State Of Himachal Pradesh vs Jai Chand

2. The respondent(herein) Jai Chand, along with two others were tried for offence punishable under Section 302 (r/w Section 34)IPC and Section 498-A IPC. Learned Sessions Judge, Hamirpur found Jai Chand, accused no. 1 to be guilty under Section 302 and 498-A IPC. He was sentenced to undergo Imprisonment for life and to pay fine of Rs.5000/-, in default of payment of fine, to undergo imprisonment for one year. No separate sentence under Section 498-A IPC was imposed upon the accused. The two other accused, namely, Prem Chand and Smt. Nimmo Devi were acquitted.

3. The record reveals that accused no. 1, Jai chand (respondent herein) and accused no. 2, Prem Chand are real brothers whereas accused no.3, Nimmo Devi is their sister-in-law (Bhabhi), the wife of their elder brother, Prakash Chand.

4. The prosecution version as unfolded during the trial may briefly be stated as follows:

5. Jai Chand, accused no. 1 made the alleged disclosure statement (Ex.PW-5/A) under Section 27 of the Evidence Act to the effect that he alongwith co-accused had hanged the deceased with ‘Barli’ (a wooden kari placed horizontally on the walls of the room). To the same effect, disclosure statements (Ex.PW.5/B and Ex.PW-5/D) were made by accused no.

6. As per, the disclosure statement of Jai Chand, (accused no. 1) and Nimmo Devi (accused no. 3), on the intervening night of 12th/13th July, 2001, Vidhya Devi came out of the room and went to a place where the cattle were used to be kept. Her husband, Jai Chand, accused no. 1 also followed her and asked his wife to go to bed but she did not respond thereto. Both of them entered into verbal fight. Accused no. 1 at that time dipped the head of the deceased in the bucket full of water lying there. As a result thereof, she felt suffocated and the water entered into her mouth as well as in stomach. Accused no. 1 then lifted her from that place and laid her on the cot. Accused no. 1 called accused nos. 2 and 3. Accused no. 3 caught hold of arms of the deceased whereas accused no. 2 caught hold of her legs. Accused no. 1 throttled the deceased with hands and caused her death. On finding no movement in her body, all the accused hanged the deceased with dupattas and thereafter laid the dead body of the deceased Vidhya Devi on a cot. On the following morning, Jai Chand, accused no. 1 told his mother that his wife had become unconscious during the night and now she is not speaking anything. Jai Chand, accused no. 1 then took her wife to the courtyard and laid her body on a cot lying there. The residents of the village were informed about the death of Vidhya Devi. One Smt. Damodri Devi brought some milk from her house but the deceased could not inhale the same. Thereafter, accused no. 1 accompanied by Kartar Singh and Deepak Kumar brought the deceased on the cot to the road side. Prakash Chand, brother of accused no.1 who had gone to call the doctor, had brought the taxi and the deceased was thus taken to the Zonal Hospital, Hamirpur where she was declared dead. The body of the deceased was sent for post mortem. PW-10, Dr. K. C. Chopra submitted post mortem report (Ex.PW-10/A). The stomach contents including viscera etc. preserved by the team of doctors has been got analysed and as per report Ext. PW-8/B, neither the contents of any poison nor intoxicant could be detected on analysis thereof. Thus, no case of poisoning was found.

Had Smt. Vidhya Devi been killed by her husband, he would not have dare to take the dead body of the deceased to the hospital to get the medical opinion against himself.

5) are clearly unsustainable, whereas those given by the Trial Court accepting the evidence of these witnesses were weighty and sound.

29. Hence, we allow the appeal and set aside the impugned order of acquittal passed by the Division Bench of the High Court of Himachal Pradesh on 16th November, 2004 and convict the accused-respondent under Section 302 IPC for the murder of his wife, Vidhya Devi and sentence him to imprisonment for life. We, thereby restore the order of conviction passed against the accused-respondent by the Trial Court. The accused- respondent shall surrender immediately to serve out the remainder of the sentence.