Criminal Appeal No 559 of 1983
From the Judgment and Order dated 711982 of the Punjab and Haryana High Court in Crl
Appeal No 537 SB of 1980
Harbans Lal IS Goel and K Chaudhri for the Appellant
Govind Mukhoty Amicus Curiae for the Respondent
The Judgment of the Court was delivered by BALAKRISHNA ERADI J
Uttam alias Cheaku the respond ent herein along with three others was tried by the learned Additional Sessions Judge Gurgaon for alleged commission of offences under Sections 395397 and 4 12 of the Indian Penal Code
By judgment dated July 21
1980 the learned Addition al Sessions Judge held that the charge against Uttam under Section 395 IPC was proved beyond all reasonable doubt and he was accordingly convicted and sentenced to undergo rigorous imprisonment for four years
The other three ac cused were acquitted on the ground that their participation in the crime was not sufficiently proved and hence they were entitled to the benefit of doubt
The respondent carried the matter in appeal to the High Court of Punjab and Haryana
The High Court by its impugned judgment dated January 7 1982 allowed the said appeal extending the benefit of doubt to the respondent and set aside his conviction and sen tence
The State of Haryana has come up to this Court with this appeal against the said order of acquittal after ob taining Special leave from this Court
Briefly stated the prosecution case is that on October 24 1978 Om Parkash PW 5 accompanied by his wife Jai Rani PW 6 and their daughter Neelam left Delhi in the early hours of the morning for Jaipur by car
Om Parkash and his wife Jai Rani were in the front seat of the vehicle while their daughter was occupying the rear seat
When their car had reached about 10 12 Kms
beyond Gurgaon on the Delhi Jaipur Road another car bearing registration No DEA 2914 came 1067 from behind and attempted to overtake their vehicle
Even though Om Parkash had made way for the other car to pass that car deliberately swerved to the left side and struck against the front wheel of his car whereupon Om Parkash stopped his car on the left side of the road in the kacha portion
In the meantime the other car also stopped at a distance of about ten paces ahead and five persons came out of that vehicle
It is stated that two or three out of them were armed with revolvers and others with daggers
Om Par kash got out of the vehicle and asked the assailants as to why they had caused the accident
In the meantime Jai Rani also came out of the car
One of the assailants then gave a couple of knife blows in the chest of Om Parkash whereupon he tried to raise an alarm
Hearing the said cry  for help some trucks which were passing along that road tried to stop but one of the assailants who was armed with a pistol fired shots in the air and scared away those truck drivers
There after one of the assailants removed the ear rings necklace and wrist watch from the person of Jai Rani and in that process one of her ear lobes was cut as under
The wrist watch and purse of Om Parkash were also removed by one of the culprits
Apart from that three attache cases which were on the luggage carrier of the car were also forcibly removed and taken away by the miscreants
Before the cul prits left the spot in their car with all the booty a shot was fired by one of them which hit Om Parkash on his fore head
After inflicting the said injury the miscreants made good their escape
Om Parkash somehow managed to drive back his car to Gurgaon and there he contacted his partner Joginder Singh PW 7 to whom he narrated the whole incident
Om Parkash was immediately taken to Civil Hospital Gurgaon where he was medically examined and various injuries were found on his person
Jai Rani also medically examined and the injury on her right ear lobe was declared to be grievous
The other injuries were found to be simple for which she was given first aid
The first information report was thereafter lodged with the police by Om Parkash and Sub Inspector Tilak Raj PW 21 carried out the investigation
He recovered empty cartridge cases Exhibits P 15 and P 16 one wad Exhibit P 17 and one Ball Point Pen Exhibit P 18 from the place of occurrence
During the investigation it was found that the car used by the culprits had been stolen on October 23 1973 from the house of its owner one SK Mahajan
Subsequently on October 27 1978 the car was found lying abandoned in the Ghaziabad factory area and it was taken into police custody
The accused were arrested after a fairly long delay since it so happened that subsequent to the occurrence in question the accused 1068 persons had been allegedly involved in the commission of other crimes in the State of Uttar Pradesh and they were lodged in the Meerut jail
After the accused were brought from Meerut two test identification parades were held one separately for Uttam at his request and the other for the remaining suspects
In the first parade Uttam was correctly identified by both Om Parkash and Jai Rani
In the second identification parade Om Parkash failed to identify any of the other accused whereas Jai Rani identified Trilok Singh who was accused No 2
On the basis of the information furnished by the accused the Investigating Officer and the police party led by him recovered some of the articles which formed the contents of the suit cases removed from the car of the victims
They consisted of new suit length cloths sarees trousers blouses petti coats etc
The Prosecution examined in all 22 witnesses in its endeavour to establish the guilt of the accused in relation to the the charges framed against them
The learned Addi tional Sessions Judge after an elaborate and analytical discussion of the whole evidence recorded the conclusion that the participation of the respondent Uttam in the com mission of the crime was established beyond all doubt inas much as he had been identified by both Om Parkash PW 5 and Jai Rani PW 6 and the testimony given by these two witnesses narrating the details of the incident of robbery and assault was not in any manner shaken in cross examina tion and deserved to be accepted as wholly truthful
The remaining three accused were given the benefit of doubt mainly on the ground that excepting the second accused who had been identified only by Jai Rani at the identification parade the others were not identified either by Jai Rani or by Om Parkash and hence there was no satisfactory proof of their participation in the crime
In the light of the afore said conclusion reached by him the learned Additional Sessions Judge convicted the respondent Uttam under Section 395 IPC and sentenced him to undergo rigorous imprison ment of four years
The High Court by a judgment which we are constrained to characterise as most perfunctory has set aside the judgment of the learned Additional Sessions Judge in so far as he was convicted the respondent herein and acquitted him
