Case: Duvvur Dasratharamma Reddy Vs. State of Andhra Pradesh

mentioned above and they have merely accepted as true his evidence as if he is an independent witness.20. P.W. 3, the widow of the deceased, admits that she was on illicit relationship with her son-in-law, the appellant, and it shows that she is a characterless person. No serious attempt has been made by her to trace the whereabouts of her husband even though he had not come back to the house within a reasonable time after May 9, 1969. No doubt, there is on record a post card Ex.P. 2, written by P.W. 5 on behalf of P.W. 3, dated May 25, 1969 to P.W. 10. That post card refers to so many other matters and there is only a very casual inquiry regarding the whereabouts of the deceased. P.W. 10 has given evidence to the effect that he came to the village and informed P.W. 3 after 10 or 15 days later than the deceased did not come to his house. This only shows the very scanty regard that P.W. 3 had regarding the existence of the deceased. P.Ws. 3, 4 and 5 have stated that on the night in question, the appellant took the axe and left the house with P.W. 2 saying that he is going to the field and that he came back at about midnight or 1 a.m. Their evidence gives an impression that nobody in that house appears to be sleeping because all of them are awake the whole of the night at the material time to see the appellant going out of the house and coming back though very late in the night or even early next morning.21. No doubt there is evidence of P.W. 5 to the effect that the appellant went out with an axe on the night accompanied by P.W. 2, but according to P.W. 5, the purpose of his going out was to watch the theft of mangoes and this by itself does not in any manner implicate the appellant in any crime.22. The evidence of P.Ws. 3 and 5 that the appellant confessed to them that he had murdered his father-in-law, has not been rightly acted upon by the learned Sessions Judge. We have gone through that part of their evidence and we are of the opinion that the evidence in this regard is so artificial that it is not safe to place any reliance on the same. According to P. W. 3 when several weeks after the incident and when rumours were afloat in the village, P.W. 7 came and informed her about the information given by her son P.W. 2 that the appellant has killed his father-in-law and buried him in the field. On this P. W. 3 is stated to have asked the appellant whether the rumour is true and the appellant confessed that he murdered his father-in-law and his body was buried in the field. Similarly, P.W. 5 states that along after the incident, she found the appellant one day in a very distressed mood and when she asked him the reason, the appellant stated to her that he had killed her father. The evidence regarding this confession stated to have been made to P.Ws. 3 and 5 is very artificial and cannot be acted upon. Their evidence does not appear to be true. The High Court was not justified in acting on the basis that the appellant had made any confession to P.Ws. 3 and 5. Their evidence appears to be somewhat unusual and mechanical. They did not evince any anxiety about the whereabouts of the deceased after he failed to return the house within a reasonable time. In view of the above circumstances, it is no safe to place reliance on their evidence. Even otherwise their evidence regarding the appellant going out of the house for the purpose of watching the theft of mangoes by itself will not implicate the appellant in any offence.23. According to P.W. 1 when the accused left the house on the day in question and came back in the night, all were fast asleep, whereas according to P.Ws. 3 to 5 they were all awake when the accused left the house with the axe along with P.W. 2. In fact their further evidence is that the accused stated that he is going to the field to watch as there is theft of mangoes. They have also stated that they saw the accused returning to the house late in the night and putting the axe in the chillis pot. Here again it is to be noted that when the accused had told them that he is going only to watch the theft of mangoes, they never asked him why he has come back even before the day break. The have also stated that the accused was in the habit of taking the axe whenever he went to he field.24. P.W. 15 though in his post-mortem certificate has stated that the deceased would appear to have died of injuries on head and spine, in his evidence he categorically stated that he cannot say whether he injury No. 1, which was a fatal one, is an ante-mortem or post-mortem. This additional circumstance again strengthens the doubt that already exists in the case of the prosecution. In one the case of the prosecution regarding the offence of murder is not accepted, it follows that the appellant cannot be convicted for the officer under Section 201, I.P.C., either because the evidence relating to that offence is common.25. Though normally this Court does not re-appreciate the evidence, which has been accepted concurrently by the two courts, in view of the strong suspicious circumstance, pointed out above, regarding the truth of the evidence given by P.Ws. 1 to 5, we have considered it necessary in the interest of justice to consider their evidence more critically.26. For the above reason we are on the opinion that it cannot be said that the prosecution has been proved the guilt of the accused beyond all reasonable doubt.

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

Explanation:
1[ds]For all these reasons, the counsel pointed out, that there is a grave doubt created regarding truth about the prosecution evidence and the appellant must be given the benefit of the same.We have given out careful consideration to the various aspects placed before us by the learned counsel on both the sides as also the reasons given by the High Court for agreeing with the conclusions arrived at by the learned Sessions Judge. We are of the opinion that though there may be a very strong suspicion against the appellant, it cannot be stated, in the circumstances of this case, that the prosecution has proved the crime as against the appellant beyond all reasonablethese circumstances, which have not been noted by the two courts clearly indicate that P.W. 1 is not a truthful witness, and there is a considerable doubt caused in the case of theeven if there was any threat by the appellant it must have vanished after the witness left the service and nothing prevented him from mentioning about the incident to any of the villagers, or even to the police authorities. On the other hand, he does nothing of the sort and it is only after four or five weeks after the incident, when his mother P.W. 7 asked him about the rumours in the village that he mentioned to her for the first time that the appellant had murdered hisThe witness does not strike to be a very truthful witness and what part he had in the death of the old man is a mystery. Both the High Court and the learned Sessions Judge have not given due importance to some of the aspects mentioned above and they have merely accepted as true his evidence as if he is an independentonly shows the very scanty regard that P.W. 3 had regarding the existence of the deceased. P.Ws. 3, 4 and 5 have stated that on the night in question, the appellant took the axe and left the house with P.W. 2 saying that he is going to the field and that he came back at about midnight or 1 a.m. Their evidence gives an impression that nobody in that house appears to be sleeping because all of them are awake the whole of the night at the material time to see the appellant going out of the house and coming back though very late in the night or even early nextevidence regarding this confession stated to have been made to P.Ws. 3 and 5 is very artificial and cannot be acted upon. Their evidence does not appear to be true. The High Court was not justified in acting on the basis that the appellant had made any confession to P.Ws. 3 and 5. Their evidence appears to be somewhat unusual and mechanical. They did not evince any anxiety about the whereabouts of the deceased after he failed to return the house within a reasonable time. In view of the above circumstances, it is no safe to place reliance on their evidence. Even otherwise their evidence regarding the appellant going out of the house for the purpose of watching the theft of mangoes by itself will not implicate the appellant in anyadditional circumstance again strengthens the doubt that already exists in the case of the prosecution. In one the case of the prosecution regarding the offence of murder is not accepted, it follows that the appellant cannot be convicted for the officer under Section 201, I.P.C., either because the evidence relating to that offence is common.25. Though normally this Court does notthe evidence, which has been accepted concurrently by the two courts, in view of the strong suspicious circumstance, pointed out above, regarding the truth of the evidence given by P.Ws. 1 to 5, we have considered it necessary in the interest of justice to consider their evidence more critically.26. For the above reason we are on the opinion that it cannot be said that the prosecution has been proved the guilt of the accused beyond all reasonable doubt.