Krishnegowda & Ors vs State Of Karnataka By Arkalgud Police

3. The Criminal Appeal 1067/2006 is preferred by accused Nos. 2 & 5 who were convicted by the High Court for the offences punishable under Section 302 read with 34, IPC and Section 324 read with 149, IPC. Under Section 302 they were sentenced to undergo life imprisonment and to pay fine of Rs 10,000/-, in default to undergo further imprisonment for one year. Under Section 324 the punishment imposed was imprisonment for a period of one year and fine of Rs 500/- and in default to undergo imprisonment for a further period of 2 months.

4. Brief facts as unfolded by the prosecution are that Chennegowda (deceased), the resident of Mudugere Village, had 12 acres of land near Masarangala Village out of which eight acres were consisting of coffee plantation and four acres were wet land. Due to construction of bridge over Hemavathi river which caused submersion of some surrounding lands in the backwaters, Channegowda and his sons used to pass through the cart track in Survey No. 42 and other lands in Survey No. 43 belonging to the accused persons since they were located between coffee estate of Chennegowda and the road to Kendenne village, to have access to his coffee estate, the deceased could get a road sanctioned from the authorities. Accused No. 7, Rajappa got temporary injunction against that sanction which led to the deceased to move the Court and got the temporary injunction vacated. When a Court commissioner inspected the disputed lands, a quarrel had erupted between the accused and victim parties. The Panchayat settled the issue by directing the deceased to pay Rs.1000/- to the brother of Accused No. 13. Accordingly the payment was made but the enmity between the two groups continued.

5. In the backdrop of this factual scenario, on 27th February, 1991 at about 8 am, when Sannegowda (PW1), Channegowda (PW5) and Swamygowda (PW6) - all belonging to victim party, were carrying milk to the collection centre of Daarikongalale village, accused Nos. 1 to 7 and 9 to 13 formed into an unlawful assembly and restrained Sannegowda (PW1) near Higher Primary School and assaulted him with clubs and stones. At that point of time Channegowda (father of PW1), Mogannagowda (PW2) and Papegowda (PW3) came and interfered questioning the accused reasons for the assault. Then Puttegowda (A5) and Nanjegowda (A2) attacked Channegowda (father of PW1) seriously injuring him with chopper and club respectively. Sannegowda (PW1), Moganangowda (PW2) and Papaegowda (PW3) were injured at the hands of A2 and A3. The injured were shifted to hospital and the same was informed to police.

6. The Investigating Officer, Lakshmi Prasad, PSI (PW19) recorded the statement (Ex.P1) of Sannegowda (PW1) and registered the case against Krishnegowda (A1) and five others for the offences punishable under Sections 143, 147, 148 and 324 read with Section 149, IPC. Meanwhile, the seriously injured Channegowda (father of PW1) was treated in S.C. Hospital at Hassan for two days, thereafter he was shifted to NIMHANS, Bangalore, from there to Victoria Hospital, Bangalore and finally again to S.C. Hospital at Hassan where on 6th March, 1991 he succumbed to the injuries. Consequently, charge under Section 302, IPC was added against the accused, inquest report prepared, postmortem conducted, statements of witnesses have been recorded and Investigating Officer got prepared sketch of scene of occurrence and seized choppers and clubs from the place of occurrence and sent it to Forensic Science Laboratory at Bangalore.

7. The Principal Sessions Judge at Hassan took cognizance of the offence and framed charges. Before framing charges, accused No. 8 died. Hence charges were framed against remaining 12 accused for the offences punishable under Sections 148, 302/149, 324/149 and 323/249 of IPC. In order to bring home the guilt of the accused, prosecution examined 22 witnesses, PWs 1 to 6 and 11 being eyewitnesses, marked Ext. P-1 to P-41 and MOs 1 to 6 were produced at trial. However, in defence no witness was examined on behalf of the accused.

(ii) According to PW1 on 27-02-1991 he took milk to the milk collection centre at Parikongalale Village along with PW5 & PW6 at 07:30 a.m. At that time A1, A3, A5, A6 held him and assaulted him with clubs and stones and fisted him. Then he has narrated how A1, A2, A3 and A4 assaulted him. Then the deceased, PW2 & PW3 came to the place of occurrence and asked him why they are assaulting PW1. A5 & A2 with chopper and club again assaulted their father and he fell down and became unconscious. Then PW6 carried his father to the veranda of the school and laid him down. After that again A2, A3, A10 assaulted his brother. At that time police came to the scene of offence at 10 a.m. and shifted the deceased and PW1 to the hospital and then he wrote a complaint and gave it to the police. Police recorded the statement and it is attested by him.

In view of the voluminous evidence placed on record and the divergent views taken by the Courts below, it has become imperative for us to evaluate the material on record in detail to come to a just conclusion. First and foremost we would like to analyze the oral evidence adduced by the prosecution in support of its case.

(iv) The Investigating Officer himself deposed that he had not seen the MOs and as per the punch witnesses also they were not seized. The Doctor (PW10) deposed that those articles were not placed before her and no opinion was sought.

(v) PW2 was also an injured witness. According to the prosecution he was injured on 27-02-1991. But he went to the hospital on 08- 03-91 and the reasons for delay were left unexplained.

It is settled law that mere latches on the part of Investigating Officer itself cannot be a ground for acquitting the accused. If that is the basis, then every criminal case will depend upon the will and design of the Investigating Officer. The Courts have to independently deal with the case and should arrive at a just conclusion beyond reasonable doubt basing on the evidence on record.

Going by the material on record, we disagree with the finding of the High Court that the ocular evidence and the medical evidence are in conformity with the case of prosecution to convict the accused. The High Court has brushed aside the vital defects involved in the prosecution case and in a very unconventional way convicted the accused.

The Court should always make an endeavor to find the truth. A criminal offence is not only an offence against an individual but also against the society. There would be failure of justice if innocent man is punished. The Court should be able to perceive both sides i.e. the prosecution as well as the defence and in our considered opinion the judgment of the High Court suffers from several defects as discussed in the preceding paragraphs.

Hence we deem it appropriate to set aside the judgment of the High Court and re-affirm the order of acquittal passed by the Trial Court. The accused shall be set at liberty provided they are not required in any other case. Accordingly the appeals are allowed.

..................................J (N. V. Ramana) .................................J (Prafulla C. Pant) New Delhi Dated: March 28, 2017