Case: State Of A P Vs. Patnam Anandam

report made to him clearly disclosed the commission of a cognizable offence by the respondent. The name of the person making the report was also known to him. Assuming that he did not consider it necessary to draw up a first information report on the basis of such telephonic information, he would have certainly made a note of it in the station diary. There is no evidence to show that any station diary entry was made. PW-11 claimed that he had also sent a report to the police. That report has not been produced before the Court. Thus, neither the oral report made to the investigating officer by PW-11, nor the written report said to have been sent to the police by PW-11 has been proved by evidence brought on record. Therefore, the court is deprived of the initial reports said to have been made by PW-11. One also fails to understand why the investigating officer did not immediately proceed to the place of occurrence, having come to know that the respondent had committed the murder of the his wife. The village of occurrence was hardly 4 kms. from the police station, and yet the admitted case is that he came to the village at 6.30 A.M. It was at the place of occurrence that PW-11 is said to have made a report to him on the basis of which a formal first information report was drawn up. These facts lead us to doubt the case of the prosecution that any report was made at 7.00 P.M. by PW-1 to the Sarpanch of the village, and that he had reported the matter to the police at 11.00 P.M. The fact that the police arrived at the spot at about 6.30 A.M. when a report was lodged by PW-11 for the first time, leads one to suspect that the death of the deceased came to light some time early in the morning of 8th November, 1992, and only thereafter the investigative machinery was put into motion. This finding of ours reduces the significance of the incriminating circumstance that the respondent was last seen in the company of the deceased at 4.00 P.M. on the earlier day. 11. The next significant circumstance is the fact that the respondent had given a wrong information about the cause of death of deceased. It is no doubt true that the medial evidence conclusively establishes the fact that the deceased was battered by a hard and blunt object and her neck was pressed with such force that even the hyoid bone was fractured. However, the statement made by PW-1 to the Sarpanch PW-11 that his son had informed him that the deceased had died after consuming pesticide, is not admissible in evidence, being hit by the rule against hearsay. This circumstance cannot, therefore, be relied upon by the prosecution to prove that the respondent had given a fake explanation for the death of the deceased. 12. The most crucial circumstance which could have linked the respondent with the murder of the deceased is the finding of a cloth piece and two buttons near the body of the deceased, which according to the prosecution were parts of the shirt worn by the respondent on the date of occurrence. It was urged before us that the respondent made a disclosure statement on 22.11.1992 and produced a shirt from his house voluntarily which was worn by him on the date of occurrence. The case of the prosecution is that while resisting the assault on her, the deceased may have caught hold of the pocket of the shirt and in the struggle that ensued, the pocket was torn off and two buttons also fell off near the place of occurrence. Unfortunately, the prosecution had led no evidence to connect the shirt with the piece of cloth found near the place of occurrence. Counsel for the respondent submitted that the respondent was arrested on 8th November, 1992 and the alleged disclosure statement is said to have made on 22nd November, 1992. The disclosure statement made after such delay has no value. We will assume in favour of the prosecution that a disclosure statement was made on 22nd November, 1992 and pursuant thereto the respondent produced before the police a shirt, which according to the prosecution, was worn by him on the date of occurrence. The seizure memo of the shirt shows that the shirt was a white shirt with red patterns of flower appeared that the pocket of the shirt was torn apart. Two buttons were also missing from the shirt. The site plan Exhibit P-3 discloses that near the dead body was found a torn shirt pocket and two white buttons. The colour of the shirt pocket found has not been disclosed in the panchnama. It is, therefore, difficult to connect the torn shirt pocket with the shirt which was recovered at the instance of the respondent. This apart, we find that no evidence has been adduced by the prosecution to establish that the piece of cloth found at the place of occurrence was really a part of the shirt which was recovered at the instance of the respondent. No witness has said so. Moreover, the circumstances that the pocket of the shirt worn by the accused at the time of committing the offence was found at the scene of occurrence, was not even put to the respondent in his examination under Section 313 Cr.P.C. It is, therefore, difficult to reply upon, as an incriminating circumstance, the recovery of two buttons and a piece of cloth, said to be the pocket of a shirt, from the place of occurrence, in the absence of any evidence to connect the said piece of cloth with the shirt of the accused. 13. In this state of the evidence on record, we are of the view that the respondent is entitled to an acquittal by giving to him the benefit of doubt, though for reasons different from the reasons recorded by the High Court.

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

Explanation:
0[ds]9. There are three circumstances noticed by the trial court which are of considerable significance and they arefirstly, that the accused was last seen in the company of the deceased by the mother of the deceased, secondly, that a torn piece of a shirt and buttons found at the scene of offence matched with the shirt MO1 seized from the house of the accused and lastly, that the accused gave a false statement that his wife had died of poisoning, whereas the medical evidence disclosed that she had been brutally assaulted with some blunt object resulting in the fracture of several ribs and causing other injuries which ultimately resulted in her death11. The next significant circumstance is the fact that the respondent had given a wrong information about the cause of death of deceased. It is no doubt true that the medial evidence conclusively establishes the fact that the deceased was battered by a hard and blunt object and her neck was pressed with such force that even the hyoid bone was fractured. However, the statement made by1 to the Sarpanch1 that his son had informed him that the deceased had died after consuming pesticide, is not admissible in evidence, being hit by the rule against hearsay. This circumstance cannot, therefore, be relied upon by the prosecution to prove that the respondent had given a fake explanation for the death of the deceased12. The most crucial circumstance which could have linked the respondent with the murder of the deceased is the finding of a cloth piece and two buttons near the body of the deceased, which according to the prosecution were parts of the shirt worn by the respondent on the date of occurrence. It was urged before us that the respondent made a disclosure statement on 22.11.1992 and produced a shirt from his house voluntarily which was worn by him on the date of occurrence. The case of the prosecution is that while resisting the assault on her, the deceased may have caught hold of the pocket of the shirt and in the struggle that ensued, the pocket was torn off and two buttons also fell off near the place of occurrence. Unfortunately, the prosecution had led no evidence to connect the shirt with the piece of cloth found near the place of occurrence. Counsel for the respondent submitted that the respondent was arrested on 8th November, 1992 and the alleged disclosure statement is said to have made on 22nd November, 1992. The disclosure statement made after such delay has no value. We will assume in favour of the prosecution that a disclosure statement was made on 22nd November, 1992 and pursuant thereto the respondent produced before the police a shirt, which according to the prosecution, was worn by him on the date of occurrence. The seizure memo of the shirt shows that the shirt was a white shirt with red patterns of flower appeared that the pocket of the shirt was torn apart. Two buttons were also missing from the shirt. The site plan Exhibit3 discloses that near the dead body was found a torn shirt pocket and two white buttons. The colour of the shirt pocket found has not been disclosed in the panchnama. It is, therefore, difficult to connect the torn shirt pocket with the shirt which was recovered at the instance of the respondent. This apart, we find that no evidence has been adduced by the prosecution to establish that the piece of cloth found at the place of occurrence was really a part of the shirt which was recovered at the instance of the respondent. No witness has said so. Moreover, the circumstances that the pocket of the shirt worn by the accused at the time of committing the offence was found at the scene of occurrence, was not even put to the respondent in his examination under Section 313 Cr.P.C. It is, therefore, difficult to reply upon, as an incriminating circumstance, the recovery of two buttons and a piece of cloth, said to be the pocket of a shirt, from the place of occurrence, in the absence of any evidence to connect the said piece of cloth with the shirt of the accused13. In this state of the evidence on record, we are of the view that the respondent is entitled to an acquittal by giving to him the benefit of doubt, though for reasons different from the reasons recorded by the High Court.