IN THE HIGH COURT OF HIMACHAL PRADESH, SHIMLA Cr. Appeal No. 166 of 1994. Reserved on.: 30.10.2008. Date of decision: 11.11.2008 State of H.P. …. Appellant. Vs. Puran Chand and others ... Respondent. Coram The Hon’ble Mr.Justice Deepak Gupta, J. The Hon’ble Mr. Justice V.K.Ahuja, J. Whether approved for reporting?1 No. For the appellant-State: Mr. Ram Murti Bisht, Dy.Advocate General. For the respondents: Mr. N.D.Sharma, Advocate. Per Deepak Gupta, J. This appeal is directed against the judgement of the learned Additional Sessions Judge, Mandi, in Sessions trial No. 10 of 1993 decided on 1.3.1994. The prosecution case, in brief, is that the complainant Lekh Ram made a complaint to the police on 2nd September, 1992 that he came to know in his village that his sister Gangli Devi had died. Gangli Devi was married to accused Puran Chand. Accused Santi Devi and Nand Lal are the parents of the accused Puran Chand. Gangli Devi was married to Puran Chand somewhere in the year 1981. When the complainant reached the house of his sister, he found that her dead body was lying outside the house and the accused persons were preparing to cremate her. He stopped them from cremating the deceased and came to the Police Station, Sundernagar and made a complaint on the basis of which FIR Ext. PL was lodged at 2.00 p.m on 2.9.1992. 1 Whether the reporters of the local papers may be allowed to see the Judgment. Yes. 2 Investigation of the case was handled by two Investigating Officer, ASI Krishan Lal (PW-27) and Inspector Chaman Lal Kaushik (PW-28). Initially, the investigation was done by Krishan Lal, who went to the spot on 2nd September, 1992. The dead body of Gangli Devi was lying in the house of the accused persons. Investigating Officer prepared the inquest report Ext.PM and site plan Ext.PW-27/A. During investigation, it was found that the body of Gangli Devi was found lying in a Nallah in the morning of 2nd September, 1992 from where it was brought by the accused persons to their house. Site plan of the Nallah was also prepared. Some broken pieces of bangles, a necklace, etc. were also recovered near the Nallah. A plastic shoe was found lying on the side of the Nallah. One piece of the Dapatta Ext.P-12 was found in the grass above the Nallah. He thereafter came back to the house of the accused persons. Some further investigation was also carried out in the house of the accused persons. According to the prosecution, the accused persons were claiming that the deceased had fallen down the Dhank. The investigating Officer sent the body of the deceased for post mortem to the Sub-Divisional Hospital, Sundernagar and post mortem was conducted by Dr. Inder Singh PW-25 who opined that the deceased had died due to intracranial hemorrhage caused by injury. The prosecution alleges that on 6th September, 1992, accused Santi Devi made a disclosure statement Ext.PS, under Section 27 of the Evidence Act, in the presence of Nandu Ram(PW-11) and Prabha Ram (PW-24). It is alleged that the accused Santi Devi stated that she has concealed a stone in the Nallah which she could get recovered and thereafter led the police party to the Nallah and thereafter got the stone recovered. According to the prosecution Santi Devi had used this stone to murder the deceased. As far as PW-27 ASI Krishan Lal is concerned, he clearly states that till he was investigating the case, there was no evidence against the 3 accused Puran Chand and the investigation pointed to the complicity of accused Santi Devi only. Thereafter, the investigation was taken over by PW-28 Inspector, Chaman Lal Kaushik. Thereafter, Puran Chand was arrested on 11th October, 1992. According to the prosecution, the residence of Puran Chand accused was searched and two love letters Ext.PW-28/A and Ext.PW-28/B alleged to have been written by Puran Chand to one Pushpa Mehta (PW-4) were recovered. According to the prosecution, Puran Chand made a disclosure statement on 15th October, 1992 Ext.PW-28/C in the presence of PW-5 Gandhi Ram and PW-17 Hari Singh to the effect that he had concealed an iron pipe, (Bhaimplu) used to blow air to help light a fire, under the roof of his house which he can get recovered. Thereafter, the accused led the police party to his house and got the iron pipe Ext.P-7 recovered. According to the prosecution version, the accused Puran Chand hit his wife with this pipe and killed her. Some clothes of Puran Chand were also taken into possession. The prosecution examined as many as 28 witnesses in support of its case. After trial, the learned Additional Sessions Judge has acquitted the accused and has come to the conclusion that the prosecution has not adduced any satisfactory evidence to link any of the accused persons with the death of Gangli Devi. As far as accused Nand Lal is concerned, there is not an iota of evidence against him. No witness has made any statement against him and even the Investigating Officers have not attributed any role to accused Nand Lal. As