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(7) Sharp cut injury over ventral aspect of right hand which had lacerated the little finger and was 5 cms. below injury No. 6

5. Internal examination showed that both chambers of the heart were empty, stomach contained about 3 oz. semi digested food and the small intestine contained liquid and gases and the large intestine contained faecal matter and gases. Death had taken place 16 hours prior to post-mortem examination due to injuries on the dead body, which according to the doctor were sufficient for causing his death in the ordinary course. However, he admitted that it was possible that the deceased may have been murdered at 4.4.30 on the same day.

(7) Abraded contusion 3 cm x 2 cm anterior part of left shoulder.

7. There was a pale cut injury in the brain corresponding to the external injury. The stomach contained about 3 oz. semi digested food, small intestine contained liquid and gases and gases and faecal matter were present in the large intestine. The time of death was 16 hours prior to post-mortem. In the opinion of the doctor, the cause of death was shock and haemorrhage as a result of ante mortem injuries. The cause of death was a sharp edged weapon. He denied that the injuries could have been caused due to two weapons. The said weapon was not produced before him, and he could not say from what sharp edged weapon, the injuries were caused. He admitted that the injuries could be in the result of striking with a daav. Rigor mortis had commenced and was present in the hand and legs. After examining the semi digested food in the stomach, it could be concluded that the death could have taken place two or three hours after taking of a meal. On 16.9.2004 the Investigating Officer obtained the original inquest report, post mortem report of the deceased Sarfaraz Ahmad and Smt. Shahnaz Begum. Thereafter after completing all the formalities, he recorded the 161 Cr.P.C. statements of all the formal witnesses. He also submitted a charge sheet No. 130/04 in Court (Ext. Ka-27). A Charge was framed against the appellant on 4.3.2005 by the Trial Court under Section 302 IPC for committing two murders. He pleaded not guilty to the charge and claimed trial.

23. The third feature in this case, which creates doubt about the veracity of the prosecution case is that according to P.W. 7, Dr. R.N. Upadhyay, who conducted the post-mortem examination on the body of the deceased Sarfaraz and Shahnaz Behag at 4.30 P.M. and 5.15 P.M. on 10.9.2004, he found that the time of death was about 16 hours which would normally take the incident to about mid-night in the night of 9-10/9/2004. Also the stomach of the deceased Sarfaraz contained 3 oz of semi-digested food and stomach of the deceased Shahnaz Begum also contained 3 oz of semi-digested food which action is more likely two or three hours after the incident. If food had been taken at 9 or 10 P.M. and by morning at 4.30 A.M. if the incident had occurred, then the stomach in all likelihood would have been empty. No doubt an effort has been made to put it in the mouth of P.W. 2 Zakir Hussain that the two deceased had taken their meal at about 12.00 or 12.30 mid-night after these children had also eaten their food and gone to sleep. But we think that the time that the time which is being given out by this witness when that the deceased had taken their food, appears to be the result of tutoring by some interested persons, and we will show later that there was reason for tutoring of these child witnesses. We think that the normal time for eating once food in rural areas is rarely at 12.00 midnight and in our opinion the words have been put in the mouth of these witnesses because of some extraneous pressures so as to explain the presence of semi-digested food in the stomach of the two deceased, which would not be the condition at 4.00-4.30 in the morning when the murders are said to have taken place, when the stomach would in normal course be empty.

32. We are inclined to think that in his drunk state the appellant may not himself have been able to himself understand what had happened. It would also not be so difficult to influence two little children to depose against their cousin brother who was sleeping on the adjoining bed, with whom his father had entered into an argument the previous evening over a drinking episode. I think that even the parents of the appellant could have been duped in view of the apparent circumstances which superficially seemed to link the appellant with the crime, although a deeper analysis of the exonerative circumstances such as lack of motive to commit the murder after so many hours after a scolding because of drinking when the appellant had already taken his food, (and complete absence of any motive for murdering Smt. Shahnaz who had not even scolded the appellant for drinking), the ignorance of the child witnesses as to how and when Shahnaz had been murdered when her room was hardly a few paces away, and the presence of semi-digested food in the stomachs of the two deceased taking the incident to mid-night rather than 4 or 4.30 a.m. in the morning makes the account unreliable. However it appears that because of the superficial circumstances which seem to link the appellant with the crime, even the parents of the appellant have thought that he' may have committed the two murders and have provided him with no legal help, and hence he was defended by an amicus curie even before the trial court.