@ HIGH COURT OF CHHATTISGARH, BILASPUR CORAM: Hon’ble Shri Raieev Gupta, C.J. & Hon’ble Shri Sunil Kumar Sinha, J. Criminal Agpeal No. 838 of 1992 Sawanoo Vs. " The State of Madhya Pradesh (Now Chhattisgarh) JGMENT UD For consieration Sdl- Sunil Kumar Sinha Judge HON’BLE SHRI JUSTICE RAJEEV GUPTA ’1 /)\LC_ j. (‘i/ sal— Cma Sué‘ic" U‘ g 7 Post fnr JudamenL.,:é&5./2009 \ Sd/— ' sunil Kumar Sinha Judge §‘ /o5/2oo9 ’ d ,: / I " HIGH COURT OF CHHATTISGARH BILASPUR CORAM: Hon’ble Shri Raieev Gupta, C.J. & Hon’ble Shri Sunil Kumar Sinha, J. (Appeal under Section 374 (2) of The Code of Criminal Procedure) Appearance: Mr. R.K. Jain, Counsel for the appellant. Mr. Ashish Shukia, Govt. Advocate for the State. -' JUDGMENT (?.05.2009) Following judgment of the Court was delivered by Sunil Kumar Sinha, J. (1) Appellant Sawanoo stands convicted u/s 302 IPC and sentenced to undergo imprisonment for life by the Sessions Judge, Bilaspur in Sessions Trial No. 425/91 on 29‘“ June, 1992. H: (2) The facts, briefly stated, are as under:- Deceased Baisakhlabai was the mother of the appellant. They were residing in village Andhiyarkhoh. The allegations are that at about 16.00 hours on 19.6.91, the appellant gave repeated spade blows to the deceased in courtyard of his house and thereafter, he dragged‘her inside the house, where she died \\\¥ x a 1K instantaneously. Criminal Appeal No. 838 of 1992 APPELLANT Sawanoo son of Birjhoo Baiga, aged 38 years, resident of Andhiyarkhoh, P.S. Gourella, Tahsil Pendra Road, District Bilaspur Versus RESPONDENT The State of Madhya Pradesh (Now u . Chhattisgarh) 2 Qriminal Appeal No. 838 of 1992 On information, the police reached to the scene of occurrence, gave notice (Ex.—P/2) to the Panchas and prepared inquest (Ex.—P/1) on the body of the deceased. Dehati—Nalishi was G recorded under‘Ex.-P/6. Blood stained soil and piain soil were seized from the place of occurrence under Ex.-P/5. The dead body of the deceased was sent for its post-mortem to PHC, Pendra under Ex.-P/7, where the post-mortem examination was conducted by Dr‘ L.N. Patel, (PW-8), who prepared his report Ex.-P‘/12. He V found many external injuries on the skull of the deceased. There were contusion and abrasion over the entire zygomatic arch of the right side. Haematoma was found on the right fronto parietal region. On internal examination, he found extradural..haemorrhage. The Autopsy Surgeon opined that the injuries on the head were sufficient to cause death in the ordinary course of nature. The death was on account of coma caused by head injuries and it was homicidal in nature. in further investigation, a memorandum statement of the appellant (Ex.-P/3) was recorded u/s 27 of the Evidence Act and spade was recovered at the instance of the appellant under Ex.— P/4. The said article was sent for its exami‘hation to the Doctor under Ex.-P/10, who gave his opinion vide Ex.-P/10—A that the injuries mentioned in the'post-mortem report may be caused by the said article. ~-.\ (3) After completion of the usual investigation, the charge—sheet Was filed in the Court of J.M.F.C., Pendra Road, who in turn committed the Criminal Appeal N0. 838 of 1992 matter to the Sessions Court, Bilaspur, where the trial was conducted and the accused/appellant was convicted and sentenced as aforementioned. (4) The conviction of the appellant is based on the testimony of single eye witness, Kamaibhan Singh (PW-1) supported by the other circumstantiai evidence on record. (5) iMr. R.K. Jain, learned c0unsel appearing on behalf of the appe‘llarlt, argued that the tr‘ral Court erred in believing the testimony of "w PW-1, Kamalbhan Singh. n . (6) On the other. hand, Mr. Ashish Shukla, learned Govt. Advocate appearing on behalf of the State, opposed the argument. Apart from the above, he submitted that the appellant has been released from the jail on 15.8.2005 on account of special remission granted to him after completion of 14 years in jail. (7) We have heard the learned counsel for the parties at length and have also perused the records of the sessions case. (8) Kamalbhan Singh, PW-1, was neighbour of the appellant. At the relevant time, he was digging earth near the house of the appellant. He deposed that the appellant firstly gave a slap to the deceased and thereafter, when the deceased cried, he gave repeated blows from the back portion of thespadeon her. When the deceased fell down in the courtyard, he dragged her inside the house. This witness has also stated about manner in which the appellant had assaulted the deceased giving particulars of bloWs given by him. Though he has been put to a lengthy @ a .4 9:4 Criminal Apgeal N0. 838 of 1992 cross examination by the defence but the defence has not been able to elicit any such circumstance on which either his testimony may be discarded or it may be said that he is falseiy implicating the appellant in crime in question. There are minor contradictions in his evidence but those contradictions are not material and the outcome of appreciation of his evidence is that he saw the appellant assaulting his mother with the spade who received many injuries and succumbed to those injuries. The version of this witness was supported by the medical evidence of Dr. L.N. x PatelYl5W—8) as also the evidence of Maniyaram (PW-2) and Lakhuram (PW-3), close relations of the deceased, who reached to the place of occurrence immediately and saw the dead body of the deceased inside a? ‘ her house. Maniyaram (PW-2) has deposed that he was assaulted by the appellant when he entered into his house. Lakhuram (PW-3) has also deposed that he was chased by the appellant when he wanted to come to the house of the appellant after the incident. (9) ‘ After going through the evidence of Kamalbhan Singh (PW-1), Maniyaram (PW-2) and Lakhuram (PW—3), we find the evidence of PW—1, Kamalbhan Singh to be fully reliable and the conviction based on sole testimony of PW—1 deserves to be maintained. a 0 (10) For the foregoing reasons, we do not find any force in this appeal. The appeal is liable to be dismissed and is accordingly dismissed. H, l W/ ’ ar Sinha Sd/; ‘ “ l ’ sunilKum Chief Justice ' ‘ Visage //”rl’/ l ca vatti ri