Case: Yuvaraj Ambar Mohite Vs. State Of Maharashtra

as to how liquor was consumed by them. Not much imagination is needed to note the effect thereof. PWs 3 and 4 came to the room of the deceased and knocked the door but Appellant did not allow them to enter inside inter alia on the pretext that she was sleeping. Even if it is assumed that PW-4 could not have seen his face as only upper portion of the door was said to have been opened, PWs 3 and 4 must have heard his voice. Appellant talked to them in the morning. There was no reason as to why they would not be able to identify the voice to be that of Appellant. The immediate motive for killing the deceased by Appellant might not have been proved. What transpired in a closed room cannot be known. The circumstances brought on records amply support the prosecution case and in particular the statements of PW-3.26. The doctor who conducted autopsy found saree and petticoat of the deceased to be loose. The Gynacologist who examined the dead body of the deceased opined that there might have been intercourse before death. However, the same had not been proved beyond all shadow of doubt. PW-3 had also, as noticed hereinbefore, stated about the manner in which Appellant was recoiling on the body of the deceased which shows the amorous adventure he was making. A screw driver was found at the place of the incident. It was stained with blood. According to the doctor, the fracture sustained by the deceased was possible to be inflicted by it. Appellant was a man of strong physique. He knew Judo Karate. The doctor found contusions on the right side of the neck and three linear contusions on the left side of the neck with scratches probably due to nails. The nail clippings of Appellant were taken. They were found to be stained with human blood. The blood group of Appellant was A. His banian (Ex. 5) and nicker (Ex. 7) were found stained with human blood containing group B.27. It is true that blood group of the deceased could not be determined but then the fact remains that the undergarments of Appellant were smeared with blood of a different group. In a case of this nature, having regard to the evidence on records, we are of the opinion that motive takes a back seat.28. It may be true that the attention of Appellant had not been drawn to the contents of the reports of the forensic laboratory but the same does not vitiate the judgment of conviction and sentence as he was not prejudiced thereby.29. In State (Delhi Admn.) v. Dharampal [(2001) 10 SCC 372] , this Court opined: "Thus it is to be seen that where an omission, to bring the attention of the accused to an inculpatory material has occurred, that does not ipso facto vitiate the proceedings. The accused must show that failure of justice was occasioned by such omission. Further, in the event of an inculpatory material not having been put to the accused, the appellate court can always make good that lapse by calling upon the counsel for the accused to show what explanation the accused has as regards the circumstances established against the accused but not put to him." [See also State of Punjab v. Swaran Singh, (2005) 6 SCC 101 ]30. Mr. Lalit complained that no test identification parade was held. As sufficient description of Appellant was given in the FIR and he was arrested soon thereafter, in our opinion, it was not necessary.31. We may, however, notice that in Munshi Singh Gautam (dead) and Others v. State of M.P. [(2005)9 SCC 631] , this Court opined: "Test identification parade would be of no consequence in view of Jawahars (PW 14) evidence that he did not know the physical description of the accused-appellants as he had not seen them on the date of occurrence. What remains is the evidence of Rajkumar (PW 12)." 32. Yet again in State of Punjab v. Swaran Singh [(2005) 6 SCC 101] , this Court went to the extent of stating that despite opportunity the accused did not specifically examine the witnesses in respect of facts deposed by him and, thus, failure on the part of the court to give an opportunity to the accused to answer specifically in regard to the evidence of the said witnesses would be immaterial as thereby he was not prejudiced.33. Mr. Lalit contended that only one photograph of Appellant should not have been shown to PW-3 in the court. The learned counsel in this behalf has drawn our attention to a decision of this Court in D. Gopalakrishnan v. Sadanand Naik and Others [(2005) 1 SCC 85] wherein in a matter of investigation this Court opined: "There are no statutory guidelines in the matter of showing photographs to the witnesses during the stage of investigation. But nevertheless, the police is entitled to show photographs to confirm whether the investigation is going on in the right direction. But in the instant case, it appears that the investigating officer procured the album containing the photographs with the names written underneath and showed this album to the eyewitnesses and recorded their statements under Section 161 CrPC. The procedure adopted by the police is not justified under law as it will affect fair and proper investigation and may sometimes lead to a situation where wrong persons are identified as assailants. During the course of the investigation, if the witness had given the identifying features of the assailants, the same could be confirmed by the investigating officer by showing the photographs of the suspect and the investigating officer shall not first show a single photograph but should show more than one photograph of the same person, if available. If the suspect is available for identification or for video identification, the photograph shall never be shown to the witness in advance." 34. The said decision cannot be said to have any application in the instant case.

