IN THE HIGH COURT OF HIMACHAL PRADESH SHIMLA Cr.A. No. 369 of 1993. Judgment reserved on: 23.9.2008 Date of Decision: 26th Sept. 2008. State of H.P. …Appellant Versus. Jagat Ram .. Respondent Coram: The Hon’ble Mr. Justice Deepak Gupta, Judge. The Hon’ble Mr. Justice V.K.Ahuja, Judge. Whether approved for Reporting? No For the Appellant(s): Mr. R.M.Bisht, Dy.A.G. For the Respondent(s): Mr. Vinod Thakur, Advocate. __________________________________________________________________ Deepak Gupta, J. This appeal is directed against the judgment of the learned Sessions Judge, Shimla in Sessions Trial No.43-S/7 of 1992 decided on 3.8.1993 whereby he has acquitted the respondent-accused of having committed offences punishable under Sections 302, 452 and 307 IPC. The prosecution case, in brief, is that on 30.8.1992, in the early hours of the morning, the accused Jagat Ram murdered Sita Mani, his estranged wife. She was allegedly sleeping in a ‘jhungi’ (an open area with a thatched roof). According to the prosecution Sita Mani was residing with her son, from another husband, Bhau Ram. After - 2 - murdering Sita Mani, Jagat Ram trespassed into the house of Bhau Ram where his wife Kala Wati and children were sleeping and stabbed Kala Wati on her breast with a knife. Kala Wati picked up a torch and in the torch light recognized the accused who ran away from the spot. According to the prosecution Vinod Kumar minor son of Kala Wati was sleeping in the same room. He also recognized the accused. In the adjoining room one Hari Singh was sleeping who also got up on hearing the cries of Kala Wati and he also identified the accused. In the morning Vinod Kumar was sent to inform one Ram Lal about the incident who then went towards Jeori where Bhau Ram was staying to carry on the work of muleteer. The matter was then reported to the police. The police came to the spot and the statements of the witnesses were recorded. The dead body of Sita Mani was sent for post mortem examination. After completion of investigation challan was presented in the Court and the trial conducted. The learned Sessions Judge has come to the conclusion that there are many inconsistencies in the statements of the witnesses and the prosecution version is not believable and hence acquitted the accused. Hence the present appeal. We may now refer to the evidence led by the prosecution. PW-1 Ram Lal states that on 30.8.1992 at about 6 a.m. in the morning Vinod Kumar son of Bhau Ram came to the house of the witness and told the witness that his (Vinod Kumar’s) grand mother had been murdered and his mother has been stabbed by Jagat Ram accused. He immediately went to the spot. The body of Sita Mani - 3 - was found on the grass and she had stab injuries on her breast. He went to Jeori to inform Bhau Ram and met him on the way. Thereafter, the matter was reported to the police vide Ext.PW-1/A. The police came to the spot and in the presence of this witness took into possession some grass which was covered with blood and also two blankets which were smeared with blood. Some other articles belonging to Sita Mani were also taken into possession. The shirt of Kala Wati which was in a torn condition at the place of the breast was also taken into possession by the police vide memo Ext.PW-1/E. This shirt of Kala Wati was blood stained. This witness also states that on 4.9.1992 when he along with Bhau Ram had gone to Rampur the accused made a disclosure statement Ext.PW-1/F and thereafter led the police party and got the knife Ext.P-9 recovered from the bushes near the house of the accused. In cross examination he denied the suggestion that the knife was not produced by the accused. He also denied the suggestion that the accused had already divorced Sita Mani. He however admitted that for the last many years Sita Mani was not living with the accused but in the house of her son Bhau Ram. PW-2 Bhau Ram’s statement is only relevant to the extent that there were strained relations between the accused and Sita Mani. He has proved some complaints made by Sita Mani to the Panchayat against accused. He has also proved the recovery of the various articles on 30.7.1992. This witness admits that there is no electricity at his house. According to him, the ‘jhungi’ is about 300 ft. from his house. According to this witness, the accused had divorced Sita Mani - 4 - about 2 years back. He denied the suggestion that Vinod Kumar and Ram Lal had not disclosed the name of the accused to him. The most important statement in this case is that of Kala Wati. According to her at about 4 a.m. Jagat Ram entered her room. He flashed a torch light on her. She immediately picked up her own torch and saw the accused. Her son Vinod Kumar who was in the room woke up. In the meantime Hari Singh also came there. According to Kala Wati, the accused with a sharp edged weapon caused injury on the right side of her breast. He gave her two blows. She further states that as soon as the accused gave her blows, blood started oozing out. Then the accused ran away from the spot. After the accused had run away she heard the cries of her mother-in-law who was saying bachao-bachao Jagat Ram ne mar diya. Thereafter, first Vinod Kumar and Hari Singh went to see Sita Mani. Few minutes later Vinod Kumar returned and informed her that Sita Mani had been killed. Then the witness also went to ‘jhungi’ and found that Sita Mani had injuries on her breast. She also identified the shirt she was wearing at that time of occurrence which was taken into possession by the police. According to her Jagat Ram nurtured a grudge against Sita Mani since he wanted Sita Mani to reside with him but Sita Mani did not agree. This witness in cross examination states that even Hari Singh who was sleeping in the adjoining room had a torch. According to her it takes 5 to 10 minutes to reach the place where the dead body of Sita Mani was lying. In reply to a Court question this witness has stated that the accused first stabbed her mother-in-law and then she heard the - 5 - cries bachao-bachao mar diya and thereafter the accused entered her room and stabbed her. Vinod Kumar, minor son of Kala Wati was aged about 13 years. He has supported the version of the prosecution. In cross examination he states that he got up only when his mother cried out of pain and then Hari Singh came on hearing their cries. He states that body of his grand mother was lying at some distance from ‘jhungi’ in a naked condition. He states that he never saw the torch