Case: Jumni &amp; Others Vs. State of Haryana

declaration would put the court on the guard and induce it to apply a rule of caution. There may be cases wherein the part of the dying declaration which is not found to be correct is so indissolubly linked with the other part of the dying declaration that it is not possible to sever the two parts. In such an event the court would well be justified in rejecting the whole of the dying declaration. There may, however, be other cases wherein the two parts of a dying declaration may be severable and the correctness of one part does not depend upon the correctness of the other part. In the last mentioned cases the court would not normally act upon a part of the dying declaration, the other part of which has not been found to be true, unless the part relied upon is corroborated in material particulars by the other evidence on record. If such other evidence shows that part of the dying declaration relied upon is correct and trustworthy the court can act upon that part of the dying declaration despite the fact that another part of the dying declaration has not been proved to be correct.” 40. Although at law there is no difficulty in segregating the role of two sets of accused persons if the dying declaration is severable, the present case indicates that the role of the accused persons cannot be segregated. This is because Asha Devi’s dying declaration mentions all the accused persons as being involved in all the events that had taken place on 4th April 1996 and 5th April 1996. There is no distinction made in the role of any of the accused persons and they have all been clubbed together with regard to the harassment of Asha Devi; making plans to eliminate her; Asha Devi being beaten up on 4th April 1996; all the accused persons preventing her from lodging a complaint with the police; all the accused persons tying up Asha Devi with her chunni and pouring kerosene oil on her and then setting her on fire. Asha Devi has referred to each one of them as being involved in every incident on 4th April 1996 and 5th April 1996. If somewhat different roles were assigned to at least some of the accused persons, segregation or severance could have been possible. But with everybody being roped in for every event, it is not possible in this case to segregate or sever the actions of one from another.41. Notwithstanding this, as we have seen, it is not possible to accept the involvement of Prem Nath and Raj Bala in the events that took place on the two fateful days. Nevertheless, it is quite possible that the other four accused were involved in beating up Asha Devi on 4th April 1996 and setting her on fire on 5th April 1996. But, what is of equal importance is that neither the Trial Court nor the High Court adverted to the crucial evidence of Puran Chand (DW-8) who stated that he saw smoke coming out of Jagdish’s tenement and children were making a noise. When he reached there, he saw flames and smoke coming out from the ventilator of Jagdish’s tenement and along with Gurbachan, he had to break down the door of the tenement which was locked from inside and they found Asha Devi on fire. If this statement of Puran Chand is correct, and there does not seem any reason to doubt it since nothing was put to him in this regard in cross examination, a case of suicide by Asha Devi is a possibility. At this stage, it may be noted that the investigating officer Gurdial Singh (PW-10) could not say if the bolt of the tenement was broken or not.42. On a reading of the dying declaration it is quite clear that Asha Devi was very disturbed on the morning of 5th April 1996 and that is why she broke her bangles in the presence of Jumni. This may be because of the events of the previous day or her being a victim of continuous harassment. This, coupled with a lack of response from Jumni on the morning of 5th April 1996 may have completely frustrated Asha Devi leading her to commit suicide. Whatever be the cause of Asha Devi being upset, the evidence of Puran Chand has not been challenged and so it cannot be glossed over. In the face of this, it is not possible to discount the theory suggested by learned counsel that the case was possibly one of the suicide out of extreme frustration and not of murder.43. It is true that when a person is on his or her death bed, there is no reason to state a falsehood but it is equally true that it is not possible to delve into the mind of a person who is facing death. In the present case the death of Asha Devi and the circumstances in which she died are extremely unfortunate but at the same time it does appear that for some inexplicable reason she put the blame for her death on all her in-laws without exception. Perhaps a more effective investigation or a more effective cross-examination of the witnesses would have brought out the truth but unfortunately on the record as it stands, there is no option but to give the benefit of doubt to Jumni (and Sham Lal) and to hold that they were not proved guilty of the offence of having murdered Asha Devi.44. Insofar as Prem Nath and Raj Bala are concerned there is sufficient material to accept their alibi and they must be acquitted of the charges made against them.45. As mentioned above Rati Ram and Balbir Prasad are already dead and nothing need be said about their involvement in the incident. Were they alive, they too would have been entitled to the benefit of doubt since the facts pertaining to them were similar to those of Jumni and Sham Lal.Conclusion:

Court's decision (1 = petition accepted / positive for appellant, 0 = rejected / negative): 1