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

Explanation:
0[ds]25. There is no reason as to why the prosecution witnesses would falsely implicate Appellant. There was also no reason as to why they would identify a wrong person. The prosecution, therefore, proved that Appellant was the person last seen with the deceased. PW-3 had occasion to see him and the deceased together at least four times as he had been asked to purchase mutton and liquor on three occasions. He had also stated in details as to how liquor was consumed by them. Not much imagination is needed to note the effect thereof. PWs 3 and 4 came to the room of the deceased and knocked the door but Appellant did not allow them to enter inside inter alia on the pretext that she was sleeping. Even if it is assumed that PW-4 could not have seen his face as only upper portion of the door was said to have been opened, PWs 3 and 4 must have heard his voice. Appellant talked to them in the morning. There was no reason as to why they would not be able to identify the voice to be that of Appellant. The immediate motive for killing the deceased by Appellant might not have been proved. What transpired in a closed room cannot be known. The circumstances brought on records amply support the prosecution case and in particular the statements of PW-3.26. The doctor who conducted autopsy found saree and petticoat of the deceased to be loose. The Gynacologist who examined the dead body of the deceased opined that there might have been intercourse before death. However, the same had not been proved beyond all shadow of doubt. PW-3 had also, as noticed hereinbefore, stated about the manner in which Appellant was recoiling on the body of the deceased which shows the amorous adventure he was making. A screw driver was found at the place of the incident. It was stained with blood. According to the doctor, the fracture sustained by the deceased was possible to be inflicted by it. Appellant was a man of strong physique. He knew Judo Karate. The doctor found contusions on the right side of the neck and three linear contusions on the left side of the neck with scratches probably due to nails. The nail clippings of Appellant were taken. They were found to be stained with human blood. The blood group of Appellant was A. His banian (Ex. 5) and nicker (Ex. 7) were found stained with human blood containing group B.27. It is true that blood group of the deceased could not be determined but then the fact remains that the undergarments of Appellant were smeared with blood of a different group. In a case of this nature, having regard to the evidence on records, we are of the opinion that motive takes a back seat.28. It may be true that the attention of Appellant had not been drawn to the contents of the reports of the forensic laboratory but the same does not vitiate the judgment of conviction and sentence as he was not prejudiced thereby.29. In State (Delhi Admn.) v. Dharampal [(2001) 10 SCC 372] , this Courtit is to be seen that where an omission, to bring the attention of the accused to an inculpatory material has occurred, that does not ipso facto vitiate the proceedings. The accused must show that failure of justice was occasioned by such omission. Further, in the event of an inculpatory material not having been put to the accused, the appellate court can always make good that lapse by calling upon the counsel for the accused to show what explanation the accused has as regards the circumstances established against the accused but not put toalso State of Punjab v. Swaran Singh, (2005) 6 SCC 101 ]30. Mr. Lalit complained that no test identification parade was held. As sufficient description of Appellant was given in the FIR and he was arrested soon thereafter, in our opinion, it was not necessary.31. We may, however, notice that in Munshi Singh Gautam (dead) and Others v. State of M.P. [(2005)9 SCC 631] , this Courtidentification parade would be of no consequence in view of Jawahars (PW 14) evidence that he did not know the physical description of the accused-appellants as he had not seen them on the date of occurrence. What remains is the evidence of Rajkumar (PW 12).Yet again in State of Punjab v. Swaran Singh [(2005) 6 SCC 101] , this Court went to the extent of stating that despite opportunity the accused did not specifically examine the witnesses in respect of facts deposed by him and, thus, failure on the part of the court to give an opportunity to the accused to answer specifically in regard to the evidence of the said witnesses would be immaterial as thereby he was not prejudiced.33. Mr. Lalit contended that only one photograph of Appellant should not have been shown to PW-3 in the court. The learned counsel in this behalf has drawn our attention to a decision of this Court in D. Gopalakrishnan v. Sadanand Naik and Others [(2005) 1 SCC 85]  wherein in a matter of investigation this Courtare no statutory guidelines in the matter of showing photographs to the witnesses during the stage of investigation. But nevertheless, the police is entitled to show photographs to confirm whether the investigation is going on in the right direction. But in the instant case, it appears that the investigating officer procured the album containing the photographs with the names written underneath and showed this album to the eyewitnesses and recorded their statements under Section 161 CrPC. The procedure adopted by the police is not justified under law as it will affect fair and proper investigation and may sometimes lead to a situation where wrong persons are identified as assailants. During the course of the investigation, if the witness had given the identifying features of the assailants, the same could be confirmed by the investigating officer by showing the photographs of the suspect and the investigating officer shall not first show a single photograph but should show more than one photograph of the same person, if available. If the suspect is available for identification or for video identification, the photograph shall never be shown to the witness in advance.The said decision cannot be said to have any application in the instant