Case: Mahesh Vs. State Of Maharashtra

was the blood group of the deceased Sunita. He also contended that the prosecution has not explained the injury found on the little finger of the right hand of the appellant and, therefore, the appellant on this ground was also entitled to the benefit of doubt which has rightly been given to him by the trial court. We are afraid to accept this contention of the learned counsel. Dr. Laxman in his deposition before the Court clearly stated that on receipt of a letter from Police Station Officer requesting for taking sample of blood of deceased Sunita, he tried to collect her blood but he was unable to collect the same as all veins of Sunita had collapsed. He handed over Certificate (Ext. 52) to the Police to that effect. The appellant has not explained that the clothes which he was wearing at the time of arrest contained stains of his own blood oozing out of the injury sustained by him on little finger of his right hand. It is no doubt true that human blood found on the clothes and nail clippings of the appellant was not conclusive proof that it belonged to the blood group of the deceased. The decision of this Court in Raghu Nath v. State of Harnaya & Anr. [(2003) 1 SCC 398] , relied upon by the appellant on this point, is of no assistance to him in the facts and circumstances of the present case. In that case, this Court held that where prosecution evidence consisted of interested or inimical witnesses and defence version would compete in probability with that of the prosecution, non-explanation of the injuries of grievous nature sustained by the accused rendered the prosecution story doubtful. That was a case of mob-fight in which injuries were received by both the parties in the melee. 46. This Court in Krishan & Ors. v. State of Haryana [(2006) 12 SCC 459] held that merely because prosecution has failed to explain injuries on the accused, the same cannot be a solitary ground for doubting the prosecution case, if otherwise, evidence relied upon is found to be credible. In the case on hand, as we are of the view that no ground is made out to disbelieve and discard the evidence of PWs-4, 8 and 16, who are injured and non-injured eye-witnesses and whose evidence is corroborated by other oral and documentary evidence including the medical evidence, therefore non-explanation of simple injury on little finger of the right hand of the appellant by the prosecution is insignificant in the teeth of the overwhelming, cogent, consistent and trustworthy evidence appearing on record against the appellant for holding him guilty of the commission of the offence. 47. The recovery of the gun and knife was effected by the Investigating Officer at the instance of the appellant from his house in the presence of panch witnesses PW-Vithoba Khobragade and PW-Harihar. It is no doubt true that PW-Vithoba Khobragade deposed that the appellant did not disclose anything before the Police, but he also deposed that the Police had recovered a gun and one knife from the house of the appellant at his instance at about 9.40 to 10.30 on 28.03.1988. The High Court, in our view, rightly observed that it was not possible to hold that the prosecution witnesses or the Police had planted these articles in the house of the appellant, so as to make a show of discovery of the weapons of offence from him. The blade of the knife recovered from the appellant contained blood stains as per the version of Dr. Laxman when this weapon was shown to him by the Police. As per the Chemical Analysers Report, stains of human blood were found on the knife, which was produced in the Court and identified by Dr. Laxman who categorically stated that injuries found on the dead body of Sunita could be caused by the said weapon (Article No.20). 48. The High Court, on reappraisal and reassessment of the entire evidence on record, came to the conclusion that immediately after the occurrence a report came to be lodged to the Police Station against the appellant who has been identified by the PW-Sanjay, an injured eye-witness and non-injured eye-witnesses and further that the appellant had strong motive to commit the murder of Sunita with malice towards PW-Sanjay-her husband, as well as her deceased mother Nirmalabai, therefore, simply because there are some minor discrepancies in the evidence of witnesses which are of no consequence to the true genesis of the case and that some evidence has not been adduced by the prosecution, though might have been available, would not be sufficient grounds to believe that the appellant has been booked in a false case. There is nothing on record brought by the appellant to show that it was quite possible that the witnesses would spare the real culprit and implicate him in a false case. On the basis of the entire evidence elaborately discussed by the High Court, it cannot be held that the appellant, in the present case, has been framed on suspicion.49. Having given our careful consideration to the submissions made by the learned counsel for the parties and in the light of the evidence discussed in the earlier part of the judgment and tested in the light of the principles of law highlighted above, it must be held that the interference made in the present case by the High Court with the order of acquittal passed by the learned Additional District Judge, was wholly justified and warranted. The evaluation of the findings recorded by the High Court do not suffer from any manifest error and improper and mis-appreciation of evidence on record. Hence, we agree with the opinion of the High Court that the appellant is the real culprit and he has been rightly held guilty of the offence punishable under Section 302 of IPC. All the contentions raised by the learned counsel for the appellant, in our view, do not merit acceptance.