Reasoning from the judgment:
1[ds]36. Apart from the conclusions of the Trial Court and the High Court appearing far-fetched, the testimony of Jagan Nath Mishra (DW-2) the tenant of Prem Nath has not been correctly appreciated because of a typing error in transcribing it from the original record. As mentioned above, Jagan Nath Mishra had seen Prem Nath and Raj Bala at 7.45 a.m. on 5th April 1996 (and not at 5.45 a.m. as wrongly transcribed in the impugned judgment). Consequently, Prem Nath and Raj Bala could not have been in village Bhojpur at 7.30 a.m. on 5th April 1996. This evidence has gone unchallenged.37. It seems to us that although the High Court has given due weightage to the dying declaration of Asha Devi but having accepted it, it has tried to pick holes in the defence evidence to justify the contents of the dying declaration. Given the law laid down by this Court, this was not the correct manner of approaching the evidence brought forth by Prem Nath and Raj Bala. In our opinion, the alibi witnesses have made out a strong case of demonstrating the improbability of Prem Nath and Raj Bala being involved in the incident of beating up Asha Devi at about 12.00 noon on 4th April 1996, of stopping her at about 3.00 p.m. from going to the police to lodge a complaint and setting her on fire at about 7.30 a.m. on 5th April 1996.Although at law there is no difficulty in segregating the role of two sets of accused persons if the dying declaration is severable, the present case indicates that the role of the accused persons cannot be segregated. This is because Ashadying declaration mentions all the accused persons as being involved in all the events that had taken place on 4th April 1996 and 5th April 1996. There is no distinction made in the role of any of the accused persons and they have all been clubbed together with regard to the harassment of Asha Devi; making plans to eliminate her; Asha Devi being beaten up on 4th April 1996; all the accused persons preventing her from lodging a complaint with the police; all the accused persons tying up Asha Devi with her chunni and pouring kerosene oil on her and then setting her on fire. Asha Devi has referred to each one of them as being involved in every incident on 4th April 1996 and 5th April 1996. If somewhat different roles were assigned to at least some of the accused persons, segregation or severance could have been possible. But with everybody being roped in for every event, it is not possible in this case to segregate or sever the actions of one from another.41. Notwithstanding this, as we have seen, it is not possible to accept the involvement of Prem Nath and Raj Bala in the events that took place on the two fateful days. Nevertheless, it is quite possible that the other four accused were involved in beating up Asha Devi on 4th April 1996 and setting her on fire on 5th April 1996. But, what is of equal importance is that neither the Trial Court nor the High Court adverted to the crucial evidence of Puran Chand (DW-8) who stated that he saw smoke coming out oftenement and children were making a noise. When he reached there, he saw flames and smoke coming out from the ventilator oftenement and along with Gurbachan, he had to break down the door of the tenement which was locked from inside and they found Asha Devi on fire. If this statement of Puran Chand is correct, and there does not seem any reason to doubt it since nothing was put to him in this regard in cross examination, a case of suicide by Asha Devi is a possibility. At this stage, it may be noted that the investigating officer Gurdial Singh (PW-10) could not say if the bolt of the tenement was broken or not.42. On a reading of the dying declaration it is quite clear that Asha Devi was very disturbed on the morning of 5th April 1996 and that is why she broke her bangles in the presence of Jumni. This may be because of the events of the previous day or her being a victim of continuous harassment. This, coupled with a lack of response from Jumni on the morning of 5th April 1996 may have completely frustrated Asha Devi leading her to commit suicide. Whatever be the cause of Asha Devi being upset, the evidence of Puran Chand has not been challenged and so it cannot be glossed over. In the face of this, it is not possible to discount the theory suggested by learned counsel that the case was possibly one of the suicide out of extreme frustration and not of murder.43. It is true that when a person is on his or her death bed, there is no reason to state a falsehood but it is equally true that it is not possible to delve into the mind of a person who is facing death. In the present case the death of Asha Devi and the circumstances in which she died are extremely unfortunate but at the same time it does appear that for some inexplicable reason she put the blame for her death on all her in-laws without exception. Perhaps a more effective investigation or a more effective cross-examination of the witnesses would have brought out the truth but unfortunately on the record as it stands, there is no option but to give the benefit of doubt to Jumni (and Sham Lal) and to hold that they were not proved guilty of the offence of having murdered Asha Devi.44. Insofar as Prem Nath and Raj Bala are concerned there is sufficient material to accept their alibi and they must be acquitted of the charges made against them.45. As mentioned above Rati Ram and Balbir Prasad are already dead and nothing need be said about their involvement in the incident. Were they alive, they too would have been entitled to the benefit of doubt since the facts pertaining to them were similar to those of Jumni and Sham Lal.