IN THE HIGH COURT OF GUJARAT AT AHMEDABAD CRIMINAL APPEAL No 1141 of 1993 For Approval and Signature: Hon'ble MR.JUSTICE M.H.KADRI and Hon'ble MR.JUSTICE A.L.DAVE ============================================================ 1. Whether Reporters of Local Papers may be allowed : NO to see the judgements? 2. To be referred to the Reporter or not? : NO 3. Whether Their Lordships wish to see the fair copy : NO of the judgement? 4. Whether this case involves a substantial question : NO of law as to the interpretation of the Constitution of India, 1950 of any Order made thereunder? 5. Whether it is to be circulated to the Civil Judge? : NO -------------------------------------------------------------- RAMESH FULCHAND PARMAR Versus STATE OF GUJARAT -------------------------------------------------------------- Appearance: MR JM PANCHAL for appellants Nos. 1 and 4 Mr. S.V. Raju for appellants Nos. 2 and 3 Mr. N.D. Gohil, APP, for the State -------------------------------------------------------------- CORAM : MR.JUSTICE M.H.KADRI and MR.JUSTICE A.L.DAVE Date of decision: 20/09/2000 ORAL JUDGMENT: (Per; Kadri, J.) 1. Appellants, who are original accused in Sessions Case No.16 of 1993, have challenged legality and validity of judgment and order dated September 16,1993, of learned Additional Sessions Judge, Ahmedabad (Rural), in Sessions Case No.16 of 1993, by which judgment and order, appellant No.1 was convicted for offence punishable under Section 302 of Indian Penal Code and sentenced to undergo imprisonment for life and fine of Rs.5000/- in default simple imprisonment for one year; whereas appellants Nos. 2, 3 and 4 were convicted for offence punishable under Section 302 read with Section 34 of Indian Penal Code, and each of appellant was sentenced to undergo imprisonment for life and fine of Rs.5000/- in default simple imprisonment for one year. 2. The prosecution case, as unfolded at the trial, can be summarised as under:- P.W. 2, Induben, is wife of P.W 7,Jayantilal Soni, who was at the relevant time serving as Assistant in the Panchayat Department, Gandhinagar. Sister of Induben, namely, Padmaben, was married with Ramanbhai, brother of P.W.7 Jayantilal Soni, who was at the relevant time serving as Stenographer, in Vidhan Sabha, at Gandhinagar. Induben had two sons, namely, Jitendra and Hitesh, whereas, her sister, Padmaben had two sons, namely, Bharat and Prakash. Jitendra, son of Induben, was studying in a secondary school situated at Sector No.7. Appellant No.1 had lurking suspicion that Jitendra had an affair with his sister, Sapna. As appellant No.1 did not like the relationship between Jitendra and Sapna, on October 1, 1992, at night hours, he had gone to the house of Jitendra and had told him to come out of the house. When Jitendra came out of his house, he was beaten up by appellant No.1 and, during the scuffle, his bush-shirt was also torn off. Neither Jitendra nor his parents had complained about the incident before the police. However, on October 3, 1992 in the afternoon, P.W. 7, Jaynatilal Manilal Soni and his brother Ramanbhai Manilal Soni, had gone to the office of father of appellant No.1 to request him to persuade appellant No.1 not to harass Jitendra and not to come to their house. It is revealed that, in response to request of P.W. 7, Jayantilal Manilal Soni, and his brother Ramanbhai, father of appellant No.1, Fulchand, had told them that he would try to persuade appellant No.1 not to repeat the incident which had taken place prior to two days. As per the prosecution case, on October 3, 1992, at about 18 hours, appellant No.1 who was armed with screw-driver, appellant No.2, who was carrying a stone, appellant No.3 who was armed with stick in the company of appellant No.4, had gone on a scooter with intention to cause murder of Jitendra or any member of his family. When the appellants reached near house of P.W. 7, Jayantilal, the scooter, on which they were travelling, was parked at distance of the house and appellant No.4 was standing near the scooter and engine of the scooter was kept on. Appellants Nos. 1, 2 and 3 went to the house of P.W. 7, Jayantilal. Appellant