal injuries to Amrul Hoque. At the same time, we cannot be oblivious of the fact that Amrul Hoque tried to kidnap the daughter of appellant by using force after illegally entering his premises and this act of Amrul Hoque compelled the appellant to inflict dao blows on him to save the honour of his daughter. Even Mukkabir Ali has admitted in his cross examination that appellant has lodged a police report against the kidnapping of his minor daughter by Amrul Hoque.

¶41

Page No.# 6/6

¶42

In Viswanath vs. State of Uttar Pradesh, AIR 1960 SC 67 where the appellant’s sister was being abducted from her father’s house by her husband, and there was an assault on her and she was being compelled by force to go away from her father’s place, the Supreme Court held that the appellant had a right of private defence of the body of his sister against an assault with the intention of abducting her by force and that right extended to the causing of death. In that case, the Supreme Court acquitted the appellant of the charge under Section 302 of the Indian Penal Code who had dealt a fatal blow with a knife on the chest of his sister’s husband. Similar is the situation in the case at hand. And following the decision of the Supreme Court we hold that the appellant had a right of private defence of the body of his daughter against an assault with the intention of kidnapping her by force and that right extended to the causing of death of Amrul Hoque. We, accordingly set aside the impugned conviction and sentence of the appellant and acquit him of the charge. The appellant is in jail since more than 5 years. He is directed to be released forthwith.

¶43

The appeal is allowed.

¶44

Sd/Sd/JUDGE CHIEF JUSTICE

¶45

Comparing Assistant

Amin Uddin Laskar v. State of Assam and Anr.

Case brief

What is this about?

What did the court decide?

Amin Uddin Laskar v. State of Assam and Anr.

Case brief

What is this about?

What did the court decide?

What the court decided

A compact analysis

Issues for consideration

Cases cited

Statutes considered

Parties & counsel

Coram

Case details

Similar cases

Smti Bondita Baruah @ Bondita Baruah Deka Vs Sri Ramen Kr Deka

Sri Ramani Medhi Vs Assam Gramin Vikash Bank and 2 Ors.

Krishna Kumar Agrahari Vs the Union of India and 4 Ors.

Smti Arijita Paul Vs the State of Assam and 4 Ors.

Sri Mridul Sarma Vs Smt Gitumoni Bhattacharjee

Swati Bidhan Baruah Vs the State of Assam and 2 Ors.