Criminal Law Case: Bhuwane Basnet Chhetri v. His Majesty Government of Nepal, NKP 2031, No. 3, DN: 812 (Sem: 3rd Semester)
Case: Homicide (Actus Reus)
Petitioner: Bhuwane Basnet Chhetri
Opponent: His Majesty Government on behalf of Harke Damai
Decision No: 812
Fact of the case:
Lalmati is the main victim of the case, Panmati & Juna Damimi is the friends of Lalmati. Bhuwane Basnet is the accused of the case(Murder). He is also from the same village.
Lalmati informed Bhuwane Basnet that she had become pregnant due to having sexual intercourse with him on 2024/06/19. Bhuwane said that they will run away to India tomorrow night and settle there, which was overheard by Panmati and Juna Damini, when they were returning from singing.
Lalmati disappeared from 2024/06/20, and from the same date Bhuwane Basnet was also not in village, he came back to his home on 2024/06/21 creating a suspicious situation.
Harke Damai, father of missing Lalmati, filed FIR accusing Bhuwane Basnet of killing Lalmati and throwing her dead body in Karnali River. Bhuwane Basnet gave written statement in Police, neither he had sexual relation with the accused nor killed her. Police report was prepared and FIR filled by taking reference of evidence collected delimiting the punishment in accordance to no. 13 Sec. 3 of chapter on Homicide of country code.
Court Decision:
Lalmati’s friends gave statement before the police recounting about what they had overheard. The complaint that Harke Damai testified before the Dailekh District Court, alleging that his daughter used to come to his dream and tell that it was Bhuwane Basnet who had killed her and dumped her body in Karnali River. Bhuvane Basnet stated that, he was not running away, in fact, he had gone to his sister’s house due to illness of his nephew.
After hearing of all the evidence, Dailekh District Court said, “After knowing about pregnancy, instead of letting her alive, he intended to kill her and acted accordingly. Hence, it is an act of Homicide, liable for the punishment of life imprisonment with confession of all his property.
Bheri Zonal Court, upheld the decision of Dailekh District Court.
Bhuvane Basnet appealed to Supreme Court. Supreme Court overruled the decision of lower courts and liberated the property of Bhuwane Basnet and was not convicted on the following grounds;
- It is not proper to base the decision on the dream story of the complaint who was being hunted by mental anxiety.
- As there was no existence of the corpus (the dead body), it could not be established by evidence.
- Except, the main eyewitness, other witness were silent on the fact that, the corpse body of Lalmati was thrown in Karnali River by tying stone on her body to make it down
Precedent Established:
In the case, where the doubt of “whether the criminal act was taken place or not, in such circumstances it is not necessary to punish the accused person.”