No.1 told Jayantilal and Induben that why they had gone to the office of his father and he further told them to call Jitendra out of the house so that he can beat him. Induben instructed Prakash not to permit Jitendra to come out of the house. Induben and Bharat (hereinafter referred to as 'deceased') came out of the house and her husband, Jayantilal, had also followed them. There was heated exchange of words between appellant No.1 and Induben as a result of which, appellant No.1 took a screw-driver and tried to launch an attack on Induben. Induben caught hold of hand of appellant No.1 and snatched away the screw driver and during that snatching process, appellant No.1 had fallen down. Appellant No.2 had snatched away the screw driver from the hands of Induben and during that time appellant No.1, who had fallen down, had got up and snatched away the screw driver from appellant No.2, While snatching away screw driver from appellant No.2, appellant No.1 uttered words that, "if not Jitendra, we should finish his brother Bharat". Uttering these words, appellants Nos.1, 2 and 3 launched attack on Bharat. As per the prosecution case, appellant No.1 had given two blows with screw driver on the back of Bharat and appellant No.2 had caught hold of Bharat from the front side and had given a blow with stone on the back of Bharat. It is alleged that appellant No.3, who was carrying stick, had also inflicted stick blow on hand of Bharat, as a result of which, Bharat had fallen down. In the meantime, Jitendra and Prakash had come out from the house of P.W. 7. It is further alleged that other inhabitants residing in the neighbouring houses had also come out and, therefore, appellants nos. 1, 2 and 3 had run away from the place of incident towards scooter, which was parked at some distance from the house of P.W.7. The prosecution case further disclosed that, thereafter, appellant No.4 had driven scooter and had carried all other appellants and had fled away from the scene of offence. Bharat, who had fallen down in injured condition, was taken to Civil Hospital, Gandhinagar. Induben accompanied Bharat to the Hospital where the Doctor on duty, after examining Bharat, declared him dead. P.W. 8, Police Head Constable, Gulamrasul Gulabkhan, was on duty at the Civil Hospital, Gandhinagar, and he had sent vardhi Exh.41, about death of Bharat to Gandhinagar Police Station and on the basis of that vardhi, P.I. V.S. Patel, had started investigation and had arrived at Gandhinagar Civil Hospital and inquest was held on dead body of Bharat and the same was sent for post-mortem. P.W. 1. Dr. Amrutbhai Lallubhai Patel performed post-mortem of the dead body of Bharat. Blood-stained clothes put on by deceased Bharat were seized under panchanama. P.W. 2 Induben gave complaint to P.I. Patel around 8 p.m. which was recorded in the Civil Hospital, Gandhinagar. The said complaint was, thereafter, sent to Gandhinagar Police Station wherein offence was registered at C.R. no.I-620/1992 by P.S.O. Kishoresinh at at Gandhinagar Police Station. Investigation of the above crime register was handed over to P.I. Patel. On the next day, P.I. Patel with two panchas drew panchanama of scene of offence, which was situated in Sector No.7, near Block No.721/2. From the scene of offence, a key chain, containing photographs of appellant No.1 and four keys, was seized under panchanama. Scene of offence was shown by P.W.2, Induben, and she had identified the key chain belonging to appellant No.1. Thereafter, P.I. Patel recorded statements of witnesses, Rasilaben, Jayantilal, Madhuben, Jagdishbhai Harjivan Survekar, Nainaben Chandubhai Patel, Vinodchandra Champaklal Shah, etc. Police Head Constable, Gulamrasul Gulabkhan, had produced clothes put on by deceased Bharat on the day of incident at the police station, which were seized under a panchanama. Appellant Nos. 1, 2 and 3 had surrendered themselves at the police station and their arrest panchanama was prepared. As it was found that appellant Nos. 2 and 3 were injured, they were sent for medical examination to Civil Hospital, Gandhinagar. Appellant No.4 had surrendered