IN THE HIGH COURT OF HIMACHAL PRADESH, SHIMLA Cr. Appeal No. 49 of 1996 Decided on: 6.10.2009 _______________________________________________________ State of H.P. ….appellant Versus Deep Ram and another ……..Respondents. Coram Hon’ble Mr. Justice Surjit Singh,J Hon’ble Mr. Justice Surinder Singh, J. Whether approved for reporting1? For the appellant : Mr. P.M. Negi, Dy. Advocate General with Mr. Ramesh Thakur Assistant Advocate General. For the respondent : Sh. Vinay Thakur, Advocate. ____________________________________________________ SURINDER SINGH, J (Oral) Heard and gone through the record of the case. The respondent Deep Ram was put on trial for the offences punishable under Sections 302, 436,506 and 201 of the Indian Penal Code and his wife Sharda Devi for the offences punishable under sections 436 and 201 read with section 34 of the Indian Penal Code. At the end of trial, both were acquitted by the learned trial court. The State felt aggrieved and filed the present appeal, challenging their acquittal. Whether reporters of the Local papers are allowed to see the judgment? - 2 - Precisely, the prosecution story is that on 5th November, 1993, PW8 Smt. Savitri Devi, the mother of PW1 Suresh Kumar and the wife of deceased Chet Ram had gone to the place of her parents in village Ghund and Chet Ram had gone to village Sainj to work in a slate quarry. According to PW1 Suresh Kumar, the respondent Deep Ram and his uncle Chet Ram, both returned at 8 p.m. to his house in village Shakal. They were excessively drunk. They had another bout of liquor. Around 9 p.m., both of them left towards village Sainj. Up to mid-night, his father did not return, despite search he could not locate him. During this time, he had also visited the house of Basia Ram where he met his wife and disclosed her everything. It is alleged that when he returned, he saw that grass collected in one portion of his house, was on fire. He raised alarm, but respondent Deep Ram threatened him. During the night, earlier when Deep Ram had returned and knocked at the door of his house, his Bua Murto Devi opened the door and told her that he had killed Chet Ram. Since he was also - 3 - threatened by the respondent Deep Ram, he took shelter some where out side. Next morning, he informed his mother (PW8)and maternal Uncle Anant Ram and saw police coming to his village. They asked him to identify the dead body of his father lying near the Veterinary hospital. Thereafter he got recorded his statement under section 154 Cr. P. C. (Ext.PW2/C), which culminated into the FIR under Section 302 Indian Penal Code. The autopsy was performed by PW17 Dr. Kuldeep Kumar. He noticed the following head injury, which caused death:- “Lacerated wound on the side of the skull 6”x2”x2” inside underlying bone was fractured and the brain matter was coming out of the wound which was depressed fracture of the scull at right frontal, temporal and parietal regions with a subdural haemotoma. The brain matter was coming out of the site of wound.” In the opinion of the doctor, the deceased had died due to the head injury leading the cardio respiratory failure. The death was spontaneous on receipt of the injury within 10 minutes and the time which was taken between the death and postmortem was within 24 hours. - 4 - The star witness of the prosecution is PW18 Basia Ram. His testimony is not disputed by the accused. This witness claims to have seen the occurrence during the intervening night of 5th and 6th November 1993 around 1.30 a.m., while retuning to his village from the Balsan area. He stated that when he reached near saw-mill in village Sainj, he was attracted by a drunken brawl going on nearby. In the torch-light, he could identify the respondent Deep Ram and Chet Ram (deceased) who had indulged in some heated discussion inter se. Deceased Chet Ram was asking the accused to arrange money from one Rana for purchasing more liquor, whereas Deep Ram accused was making the same request to him. On this, Chet Ram gave beatings to him but Deep Ram in order to avert attack, gave a push, with the result Chet Ram fell down on the stones. Thereafter respondent Deep Ram tried to lift him and was requesting him to return and accompany him to his house. PW18 further stated that on seeing this, he got scared and left the place. He reached home in the wee hours of the morning; thereafter he left for another village for canvassing - 5 - being the election time. Later he disclosed this fact to the police. The respondent Deep Ram was arrested on 6.11.1993 at 7 p.m. He was also got medically examined by the police from Dr. Kuldeep Kumar (PW17). He was found to have sustained the abrasion and contusions on the right knee and right calf muscles, as mentioned in his MLC Ext. PW-17/B which probablises the above version. On reappraising the evidence, on the facts established on record, we find that respondent Deep Ram did not commit the offence of murder of Chet Ram aforesaid but, in our opinion, he is proved to have acted defensively. His act was not punitive or retributive. In the circumstances aforesaid, he was a bonafide defender or the said incident was merely an accident without any criminal intent attributable to the said respondent. Further, Murto Devi aforesaid was not examined to corroborate the version of Suresh Kumar complainant regarding alleged extra judicial confession. Even PW8 Savitri Devi, mother of the complainant did not say anything about having been told to her by the - 6 - complainant about it nor with respect to causing the mischief by fire and alleged threatening. The version given by Suresh Kumar to this extent does not inspire confidence. Therefore, neither Deep Ram respondent could be held guilty for the offences charged against him nor his wife Sharda Devi. Thus for the reasons aforesaid, we uphold the acquittal of the respondents being legally and factually sustainable. The appeal filed by the State sans merit and is therefore, dismissed. The respondents are accordingly discharged of their bail bonds entered upon by them at any time during the proceedings of the case. (Surjit Singh),J. (Surinder Singh),J. October 6, 2009. (cm)