his mother switched on after the date of incident. According to him the cries of Sita Mani were been heard after his mother Kala Wati was stabbed and the accused ran away. Hari Singh has also made a similar statement. According to him, he was sleeping in a separate house adjoining the house in which Kala Wati was sleeping. When he heard some noise at about 4.30 in the morning he got up and saw that Jagat Ram was running away. He identified the accused Jagat Ram in the light of the torch held by Kala Wati. After the accused had run away he heard the cries of Sita Mani ‘mar diya-mar diya bachao-bachao’. According to this witness he saw that Kala Wati had some injuries on her breast which she told him had been caused by Jagat Ram. He states that for about half an hour they did not go towards the ‘jhungi’. After half an hour they went towards the ‘jhungi’ side and found that Sita Mani was dead. She was in a naked condition. In cross examination the witness states that he was not having any torch on that date and except for the torch in the hand - 6 - of Kala Wati there was no source of light. He states that the body of Sita Mani was lying on the grass about 15-20 ft. from the ‘jhungi’. PW-6 Dr.R.K. Bajaj conducted the post mortem of Sita Mani and has found that the death of Sita Mani was caused due to the injuries on the left side of the chest causing injuries to the lungs and heart. This witness also examined Kala Wati. On the right of the chest of Kala Wati he found a small wound measuring about half inch on the breast of Kala Wati. The depth of this wound was superficial and the width was small. There was another superficial incised wound also. This witness in cross examination has clearly stated that any person who had received injuries like those found on the body of Sita Mani would have been unable to speak loudly and the voice of such person could not be heard from a distance of 300 ft. He has also clearly opined that the injuries found on the body of Kala Wati could not be caused with knife Ext.P-9 if struck with force. PW-8 is another witness to the recovery of the knife. PW-11 Mohar Singh proved that Sita Mani had filed some complaint against accused Jagat Ram. Another very important piece of evidence in this case is the report of the Forensic Science Laboratory Ext.PW-15/H. According to this report, human blood was found on the blood stained earth grass and leaves. Blood particles were found on the knife but no blood was found on the shirt worn by Kala Wati or the blanket in which she was sleeping. - 7 - The entire case revolves around the identification of Jagat Ram. His identity is sought to be established by the statements of Kala Wati, Vinod Kumar and Hari Singh. There are various infirmities in the prosecution version, some of them may be listed out. Admittedly there was no electricity in the house. It is also admitted that it was a dark night. The accused is stated to have been identified in the torch light held by Kala Wati. However, no such torch was taken into possession by the police. According to Kala Wati even Hari Singh had a torch and he had flashed the same. However, Hari Singh says that he did not have any torch. According to Kala Wati she was given injuries on her breast with a sharp edged weapon by the accused. This version is totally falsified by the fact that no blood has been found on the shirt worn by Kala Wati. If she had been stabbed and blood oozed out as stated by her the shirt would have had some blood stains. In fact Kala Wati and other witnesses state that the shirt was having blood stains but according to the forensic report there was no blood on the shirt. In the case set out by the prosecution Jagat Ram first murdered Sita Mani and then came to the house of Kala Wati. Assuming that he had some grudge against Sita Mani, why would he murder her and then come to the house of Kala Wati. Natural conduct would have been to run away from the spot. Kala Wati had contradicted herself by stating in answer to the court question that she had heard the cries of her mother-in-law prior to her being stabbed. This is also contrary to the version given by - 8 - Hari Singh and Vinod Kumar. Both of them say that they heard cries of Sita Mani after Kala Wati had been stabbed. Sita Mani’s body was found about 20 ft. from the ‘jhungi’. It was in a naked condition. There is no explanation as to why the body of Sita Mani was not having any clothes. If Sita Mani was to sleep in a ‘jhungi’ which does not have any walls she would not have slept naked. Why was the body found about 20 to 30 ft. away from the ‘jhungi’? There is no convincing answer to this question. According to Vinod Kumar and Hari Singh and even in the examination-in-chief Kala Wati has stated that cries of Sita Mani were heard immediately after Kala Wati was stabbed. According to Kala Wati and Vinod Kumar immediately after the stabbing of Kala Wati, Hari Singh and Vinod Kumar had gone towards the ‘jhungi’ and had found that Sita Mani was dead. The ‘jhungi’ is only at a distance of 300 ft. from the house. It would not take more than 2-3 minutes to cover distance of 100 yards. Sita Mani could not have been murdered in this short period. It is apparent that Sita Mani was murdered. She was murdered when she was naked. No investigation was made as to whether she had any sexual intercourse immediately before her death. The post mortem report is totally silent in this regard. The Doctor has clearly opined that in view of the injuries on the dead body of Sita Mani her voice could not have been heard at a distance of 30 ft. and the Doctor has also opined that the injuries on - 9 - Kala Wati could not have been caused by the alleged weapon of offence. Who murdered Sita Mani is the moot question. According to the prosecution it was the accused and in support of their case reliance is placed on the statements of Kala Wati, Vinod Kumar and Hari Singh. There are a large number of inconsistencies and contradictions in the prosecution case and the statements of these three witnesses as pointed out above. Even the recovery of the knife is not free from doubt. Therefore, it would be very difficult to hold that it was the accused and none else who committed the murder of Sita Mani. The benefit of doubt has to be given to the accused. In view of the above discussion, we find no merit in the appeal which is accordingly rejected. Bail bonds furnished by the accused are discharged. ( Deepak Gupta ), J. September 26, 2008. ( V.K. Ahuja ),J. PV