to the police custody and, therefore, he was also arrested under a panchanama. While appellant No.1 was in custody, he had shown his willingness to produce muddamal screw driver which was hidden by him. P.I. Patel called two panchas and preliminary panchanama was drawn at the police station. Thereafter, in the company of two panchas, appellant No.1 and other police personnel, P.I. Patel had gone to the place in a police vehicle as guided by appellant No.1. Appellant No.1 had requested to stop the vehicle near block No.33/1 situated at Sector No.23, wherein, one scooter of blue colour bearing RTO registration No.GJ-I-A 8061 was parked. Appellant No.1 took out screw driver from the dicky of the scooter. Said screw driver was having blood stains. Therefore, said screw driver was seized under panchanama in presence of two panchas. Statement of owner of scooter, namely, Dahyabhai Danabhai Parmar, was recorded. Appellant No.3, while in custody, had also shown his willingness to produce muddamal article stick which was used in commission of crime and, therefore, P.I. Patel called two independent panchas and preliminary panchanama was drawn at the police station and, thereafter, two panchas and police personnel in company of appellant No.3 in a police vehicle had gone to the place as shown by appellant No.3, which was block no.469, situated at Sector 6. Appellant No.3 took panchas and PI Patel to block No.469/6, where he had kept muddamal stick which was hidden under a cot. A panchanama was prepared by which said stick came to be seized on October 4, 1992. P.I. Patel had also recorded statements of Jayantilal Manilal Soni and Rameshbhai Manilal Soni, Hitesh Jayantilal Soni. P.I. Patel had sent a yadi to Revenue Circle Inspector for preparing a sketch of place of incident. After receipt of yadi, Circle Inspector, Jayshreeben Nareshkumar Shah, P.W.6, had drawn map of place of incident on October 5, 1992. Incriminating articles which were seized during investigation were sent to the Forensic Science Laboratory for analysis. P.I.Patel received post-mortem notes on October 14, 1992 and, had, thereafter, recorded statements of Haresh Bhagwanbhai Gandhani on November 11, 1992. After completing investigation, chargesheet against the appellants came to be filed on December 1,1992 in the court of learned Judicial Magistrate, First Class, Gandhinagar, which came to be numbered as Criminal Case No.5581 of 1992, for offences punishable under Sections 302, 323 read with Section 34 of the Indian Penal Code and under Section 135 of the Bombay Police Act. As the offence under Section 302 of Indian Penal Code was exclusively triable by the Court of Sessions, learned Magistrate committed case for trial to the Sessions Court at Ahmedabad (Rural) which came to be numbered as Sessions Case No.16 of 1993. 3. Charge Exh.5 was framed against the appellants for offence punishable under Section 302 read with section 34 of Indian Penal Code and under Section 135 of the Bombay Police Act. Charge was read over and explained to the appellants. The appellants pleaded not guilty to the charge and claimed to be tried. Therefore, the prosecution led oral as well documentary evidence against the appellants to substantiate the charge. 4. The prosecution in order to bring home guilt of appellants, examined (I) P.W.1, Dr. Amrutbhai L. Patel, Exh.17, (II) P.W.2. Induben Jayantilal Soni, Exh.19, (III) P.W. 3, Chhatrasinh Motisinh Gohil, Exh.21, (IV) P.W. 4, Arvind Chhanalal Patel, Exh.26, (V) P.W. 5, Dr. Natverlal G. Thakker, Exh.30, (VI) P.W. 6, Jayashreeben Nareshkumar Shah, Exh.34, (VII) P.W.7, Jayantilal Manilal Soni, Exh.38, (VIII) P.W. 8, Gulamrasul Gulabkhan, Exh.39, (IX) P.W.9, Kishorsinh Vajubha, PSO, Gandhinagar Police Station, Exh.40, (X) P.W.10, Nathuji Pathuji, PSO, Gandhinagar Police Station, Exh.43, (XI) P.W.11, Prakash Ramanbhai Soni, Exh.45, (XII) P.W.12, Bachubhai Dhulabhai Rana, Exh.46, (XIII) P.W. 13, Jitendrakumar Jayantilal Soni, Exh.48, (XIV) P.W. 14, Haresh Bhagwandas Gadani, Exh.50, and (XV) P.W.15, I.O. P.I. Vittal S. Patel, Exh.51. The prosecution also produced documentary evidence such