We regret to have to remark that the High Court has dealt with the case in a very superficial and casual manner and has not even taken totrouble to discuss the evidence adduced in the case before it proceeded to interfere with the well consid ered judgment of the trial court
Both Om Parkash PW 5 and Jai Rani PW 6 had clearly identified the respondent at the test identification parade as well as in the Court and they had 1069 clearly and unequivocally deposed that he was one of the assailants who took part in the robbery and assault
Their testimony has been discussed at length by the learned Addi tional Sessions Judge and he has given sound and convincing reasons for accepting and acting upon the same
The whole discussion of the case by the High Court is contained in one short paragraph of its judgment namely paragraph 6
It is not disclosed anywhere therein as to why the High Court considered that the testimony of these two witnesses who were the victims of the crime could not be accepted and why it could not form the foundation for the conviction of the respondent
A case of highway robbery such as this should have been dealt with much more seriousness and care than has been bestowed on it by the High Court
The approach of the High Court to the case and the conclusion recorded by it cannot but be characterised as manifestly illegal and per verse
In the absence of any discussion of the evidence by the High Court we have ourselves gone through the entire evi dence adduced in the case with the assistance of the Counsel appearing in both sides
We are in complete agreement with the conclusion recorded by the learned Additional Sessions Judge that from the evidence of Om Parkash PW 5 and Jai Rani PW 6 the participation of the accused in the commission of the offence has been proved beyond all reason able doubt
The respondent was therefore rightly convicted by the learned Additional Sessions Judge and the only mis take committed by the learned Additional Sessions Judge was in not in awarding a more severe sentence commensurate with the gravity of the offence
In the result we allow the appeal set aside the judg ment Of the High Court and restore that of the learned Additional Sessions Judge convicting the respondent under Section 395 IPC and sentencing him to undergo rigorous imprisonment of four years
The Bail Bond of the respondent will stand cancelled
He shall be taken into custody forth with to serve out the remaining portion of the sentence
NPV Appeal allowed


Summary:
The respondent
along with three others was tried for offences under sections 395397 and 412 of the Indian Penal Code
The prosecution alleged that the respondent had delib erately dashed his car against the car of PW 5 on the Delhi Jaipur Road while the latter was traveling to Jaipur alongwith his wife PW 6 and daughter
Five persons two or three of them armed with revolvers and others with daggers came out of the respondent s car
One of them gave a couple of knife blows in the chest of PW 5 and another
who was armed with a pistol fired shots in the air and scared away drivers of some trucks who were passing along that road and tried to come to the aidof PW 5 who was crying out for help
One of the assailants removed the ear rings necklace and wrist watch from the person of PW 6
and in that proc ess one of her ear lobes was cut as under
The wrist watch and purse of PW 5 and three attache cases on the luggage carrier of his car were also forcibly removed and taken away
Before the culprits left the spot in their car with all the booty
a shot was fired by one of them which hit PW 5 on the forehead
PW 5 somehow managed to drive back his car to Gurgaon and narrated the whole incident to his part ner and thereafter he and his wife were medically examined and treated at Gurgaon Civil Hospital for the various injuries that were found on them
Thereafter an FIR was lodged with the Gurgaon Police
The accused were arrested after a fairly long delay and two test identification pa rades were held
one separately for the respondent accused at his request and other for the remaining suspects
The respondent was identified by the victims
On the basis of the information furnished by the accused some of the arti cles of the victims were recovered
1065 The trial court held that the charge against the re spondent under section 395 IPC was proved beyond all reasonable doubt and convicted and sentenced him to undergo rigorous imprisonment for four years
The other three ac cused were acquitted on the ground that their participation in the crime was not sufficiently proved and hence they were entitled to the benefit of doubt
The High Court however allowed the appeal of the respondent by extending the benefit of doubt to him and set aside his conviction and sentence
Allowing the State s appeal by Special leave
HELD 1
A case of highway robbery such as this should have been dealt with much more seriousness and care than has been bestowed on it by the High Court
Its approach to the case and the conclusion recorded by it cannot but be cha racterised as manifestly illegal and perverse
The trial court has rightly concluded that from the evidence of the victims the participation of the respondent in the commis sion of the offence had been proved beyond all doubt
1069B C 21 The High Court by a most perfunctory judgment set aside the judgment of the trial court insofar as the trial court had convicted the respondent herein and acquitted him
It has dealt with the case in a very superficial and casual manner and has not even taken care to discuss the evidence adduced in the case before it proceeded to inter fere with the well considered judgment of the trial court
1068G H 22
The trial court after an elaborate and analytical discussion of the whole evidence recorded the conclusion that the participation of the respondent in the commission of the crime was established beyond all doubt inasmuch as he had been identified by the both the victims and their testimony narrating the details of the incident of robbery and assault was not shaken in cross examination and deserved to be accepted as wholly truthful 1068D E 23 Both the victims PW 5 and 6 had clearly identified the respondent at the test identification parade as well as in the court and they had clearly and unequivocally disposed that he was one of the assailants who took part in the robbery and assault
The trial court has given sound and convincing reasons for accepting and acting upon their testimony
The High Court has however
not discussed in its judgment as to why it considered that the testimony of the victims of the crime could not_be accepted and why it could not form the foundation for the conviction of the respond ent
1068H 1069A B 1066 3
The judgment of the High Court is set aside and that of the trial court convicting the respondent under section 395 of the Indian Penal Code and sentencing him to undergo rigorous imprisonment of four years is restored
Necessity for awarding severe punishment in such cases of proven highway robbery stressed
1069F