'Vague Reference To Previous Medical Treatment' : Calcutta HC Dismisses Plea Of Legal Insanity, Upholds Life Sentence Of Man For Murdering His Mother

The Calcutta High Court has recently upheld the life sentence awarded to a man for murdering his mother by dismissing his plea of legal insanity.

A Bench comprising Justices Joymalya Bagchi and Kausik Chanda while dismissing the plea of legal insanity underscored, 

"I find it difficult to persuade myself that the appellant had discharged his onus to establish that he committed the crime while suffering from a bout of insanity. To fall within the general exception of legal insanity, it is incumbent on the part of the defence to establish that the accused was suffering from mental ailment of such degree at the time of commission of the offence that he was unaware of the consequences of his act. Appellant has singularly failed to discharge such onus. Vague reference to previous medical treatment by PW-6 without cogent materials like prescriptions or other medical evidence being placed on record to prove the nature and degree of mental impairment at the time of commission of the offence would not sustain the plea of legal insanity."

In the judgment authored by Justice Joymalya Bagchi, it was further noted that the evidence on record discloses that the appellant had an inimical relationship with his mother. The Court observed that the appellant had been demanding money from his mother to run his business and on her refusal to lend any money, the appellant had murdered her in the middle of the night. 

During the proceedings, it was argued that the appellant was suffering from mental imbalance and hence ought to be acquitted. However, the Court dismissed such a contention by stating that the record only shows that he had received some treatment for mental problems, however no witness evidence had divulged that the appellant was violent due to any mental disorder. Accordingly, the Court observed further, 

"I find little force in such submission. PW-6 merely stated that the appellant was a simple person and had previously received some treatment for mental problems. He, however, denied that the appellant was violent due to mental disorder. On the contrary, ample evidence has come on record that the appellant was leading a healthy and normal life. He was carrying on business in perfume on his own."

Background 

In the instant case, an appeal had been preferred against an order of a Sessions Court dated March 9, 2004 wherein the appellant had been convicted of the offence of murder under Section 302 of the IPC and was sentenced to undergo rigorous imprisonment for life and to pay a fine of Rs. 5,000 and in default to undergo simple imprisonment for three more months.

In the early hours of October 6, 2022 the appellant had allegedly hit his mother on the head with a kitchen grinding stone resulting in instantaneous death. His wife, Safia Begum, had found the appellant standing in the bedroom of her mother-in-law with a blood stained kitchen grinding stone while her mother-in-law was lying on the floor. The appellant had subsequently threatened her to not raise any alarm. 

Subsequently, an unknown person had made a phone call at Bowbazar Police Station stating that an assault had taken place at the concerned address after which the concerned Sub-Inspector of Police had proceeded to the spot. The police had recorded the statement of the wife of the appellant which was treated as the FIR. Thereafter, the appellant was arrested and the weapon of offence was also seized from the spot.

It was further alleged that the appellants had admitted his guilt before his brother-in-law. During investigation, the appellant had also made a judicial confession before the Magistrate under Section 164 of the CrPC following which charge sheet was filed against him under Section 302 of the IPC. However, the appellant had pleaded pleaded not guilty and had claimed to be tried.

Observations 

The Court observed that the appellant had himself admitted during his examination under Section 313 of the CrPC to have confessed his guilt before the concerned Magistrate. Furthermore, it was noted that the Magistrate had transcribed the statement of the appellant in Bengali and had read over and explained the same to the appellant and the latter had admitted it to be correct.

"It appears that the appellant is bilingual and was aware of Bengali language too. Thus, I do not find any prejudice suffered by the appellant on the score that his confession recorded under Section 164 of the Code of Criminal Procedure had been transcribed in Bengali by the Magistrate", the Court held. 

Opining on the voluntariness of the confession, the Court noted that the appellant had been sent for reflection to judicial custody for two days before recording his statement. Thereafter, the Magistrate (PW-12) took precautions to verify whether the appellant had been subjected to any coercion or inducement to make the statement, the Court stated further. 

It was further held that the judicial confession recorded had not been promptly retracted and that only during his examination under Section 313 of CrPC did the appellant come up with a belated plea of coercion by the police to make confession. Accordingly, the Court further underscored, 

"I am of the opinion that the judicial confession recorded by PW-12 does not suffer from any infirmity and is a voluntary and truthful admission of guilt. It is a trite law that conviction can be recorded solely on the basis of a judicial confession. However, in the present case, contents of the judicial confession receive substantial corroboration from the evidence of the prosecution witnesses including the wife of the appellant"

Thus, the Court upheld the conviction and the sentence imposed upon the appellant by the trial court. 

Case Title: Md. Wasim v. The State of West Bengal

Case Citation: 2022 LiveLaw (Cal) 19. 

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