as inquest panchanama Exh.13, panchanama of seizure of clothes of deceased Exh.14, post-mortem notes Exh.18, complaint Exh.20, panchanama of seizure of screw driver at Exh.21, panchanama of discovery of stick Exh.32, medical certificates of appellants No.2 and 3 Exhs. 32 and 33 respectively, map of scene of offence Exh.36, vardhi sent from the Civil Hospital, Gandhinagar, at Exh.41, first information report Exh.44, panchanama of arrest of appellant Nos.1, 2 and 3 at Exh.47, report of FSL at Exh.56, vardhi recorded at Gandhinagar Police Station at Exh.48, and another vardhi recorded at Gandhinagar Police Station at Exh.59. 5. After recording of evidence of prosecution witnesses was over, further statements of the appellants were recorded under Section 313 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973. The case of appellant No.1 in his further statement was of total denial. In further statement, appellant No.2 denied the prosecution case. However, he explained injuries found on his person by stating that he had sustained injuries while in police custody due to beating by the police personnel. Appellant No.3, during recording of his further statement, also filed his reply, wherein, he had stated that, while he was in custody on October 4, 1992 at Gandhinagar Police Station, police personnel had given him fist blow as a result of which he had sustained injury on the left upper lip. Appellant No.4, in his further statement, stated that he was falsely involved in the case. 6. Learned Additional Sessions Judge, after hearing learned Public Prosecutor and learned counsel for the appellants, concluded that Bharat Ramanlal Soni had died a homicidal death. It was also concluded that all the appellants had a common intention to cause death of Bharat. It was further concluded that the appellant had committed breach of notification issued by the Additional District Magistrate, Gandhinagar, under Section 135 of the Bombay Police Act. Learned Additional Sessions Judge was of the opinion that the evidence of eye-witnesses was trust-worthy and reliable. It was deduced that, even though there was minor improvements and omissions in the evidence of eye-witnesses, but they were negligible which did not destroy substratum of prosecution's case. Learned Additional Sessions Judge concluded that first information report in the present case was filed without any delay and delay in sending copy of first information report to the nearest Magistrate was of no consequence. Learned Additional Sessions Judge further held that discovery of screw driver at the instance of appellant No.1 and discovery of stick at the instance of appellant No.3 were corroborative pieces of evidence to connect the appellants with commission of crime. On the abovereferred to conclusion, learned Additional Sessions Judge held that the prosecution proved beyond reasonable doubt that all the appellants had a common intention to cause death of deceased Bharat on October 3, 1992 and in furtherance of common intention, had actually caused death of Bharat near the house of P.W.7, Jayantilal. Learned Additional Sessions Judge convicted appellant No.1 for the offence punishable under Section 302 of Indian Penal Code whereas appellants Nos. 2, 3 and 4 were convicted under Section 302 read with section 34 of the Indian Penal Code and all the appellants were convicted and sentenced to undergo R.I. for life and fine of Rs.5000/in default S.I. for one year, which has given rise to filing of this appeal by all the appellants. 7. Mr. J.M. Panchal, learned counsel for appellant Nos. 1 and 4, Mr. S.V. Raju, learned counsel for appellant Nos. 2 and 3, and learned Additional Public Prosecutor, Mr. N.D. Gohil, have taken us through entire record and proceedings of Sessions Case No.16 of 1993. 