Case: Jagdish Vs. State of Haryana

to be discarded, the role not to be accepted. Mr Sachher has also submitt ed that although Om Prakash and Joginder Pal deposed that they were eye witnesses to the incident of murder committed by Jagdish, it is quite apparent that Jagdish was not known to the said eye witnesses. Therefore, mere assertion by PW 1 and PW 2 that Jagdish was known to them from before cannot be accepted. It has come out from the evidences adduced by the said eye witnesses that they did not know the other co-villagers and also the Sarpanch and other important persons in the village of Jagdish. It has not been satisfactorily established how the said PWs. 1 and 2 had come to know Jagdish from before. Therefore, simply because in the FIR the name of Jagdish was given, Jagdish cannot be convicted for want of convincing evidence.Mr. Sachher has also submitted that the doctor holding post mortem on the deceased Pritam Lal Chopra had noticed singing and blackening on the person of the deceased. Such singing and blackening can take place if the victim is fired fr om a very close range, but the eye witnesses had stated that Jagdish had fired on the deceased from a distance of 3 to 4 feet. No singing or blackening would have taken place if the victim had been fired from a distance of 3 to 4 feet. Such fa ct only indicates that the said two witnesses had not seen Jagdish firing on Pritam Lal.Mr. Sachher has also contended that the report of the ballistic expert should not be accepted to be reliable because the ballistic expert has n ot noted the characteristics of weapon, namely, pistol Ex. P.5 in his report. In the absence of such noting of the characteristics of the weapon, his deposition becomes doubtful as to whether he had clearly noticed the characteristics of the weapon . Mr. Sachher has also contended that the alleged disclosure statement and consequential recovery of pistol and cartridge, by the police should not be believed. He has submitted that the seizure witness was not a local person but admittedly a chance witness. Mr. Sachher has submitted that search and seizure must be done by taking all precautions to ensure that such search and seizure had been done honestly and there was clear transparency in such search and seizure. M r. Sachher has also submitted that the name of the witnesses were not mentioned in the daily diary. It is, therefore, doubtful whether the alleged FIR was registered on the basis of the statement of Joginder Pal shortly after the incident as alleged by the prosecution. It is not unlikely that at a later stage, the FIR was fabricated by cooking a false story and giving the names of the accused. Mr. Sachher has, therefore, submitted that in the facts and circumstances of the case, th ere is enough scope to doubt the correctness of the prosecution story. The appellant, therefore, is entitled to get the benefit of doubt and his convictions and sentences are liable to be set aside.Such contention of Mr. Sachher has, howe ver, bee disputed by Mr. Siwach , learned counsel appearing for the respondent-state. Mr. Siwach has submitted that within two hours from the said incident of murder, the FIR was lodged where the name of Jagdish alongwith the name of his father an d other particulars were mentioned. He has also submitted that simply because characteristics of the weapon of assault was not mentioned by the Ballistic expert, there is no occasion to discard his evidence because the identity of the pistol which was seized on the basis of the disclosure statement by the accused Jagdish has been clearly established. Mr. Siwach has also submitted that non- mentioning of the name of the witnesses in the daily diary cannot vitiate the prosecution case when the name of the accused with relevant particulars was clearly mentioned in the FIR lodged without any delay. By convincing evidences of the eye witnesses the complicity of Jagdish in the commission of the said murder has bee n established. He has, therefore, submitted that this appeal should be dismissed. After giving our careful consideration to the facts and circumstances of the case and the evidences adduced through which we have been taken, it appears to us that the incident of murder had taken place at about 4.00 P.M. PW 1 and PW 2 immediately had removed the victim to the hospital where he was declared dead by the doctor who had examined the deceased and on the basis of ruqua sent by the doctor, the police came to the hospital and immediately on the arrival of the police statement of PW 1 forming the FIR was recorded. In the said FIR the name of the appellant Jagdish was clearly mentioned by indicating the name of his father and other particulars. There is nothing on record on the basis of which it can be reasonably held that such FIR was fabricated. There is no good reason to discard the evidences of the eye witnesses of PW 1 and PW 2 only because the co- villagers of Jagdish were not known to them. It also appears to us that a recovery of the weapon of assault on the basis of disclosure statement made by the accused had been established convincingly and the report of the ballistic expert also establishes that the bullet which was recovered from the body of the deceased at the tie of post mortem examination was fired from the pistol which was recovered on the basis of disclosure statement made by the accused Jagdish. The manner in which Pritam Lal Chopra was murdered by firing pistol shot from behind as indicated by the said two eye witness also stands corroborated from the medical evidence about the nature of the injury suffered by the said deceased. Therefore, the complicity of the appellant Jagdish in committing the murder of the deceased has been clearly established.

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

Reasoning from the judgment:
0[ds]After giving our careful consideration to the facts and circumstances of the case and the evidences adduced through which we have been taken, it appears to us that the incident of murder had taken place at about 4.00 P.M. PW 1 and PW 2 immediately had removed the victim to the hospital where he was declared dead by the doctor who had examined the deceased and on the basis of ruqua sent by the doctor, the police came to the hospital and immediately on the arrival of the police statement of PW 1 forming the FIR was recorded. In the said FIR the name of the appellant Jagdish was clearly mentioned by indicating the name of his father and other particulars. There is nothing on record on the basis of which it can be reasonably held that such FIR was fabricated. There is no good reason to discard the evidences of the eye witnesses of PW 1 and PW 2 only because the covillagers of Jagdish were not known to them. It also appears to us that a recovery of the weapon of assault on the basis of disclosure statement made by the accused had been established convincingly and the report of the ballistic expert also establishes that the bullet which was recovered from the body of the deceased at the tie of post mortem examination was fired from the pistol which was recovered on the basis of disclosure statement made by the accused Jagdish. The manner in which Pritam Lal Chopra was murdered by firing pistol shot from behind as indicated by the said two eye witness also stands corroborated from the medical evidence about the nature of the injury suffered by the said deceased. Therefore, the complicity of the appellant Jagdish in committing the murder of the deceased has been clearly established.