far as accused Santi Devi is concerned, according to the prosecution, she has made a disclosure statement and had got recovered a stone in the presence of PW-11 and PW-18. PW-11 while appearing in the witness box has stated that Santi Devi told the police that when Gangli Devi was going to her parents house she tried to catch hold of her hand but fell down and slipped and rolled down into the 4 Nallah whereafter she threw some stones towards her. Thereafter this witness was declared hostile. According to him, Santi Devi had got recovered one stone from Nallah. This witness is also a witness to the recovery of the iron pipe Ext.P-7, allegedly used by accused Puran Chand. He admits that the statement was made by Santi Devi about 5 days after she had remained in custody of the police. The stone which Santi Devi got recovered was lying in the open and was not hidden. As far as the iron pipe is concerned, according to him when he reached the house of the accused there was two iron pipes lying in the open and the Investigating Officer stated that smaller pipe could not have been used to kill a person and thereafter Ext.P-7 was taken into possession. It is clear that this witness does not support the prosecution. PW-24 has not been examined in respect of the disclosure statement at all. Both PW-11 and PW-24 have stated that one small girl informed them that one lady is lying in the Nallah. These two witnesses went to the Nallah and saw the dead body of Gangli Devi. Thereafter they came back towards the village and on the way accused Santi and Nand Lal met them. Thereafter, these witnesses informed these two persons that their daughter-in-law was lying dead in the Nallah. Both these witnesses have also admitted the fact that the deceased was being looked after properly in her in-laws house. She had been married for 11 years. These two witnesses also states, which fact is also stated by other witnesses, that the deceased was pregnant and a few days before her death the accused persons had got a Puja performed for the well being of the deceased and for birth of a healthy child. According to the prosecution, accused Puran Chand had an affair with PW-4 Pushpa and this was the motive for the murder, since, he wanted to marry Pushpa. Pushpa has not supported the prosecution version at all. Prosecution has relied upon certain letters allegedly written 5 by the accused to Pushpa. However, there is no explanation as to how these love letters allegedly sent by the accused to Pushpa were recovered from the quarter of the accused himself. It is clear that the prosecution is not clear about its own case. According to one Investing Officer, it is Santi Devi who murdered the deceased. According to the second Investing Officer, it was Puran Chand who murdered his wife. No human blood was found on the stone or the iron pipe. In case any of these had been used to kill the deceased some human blood would have been found on these items. Other than the statement of the complainant Lekh Ram and PW-14 Uttam Chand all the other witnesses who were co-villagers have clearly stated that Gangli Devi was not being maltreated by her in-laws. The brother admits that no report about the maltreatment of Gangli Devi was made to any authority. The fact that the accused persons had held a Hawan for the safe birth of a child clearly indicates that the prosecution version is not correct. PW-1, Vijay Kumar, Patwari has stated that there is a steep drop from the path till the Nallah and if a person falls from the path that person could end up in the Nallah. The distance between the path and the Nallah is almost 200 feet. This fact is admitted by ASI Krishan Lal in his cross- examination. One piece of the Dapata of Gangli Devi was recovered at a distance of 180 feet from the Nallah and 20 feet from the path. The two prosecution versions are so contradictory to each other that both cannot co-exists together. There is some doubt as to whether the accused had applied for leave on September 1 and 2, 1992. However, even if it be assumed that he was on leave on those two days then also there is nothing to show that he was in his house on the night intervening 1st and 2nd September, 1992 or that he killed his wife. In fact, the police did not suspect Puran Chand at all and he remained on leave till 15th September, 1992. Thereafter, he 6 joined duty and was arrested only on October 11, 1992. It is apparent from the statement of PW-9 that he and Pardhan Uttam Chand met the Superintendent of Police, Mandi and insisted that accused Puran Chand should be arrested. There are innumerable contradictions in the prosecution version as pointed out above. The learned trial Court has rightly held that in view of these contradictions the accused can not be held guilty. In view of the above discussion, there is no merit in the appeal, which is accordingly dismissed. The bail bonds furnished by the accused are discharged. (Deepak Gupta), J. November 11, 2008 (V.K.Ahuja), J. ™