8. Learned counsel, Mr. J.M. Panchal, for the appellants, has submitted that charge Exh.5 was not specific and therefore being defective has caused serious prejudice to the appellants more particularly appellant No.4. Learned counsel submitted that, in charge Exh.5, it was mentioned that appellants Nos. 2, 3 and 4, with stone and stick, had caused injuries to deceased Bharat. Learned counsel further submitted that from the prosecution evidence and the complaint lodged by Induben, it had come on record that appellant No.4 had not caused injuries to deceased Bharat with any weapon or with hands. In spite of above fact, learned Additional Sessions Judge had framed charge against appellant No.4 indicating that he had caused injuries to deceased Bharat with stone and stick. On the other hand, learned Additional Public Prosecutor, Mr. N.D.Gohil, has submitted that no prejudice was caused to appellant No.4 in particular, because, in further statement recorded under Section 313 of Code of Criminal Procedure, he was specifically asked question that he was standing at a distance from the place of incident with scooter the engine of which was kept in motion so as to facilitate other appellants to run away after committing the crime. In support of the submission, learned Additional Public Prosecutor has placed reliance on the decision of the Supreme Court in the case of State of A.P. vs. Thakkidiram Reddy and others, reported in (1998) 6 Supreme Court Cases 554. The Supreme Court, in paragraph 11, has ruled that, "when accused persons were specifically told of their having committed offences under sections 148 and 302/149 Indian Penal Code, no prejudice was caused to the accused persons". The Supreme Court has, further, ruled that, "by not framing specific charge, the Sessions Court had merely committed an irregularity which has not caused any serious prejudice to the respondents before the Supreme Court". In the present case also, in further statement, a specific question was put to appellant No.4 whether he had gone at the place of the complainant on scooter which was parked at the distance and again a specific question was put to appellant No.4 that, after the incident, when appellants Nos. 1, 2 and 3 had run away from the place of incident, they had come to the scooter, engine of which was kept on and in the company of other appellants, appellant No.4 had fled away on the scooter. Thus, in further statement, case against appellant no.4, as unfolded at the trial, was specifically put to him and, therefore, we are of the view that no prejudice is caused to appellant No.4 as he was specifically questioned with regard to role played by him in commission of crime. 9. Learned counsel, Mr. J.M. Panchal, for the appellants has vehemently submitted that, in this case, vardhi Exh.41 would be first information report because as soon as on receipt of vardhi by the Gandhinagar Police Station, investigation had already begun. Learned counsel further submitted that complaint Exh. 20 of Induben which was recorded by P.I, Patel, at Gandhinagar Police Station, would be a mere statement under Section 161 of the code which will be hit by Section 162 of the Code. Learned Additional Public Prosecutor, on the other hand, submitted that Exh.41, which was vardhi, sent by Police Head Constable, Gulamrasul Gulabkhan, was vague and indefinite telephone message making the Investigating Agency only to rush to the scene of offence, will not constitute first information report. Learned Additional Public Prosecutor, in support of his submission, has placed reliance on the decision of the Supreme Court in the case of Dhannjoy Chatterjee Alias Dhana vs. State of W.B. reported in 1994 Supreme Court Cases (Cri.) page 358. The Supreme Court in the above decision, had ruled that vague and indefinite information given on telephone which made Investigating Agency only to rush to the scene of occurrence, could not be treated as first information report under Section 154 of the Code of Criminal Procedure. It is true that P.I. Patel, on receiving vardhi Exh.41, had rushed to Civil Hospital, Gandhinagar, and, thereafter, had recorded first information report lodged by P.W. 2, Induben, Vardhi, which was sent by Police Head Constable, Gulamrasul Gulabkhan, was a cryptic telephone message sent to Gandhinagar Police Station, which only conveyed message that, "in maramari' (beating), which had taken place in Sector No.7, near Block No.721/2, one Bharatbhai Soni had