Kuria & Anr vs State Of Rajasthan

3. Aggrieved from the judgment of the High Court, both the accused have filed the present appeal. The State did not challenge the acquittal of the 12 accused persons by the Trial Court before the High Court. Thus, in the present appeal, we are only concerned with the appeal of the aforementioned two accused.

4. Now, we may notice the case of the prosecution in brief. Laleng, son of Mogji Patidar went to the Police Station, Garhi on 28th January, 2001 and lodged a written report (Exhibit P3) to the effect that his father had gone to some other place as a guest. At about 5.30 in the evening, he was returning to his house. The informant (who was also going in the same direction), was at some distance behind him. Along with him were two persons, namely, Dhulji and Bapulal. When his father reached near the house of Yatendra, son of Shivaji and was standing on the road, Laleng and Dalji started assaulting his father and on their hands, took him inside their house. According to Laleng, who was examined as PW3, Laleng son of Dalji, the accused, was carrying an axe in his hand. The other accused, Laleng s/o Wajeng, was carrying a ‘kash’ and Kuriya was carrying a ‘lath’ in his hands and others were also carrying ‘laths’. PW3 and the others with him could not interfere because of the large number of accused and, due to fear, they ran to the village to get help. Once this fact was disclosed, Dhulji son of Gotam, Bajeng son of Pemji and Dalji son of Gotam had also arrived at the place of incident. In their presence, Laleng and his son Kuria, Laleng son of Dalji, Dhulji son of Bajeng, Kuber son of Jasu and Bhemji son of Nathu were beating his father and while assaulting him, dragged and threw him on the road in front of the house of Laleng, the accused. When the informant and the others came near his father, they saw that he had expired. The body of the deceased was lying at the spot. According to this witness, there was rivalry between these persons and the deceased. PW3, thus, had seen the incident. The FIR was registered under Sections 147, 148, 149 and 302 of the IPC vide Exhibit P/4. The Investigating Officer commenced his investigation, went to the place of occurrence, prepared the site plan (Exhibit P/5) and recorded statement of the witnesses vide panchnama (Exhibit P/2). The body of the deceased was taken into custody. The clothes worn by the deceased were also taken into possession vide Exhibit P/7. The body of the deceased was subjected to post mortem which was prepared by Dr. S.K. Bhatnagar, PW6 being Exhibit P/11. From the house of the accused Laleng, blood stained Dahli (piece of wood of the door of the house) was taken into possession vide Exhibit P/9. In furtherance to the statement of the accused, the recoveries of iron kash, axe and laths were made and the same were taken into possession vide Exhibits P/13 to P/18. The recovered articles were sent to the Forensic Science Laboratory, Udaipur (FSL) vide Exhibit P/30 for which permission was granted by the Superintendent of Police vide Exhibit P/29 [Acknowledgment receipt (Exhibit P/31)]. The report of the FSL was received and accepted as Exhibit P/43. Based upon the oral statements and the documentary evidence collected during the course of the trial and the statements recorded during investigation, the Investigating Officer (PW16) completed his investigation and submitted chalan under Section 173(3) of the Code of Criminal procedure, 1973 (for short, the Cr.P.C.) to the court of competent jurisdiction.

6. The prosecution, in order to prove its case, had examined as many as 17 witnesses. PW1, PW3, PW5 and PW15 were projected by the prosecution as eye-witnesses. However, during the course of their examination, PW1 and PW5 were declared hostile as they did not support the case of the prosecution and the case of the prosecution primarily hinges upon the statements of PW3 and PW15 coupled with the post mortem report, the report of the FSL, statement of PW6 and the attendant circumstances.

10. The doctor was examined as PW6. According to the doctor, the deceased was a healthy person and had suffered the abovestated 15 injuries. When he dissected the body of the deceased, he found that both pleural cavities were full of blood and the trachea and lungs were congested. At the back, ribs three to five were fractured and they had perforated the lungs. Similarly, on the left side as well ribs from five to seven had been fractured and had perforated the lungs even on that side. The cause of death, according to PW6, was as a result of injuries to both the lungs and the pleural cavity being full of blood which caused pressure on the neck, causing the deceased to suffocate. PW6 was subjected to a lengthy cross-examination but nothing material has been found. In his cross examination, he stated that he had prepared Exhibit P/11 immediately after examining the body of the deceased.

16. In light of the above principles, we may revert to the evidence in the present case. A large number of persons had attacked one person. These witnesses cannot be expected to explain the role in the inflicting of injuries by each one of them individually and the weapons used. Such conduct would be opposed to the normal conduct of a human being. The fear for his own life and anxiety to save the victim would be so high and bothersome to the witness that it will not only be unfair but also unfortunate to expect such a witness to speak with precision with regard to injuries inflicted on the body of the deceased and the role attributable to each of the accused individually. In the present case, the result of the blunt injuries is evident from the report of the post mortem (Exhibit P/11), the ribs of the deceased were broken and they had punctured the lungs. The pleural cavities were full of blood and his body was dragged causing injuries on his back. In these circumstances, some blood would but naturally ooze out of the body of the deceased and his clothes would be blood stained. The post mortem report (Exhibit P/11), the inquest report, the statements of PW2, PW3, PW4, PW7 and PW15 are in line with each other and there is no noticeable conflict between them. The injuries on the body of the deceased were so severe that they alone could be the cause of death and the statement of PW6 in relation to cause of death is definite and certain. Thus, we see no merit in this contention raised on behalf of the accused.

20. These cannot be termed as contradictions between the statements of the witnesses. They are explainable variations which are likely to occur in the normal course and do not, in any way, adversely affect the case of the prosecution. Thus, there are no material contradictions in the statement of the witnesses or the documents, nor can the presence of PW15 be doubted at the place of occurrence.

26. In light of these principles, it can safely be recorded that firstly all these witnesses were present at the place of occurrence and their statements are reliable. In the alternative, if we rely upon the statement of PW15 (according to the accused, the sole eye witness) whose statement, according to the accused, is unreliable, then this Court should have no hesitation in basing the conviction on the statement of PW15, as the statement of that witness is trustworthy, reliable and is completely corroborated by other ocular and documentary evidence.

33. The above-stated ingredients are fully satisfied in the present case. Undoubtedly, all the accused had committed criminal acts punishable under the provisions of the IPC. They had done so with common intention, as is evident from the statement of the witnesses and the documents on record. And lastly, each one of them, whether he actually made any assault on the body of the deceased or not, dragged him and threw his body in the gully or not, shall all be deemed to have committed the said offences with the aid of Section 34 IPC. Thus, this contention also has no merit and is rejected.

34. For the reasons afore-recorded, the appeal is dismissed.