1 IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE FOR RAJASTHAN AT JODHPUR D.B. CRIMINAL JAIL APPEAL NO. 809/2003 Bhura Vs. State of Rajasthan DATE OF JUDGMENT : 6.4.2010 PRESENT HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE GOVIND MATHUR HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE C.M. TOTLA Ms Laxmi Vyas, Amicus Curiae, on behalf of the appellant. Mr. K.R. Bishnoi, Public Prosecutor. **** By the judgment dated 19.7.2003 learned Sessions Judge, Udaipur held the accused appellant guilty for commission of an offence punishable under Section 302 IPC, therefore, recorded the conviction and sentenced him to undergo rigorous imprisonment for life term with a fine of Rs.5000/- and further to undergo one year more rigorous imprisonment in default of payment of fine. Briefly stated, facts of the case are that in the intervening night of 17.3.2002 and 18.3.2002 accused Bhura came to the residence of deceased Vesa, where his wife Smt. Kamla was sleeping. Accused Bhura asked the lady about her husband and on knowing about the fact that he was at his agriculture field, the accused proceeded accordingly. Smt. 2 Kamla also went behind the accused and found him giving several blows by knife and an Axe to deceased Vesa. Smt. Kamla then raised alarm consequent to which Pema S/o Moti, Amba S/o Dhanna, Kela S/o Khata and Gulla S/o Amra etc. came to the spot, however, in the meanwhile the accused ran away from the spot. An information of the incident was given to the police station and the same was recorded as per Ex.P/6. A criminal case was lodged, regular investigation was made and a charge sheet then was preferred. The case was committed to the court of sessions, a charge for commission of an offence punishable under Section 302 IPC was framed against the accused appellant and on denial of the same, he was tried. The prosecution substantiated its case by producing 10 witnesses (PW-1 to PW-10), several documents and articles recovered during the course of investigation. An opportunity was given to the accused to explain the evidence available against him and he was also allowed to defend himself, accordingly, he exhibited two documents (Ex.D/1 and D/2). Learned trial court after examining the entire evidence available on record reached at the conclusion that the accused committed murder of Vesa and accordingly convicted and sentenced him. In appeal it is contended by learned counsel for the appellant that entire case of the prosecution is based on the statements of PW-4 3 Smt. Kamla who is not at all reliable as whatever stated by her is not corroborated by other witnesses. It is also asserted that the recovery made during the investigation too is not reliable on the count that as per PW-4 several knife blows were given by the accused to deceased Vesa, however, the knife recovered was found with no blood stains. Quite empathetically it is also stated that the entire prosecution case suffers from reasonable doubt, and therefore, the accused deserves acquittal. We have considered the arguments advanced and also examined the evidence available on record. PW-7 Dr. Chandra Kumar conducted autopsy on the body of deceased Vesa and thus, he proved the postmortem report Ex.P/13, according to which body of the deceased was having 36 injuries. As per Ex.P/13 postmortem report, the cause of death of deceased Vesa was hemorrhage shock due to loss of excessive blood in and outside the body as a result of multiple injuries. (No. 1 to 36) over various parts of body which were ante-mortem in nature having duration of 12-24 hours and fatal to life (includes injury No.5, 10,11, 12, 13, 15B, 16, 17 18, 19, 25, 30 and 35th). In view of the postmortem report there is no dispute about homicidal death of Vesa. PW-10 Sh. Chagan Rajpurohit was Station House Officer, Police Station – Ogana and he made the entire 4 investigation. As such, he stated before the court all the steps taken during the course of investigation. As per this witness, accused gave an information as per Ex.P/18 relating to weapon of offence and those were recovered as per the recovery memo Ex.P/11. Ex. P/11 was prepared in presence of Motbirs Galla and Kesa. Both the recovered weapons Knife and Axe were having blood stains. Ex.P/19 is Forensic Science Laboratory's report according to which open shirt, underwear, mattress and the shawl of the deceased, blood smeared soil taken from the spot of occurrence, Axe and the knife on serological examination were found with blood stains of human origin. Out of the articles aforesaid, underwear, mattress and shawl of the deceased and the knife and Axe recovered at the instance of the accused were found to be stained with “B” group of blood. PW-4 Smt. Kamla who is wife of deceased Vesa narrated the entire incident as drawn by her while providing first information. This witness categorically stated that in the intervening night of 17th and 18th March 2002 at about 2 pm accused Bhura came to her and asked about deceased Vesa. She told him that Vesa was at fields and on knowing about that accused proceeded towards the fields. She also followed him. The accused at that time was carrying a knife and an Axe in his hands. She also stated that accused was annoyed with her husband because of some money due. She further stated that on reaching to the 5 agriculture field accused Vesa gave several blows by Axe and knife consequent to which her husband died at the spot. She also stated that his younger son of about 5-6 years was also sleeping with deceased. While challenging credence of this witness it is stated by learned counsel for the appellant that the incident as narrated by her is not reliable in view of the fact that in normal course on reaching of Bhura, the accused, with weapons, she should have alarmed and should not have informed the accused about availability of her husband in the fields. Credence of this witness is also questioned on the count of some little discrepancies relating to exact time of the incident. We have examined the statements of this witness quite minutely. We do not find any such discrepancy on basis of which she may be held non-trustworthy. As a matter of fact, she stated the entire incident with confidence and mere some discrepancies relating to time does not make her a witness upon whom no reliance could be placed. We also do not find any force with the argument of learned counsel for the appellant that PW-4 is interested witness being wife of the deceased, and therefore, conviction should not be based only on basis of her statements. It is well settled that testimony of a relative/interested witness, as a general rule, cannot be disbelieved. The testimony of such witness certainly requires corroboration and in present case that is 6 adequately available. The entire incident as narrated by PW-4 is corroborated by the medical evidence and also the recovery made at the instance of accused. Beside that, the other witnesses who came on the spot after hearing hue and cry made by PW-4 also supports the prosecution case. In view of whatever stated above we do not find any reason to accept the contention of learned counsel for the appellant that the prosecution story suffers from a reasonable doubt warranting acquittal of the accused. As a matter of fact, the prosecution adequately supported its case by reliable evidence on basis of which the trial court rightly reached at a definite conclusion and convicted the accused. In view of the discussion above, we do not find any merit in the appeal. Accordingly, the same is dismissed. (C.M. TOTLA), J. (GOVIND MATHUR),J. Jgoyal