spb/- 1 J-1234-2004.sxw IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT BOMBAY CRIMINAL APPELLATE JURISDICTION CRIMINAL APPEAL NO. 1234 OF 2004 Suman Rohidas Savant, Age 40 years, ... Appellant. R/o. Babhulgaon, Tal. Pandharpur, (Org. Accused) Dist. Solapur.(presently in Yerawada Jail, Pune) V/s. The State of Maharashtra ... Respondent. ----- (Org.Complainant) Mr. D.G. Khamkar for the Appellant. Mr. J.P. Yagnik, APP for the Respondent-State. ----- CORAM : P. V. HARDAS & M.N.GILANI,JJ. DATE : 29TH APRIL, 2011 ORAL JUDGMENT : [ PER M.N.GINALI,J.] 1 This Appeal is directed against the judgment and order of conviction and sentence dated 13.08.2004 passed by the Additional Sesions Judge, Pandharpur, District Solapur in Sessions Case No. 02 of 2004, whereby the accused was convicted for the offence punishable under section 302 of the Indian Penal Code and was sentenced to suffer imprisonment for life and to pay fine of Rs.1000/-, in default , to suffer R.I. for 3 months. 2 The facts in brief are thus : The incident occurred on 07.11.2003 in village Babhulgaon, Tal. Pandharpur, Dist. Solapur. Two years prior to the incident, Sindhubai, spb/- 2 J-1234-2004.sxw daughter of Baban, the resident of village Chikhali, Tal. Pandharpur, Dist. Solapur, married Dayanand Rohidas Savant, the resident of village Babhulgaon. Prior to this marriage, both the families were already related to each other. The sister of Rohidas (father of Dayanand) was married to Baban (father of the deceased). After marriage Sindhubai went to her matrimonial home to reside with her husband. Initially for a period of one and half years, their matrimonial life was normal. Thereafter, Sindhubai started complaining about ill treatment meted out to her at the hands of her mother-in-law, the accused. The deceased was ill treated for the reasons that she was not discharging her household duties of cooking food, cleaning utensils etc. . 3 On 07.11.2003 while the deceased was in her matrimonial home, sustained more than 90% burns. She was carried to the Cottage Hospital at Pandharpur. After receiving first aid, she was referred to Civil Hospital at Solapur. She was brought to Solapur in a jeep. On way, PW-1 Baban and his wife joined them. While travelling in the jeep, the deceased disclosed to PW-1 Baban that the accused poured kerosene on her person and set her on fire. At about 7 p.m. she was admitted to Civil Hospital, Solapur. PW-4 ASI Wadikar, attached to Sadar Bazar Police Station, received the information from the doctor about the admission of the deceased. After consulting the doctor, about fitness of the deceased to give statement, he recorded her statement wherein she disclosed that the accused, her mother-in-law, had set her on fire. The Special Judicial Magistrate was summoned to record the statement. By the time he reached to the Civil Hospital, the deceased had gone in coma and at about 9 p.m. she succumbed to the burn injuries. An inquest was held spb/- 3 J-1234-2004.sxw over the dead body and it was sent for postmortem examination on 08.11.2003. PW-8 Dr. Kamble conducted an autopsy over the dead body and recorded his opinion as to the cause of the death. He opined that the death was due to shock, due to 91% burns. On 10.11.2003, PW-1 Baban went to the Police Station, Pandhurpur and lodged a complaint which was registered as FIR. On 11.11.2003, PW-9 API -Savant visited the spot. He found the hut, where the incident occurred, extensively damaged due to fire. Some utensils and clothes were also damaged. He arrested the accused and then submitted chargesheet before the Judicial Magistrate, First Class, Pandharpur. The learned Magistrate committed the case to the court of Sessions. 4 The Additional Sessions Judge vide Exh. 3 framed and explained the charge of offences to the accused under sections 302 and 498 of the Indian Penal Code to which the accused pleaded not guilty. 5 The prosecution examined 10 witnesses in support of its case. After considering the evidence and mainly relying upon the dying declaration recorded by PW-4 ASI Wadikar, the learned Additional Sessions Judge held that the deceased died homicidal death and it was the accused who poured kerosene on her person and set her on fire. He therefore, proceeded to convict her for the offence under section 302 of the IPC and sentenced her to suffer imprisonment for life. However, the learned Additional Sessions Judge acquitted the accused for the offence punishable under section 498-A of the IPC. This very judgment is being assailed in this appeal. spb/- 4 J-1234-2004.sxw 6 The learned counsel for the accused submitted that the judgment and order of conviction is unsustainable on facts and in law. The learned Additional Sessions Judge committed error in relying upon the dying declaration, ignoring the number of discrepancies, like fitness of the deceased to give statement, congestion of her trachea and larynx with carbon particles etc.. The Additional Sessions Judge, further committed serious error in believing the case of PW-1 Baban, who had waited for three days to lodge the first information report. Despite the incriminating dying declaration dated 7.011.2003, no offence was registered till 10.11.2003. This inordinate delay has not been explained by the prosecution. Lastly, it is submitted that conviction of the accused under section 302 of the IPC cannot be sustained. 7 The learned APP has supported the judgment and order of conviction and sentence. He contended that the dying declaration was immediately recorded in the presence of the medical officer. Therefore, there is no reason to disbelieve the same. He therefore, submits that the Appeal is liable to be dismissed. 