sustained injuries which had resulted into his death and dead body was brought to the Civil Hospital around 19.30 hrs. on October 3, 1992. We are of the opinion that, in view of the principles laid down by the Supreme Court in the case of Dhannjoy Chatterjee Alias Dhana (supra), vardhi Exh.41, which was cryptic telephone message sent by Police Head Constable, Gulamrasul Gulabkhan, cannot be treated as first information report and the learned Additional Sessions Judge was justified in treating complaint Exh. 20 as first information report which was lodged by P.W. 2, Induben at 20.15 hrs before P.I. Patel at the Civil Hospital, Gandhinagar. 10. Learned counsel, Mr. J.M. Panchal, for appellants, has submitted that the first information report, which was recorded on October 3,1992 at about 8.30 p.m. at Gandhinagar Police Station, was sent to the nearest Magistrate, i.e. Judicial Magistrate (First Class), Gandhinagar, on October 7,1992, which raises a serious doubt that the first information report was anti-timed and was lodged after due deliberations to falsely involve innocent persons. Learned counsel, in support of his submission, has relied upon decision of the Supreme Court in the case of L/NK. Meharaj Singh vs. State of U.P. reported in II (1994) CCR 516 (SC). Submission of learned counsel that the first information report was anti-timed and it was recorded after due deliberation and consultation and, therefore, it had lost its value and authenticity, in our opinion, does not deserve any merit and deserves to be rejected. It should be appreciated that offence under Section 302 was supervised by Sub-Divisional Police Officer. The Sub-Divisional Police Officer had verified complaint Exh.20 lodged by P.W.2, Induben, before P.I, Patel, at 20.15 hrs on October 3,1992 at Gandhinagar Civil Hospital. The complaint was duly verified by Sub-Divisional Police Officer on the very same day, i.e. on October 3, 1992. Merely sending first information report to the nearest Magistrate in view of verification done by the Sub-Divisional Police Officer will not make the first information report ante-timed. The incident had taken place around 6 to 6.15 p.m. and dead body of Bharat was brought to Gandhinagar Civil Hospital at 7.30 p.m. on October 3, 1992. The complaint which was lodged by Induben was at 8.15 p.m. at the Civil Hospital, Gandhinagar, which cannot be said to be a delayed one. Learned counsel for appellant No.1 has strenuously urged that, according to P.I, Patel, complaint was registered in the FIR Register by Police Head Constable, Kishoresinh at 20.30 hrs. but the oral testimony of P.W.9, Kishoresinh revealed that his duty hours were over at 20.00 hrs. on October 3, 1992. Relying on the above inconsistency in the evidence of the police personnel, learned counsel Mr. Panchal submitted that the first information report was registered in the FIR Register on the next day and not on October 3, 1992 at 20.30 hrs. In our view, submission of learned counsel Mr. J.M. Panchal deserves to be rejected. Merely because the Investigating Officer had committed a mistake in stating that the first information report was registered in the register kept at the police station by Kishoresinh, it cannot be said that the first information report was ante-timed and was entered in the register when Kishoresinh had resumed his duties on October 4, 1992. Verification done by Sub-Divisional Police Officer makes it clear that the first information report was lodged by P.W.2, Induben, promptly at the Hospital at 8.15 p.m. and it was duly registered in the police station at 8.30 p.m. on the same day. We are, therefore, of the opinion that the first information report was not ante-timed nor it is lodged after due deliberation and consultation so as to involve innocent persons in commission of crime. 11. Learned counsel for the appellants has vehemently submitted that, looking to the improvements made by P.W. 2, Induben, P.W.7, Jayantilal, P.W.11, Prakash, P.W.13, Jitendra, the prosecution has tried to suppress genesis of occurrence. The true version as to in what manner the incident took place, did not come before