Decision (1 = appeal accepted, 0 = rejected): 0

Explanation:
0[ds]16. Though the above principles are well-established, a different note was struck in several decisions by this Court. It is, therefore, appropriate if we consider some more leading decisions on the point.In the backdrop of the above-said contentions of the learned counsel for the parties and in the light of principles laid down in the above referred decisions of this Court and the Privy Council on the question of exercising powers in appeal by the High Court against the order of acquittal and the well-settled principles laid down in a series of decisions of this Court on the point of appreciation of the evidence of the injured eye-witnesses and non-injured eye-witnesses, we shall consider the evidence placed on record to find out whether the High Court has committed any error in dealing with the evidence, which can be said to be patently illegal or that the conclusion arrived at is wholly untenable, calling for interference by us.The contention of the learned counsel for the appellant that the conduct of PWs-Archana and Rupesh, the alleged eye-witnesses, not accompanying the injured persons to the hospital and not reporting the incident to the Police should be viewed with suspicion and, therefore, their evidence has to be rejected fromthe present case, we find from the record that at the time of the occurrence of the crime PW-Archana was about 19 years of age whereas PW-Rupesh was hardly 14 years of age. Both these witnesses as earlier stated on seeing the appellant giving repeated knife blows on some parts of neck, head and back of Sunita and inflicting severe injuries to PW-Sanjay and Nirmalabai, they immediately rushed to the house of PW-Sadashio and promptly reported the entire incident to him. The conduct of these two children, in these circumstances, cannot be found suspicious or unnatural as contended by the learned counsel. These witnesses have withstood the cross-examination with courage and boldness and their testimony could not be impeached by the defence in regard to the genesis of the incident. The eye-witnesses have no animus against the appellant to implicate him in a false case and leaving the real assailant from the clutches of law. In the circumstances, no fault can be found in regard to the conduct of these witnesses. This contention raised deserves to beThe High Court, on reappraisal and reassessment of the entire evidence on record, came to the conclusion that immediately after the occurrence a report came to be lodged to the Police Station against the appellant who has been identified by the PW-Sanjay, an injured eye-witness and non-injured eye-witnesses and further that the appellant had strong motive to commit the murder of Sunita with malice towards PW-Sanjay-her husband, as well as her deceased mother Nirmalabai, therefore, simply because there are some minor discrepancies in the evidence of witnesses which are of no consequence to the true genesis of the case and that some evidence has not been adduced by the prosecution, though might have been available, would not be sufficient grounds to believe that the appellant has been booked in a false case. There is nothing on record brought by the appellant to show that it was quite possible that the witnesses would spare the real culprit and implicate him in a false case. On the basis of the entire evidence elaborately discussed by the High Court, it cannot be held that the appellant, in the present case, has been framed on suspicion.49. Having given our careful consideration to the submissions made by the learned counsel for the parties and in the light of the evidence discussed in the earlier part of the judgment and tested in the light of the principles of law highlighted above, it must be held that the interference made in the present case by the High Court with the order of acquittal passed by the learned Additional District Judge, was wholly justified and warranted. The evaluation of the findings recorded by the High Court do not suffer from any manifest error and improper and mis-appreciation of evidence on record. Hence, we agree with the opinion of the High Court that the appellant is the real culprit and he has been rightly held guilty of the offence punishable under Section 302 of IPC. All the contentions raised by the learned counsel for the appellant, in our view, do not merit acceptance.