8 The case of the prosecution revolves around the dying declaration recorded by the PW-4 PSI Wadikar. He deposed that on 7.11.2003, he was attached to Sadar Bazar Police Station, Solapur. He received information about admission of the deceased in the hospital. He visited the Civil Hospital, Solapur and in consultation with the medical officer, he proceeded to record the dying declaration. He found the deceased in a fit mental state to give statement. What was disclosed by her, was recorded. Thereafter, he obtained her thumb impression. According to spb/- 5 J-1234-2004.sxw him Exh. 24 is the dying declaration recorded by him, which bears endorsement of the medical officer as well as the thumb mark of the deceased. 9 In cross-examination, he admits that the dying declaration was scribed by the Assistant Constable. Surprisingly, the Assistant Police Constable has been neither cited as a witness nor examined. In fact his role was not at all disclosed by the prosecution. No where in Exh. 24 it is mentioned that the dying declaration was scribed by the Assistant Police Constable. As regards fitness of the deceased to give statement, at Exh. 24 on the top there is endorsement of the medical officer, showing the time as 7.10 p.m. when recording began. The second endorsement is at 7.20 p.m. when recording was over. However, the admission case papers of the civil hospital shows that the patient was admitted at 7.25 p.m. There appears a clear- cut over writing over the figures of time. History shows the cause of death as “accidental” and this word was struck out and the word “homicidal” is written. Time of admission in the ward is shown as 8 p.m. PW-4 ASI Wadikar who recorded the statement at Exh. 24, has not written as to at what time he started recording the statement and when the recording was completed. In cross-examination, he admitted about omission to write time of starting of recording of the statement and the time when he completed the recording. The other serious flaw pointed out by the learned counsel for the accused is about absence of proof of the dying declaration made by the deceased. In the entire testimony of PW-4 ASI-Wadikar, did not make a whisper as to what was actually stated by the deceased. Strictly speaking, this is not a proof of dying declaration. The learned counsel spb/- 6 J-1234-2004.sxw for the accused relied upon the decision of this court in the case of Deorao s/o. Sonbaji Bhalerao vs. State of Maharashra, reported in 2008 ALL MR (Cri.) 1921, wherein the Division Bench of this court dealt with the similar question after discussing the provisions of sections 32 and 80 of the Evidence Act and held that : “ Dying declaration – Cannot be presumed to be correct unless proved according to law – No presumption is available in respect of dying declaration under section 80-- What is admissible in evidence is the statement made by dying man as to who was responsible for causing his death and not the paper on which dying declaration is recorded-- Magistrate or person who records it will have to testify and prove who was named as offender by the dying person, before the Court during the trial.” While observing so the Division Bench took stock of the decisions right from the case in King -Emperor vs. Mathura Thakur, reported in 1902(6) C.W.N. 72, to the decision in Narbada Devi Gupta vs. Birendra Kumar reported in 2004 (5) ALL MR (S.C.) 51: AIR 2004 S.C.175. 10 The aboresaid principle aptly applies to the facts of the present case. PW-8 Dr. Kamble conducted autopsy over the dead body of the deceased on 08.11.2003. He had noticed the presence of blackish carbon particles in the upper part of the trachea and larynx with congestion. Both the lungs were found congested with redish black in colour. In cross-examination, he admits that the presence of carbon particles in trachea and larynx causes difficulty in breathing. spb/- 7 J-1234-2004.sxw 11 PW-9 API Savant after registering the offence on 10.11.2003 visited the spot on the next day and made a spot panchanama at Exh. 18. On reaching the spot, he saw the hut damaged due to fire. PW-2 Sanjay is the panch witness. According to him, the spot is the hut, which was damaged in fire. The clothes and utensils were also damaged due to fire. In cross-examination, he admits that the distance between the house of Rohidas and the hut i.e. the spot is about 25 feet. This creates a doubt as to whether the deceased and her husband were residing with the accused or separately. 12 It has come in the evidence of PW-1 Baban that when they were proceeding to Solapur, the jeep met with an accident and it had turned turtle. The driver of the jeep sustained fracture injury. The other inmates also sustained injuries. In this state of affairs it becomes difficult to believe that the deceased was in a position to make statement till she was carried to civil hospital, Solapur. Even apart, after the death of the deceased, PW-1 Baban did not lodge any complaint. He kept mum till 10.11.2003. His explanation is that once he had been to the police station, but was turned down. This is unbelievable. His version about the past ill- treatment is totally vague and makes it unbelievable. This being the state of the evidence, we are of the view that the learned Additional Sessions Judge committed error in convicting the accused for the offence punishable under section 302 of the IPC. 14 In the result, the Criminal Appeal is allowed and the conviction and sentence of the Appellant is hereby quashed and set aside and the spb/- 8 J-1234-2004.sxw Appellant is acquitted of the offence with which she was charged and convicted. Fine, if any, paid by the Appellant be refunded to her. Since the Appellant is in Jail, she be released forthwith, if not wanted in any other case. [M.N.GILANI,J.] [P.V. HARDAS, J.]