Jeewan & Ors vs State Of Uttarkhand

2. The conviction of the accused is based upon the version of the prosecution that on 12th March, 1991 at about 10 p.m., complainant Bhupal Chandra, who later came to be examined as PW1, along with his brother Devendra Lal after attending the marriage ceremony of one Pooran Chandra in Village Dhapla within the limits of Police Station Kaladhungi, District Nainital, were returning home. On their way, they found the accused Jeewan Ram, Dalip and Kamal, all residents of their village, standing there. Jeewan was carrying a knife while Kamal and Dalip were armed with sticks (danda). Accused Kamal and Dalip caught hold of Devendra while Jeewan struck several blows with knife on his chest and abdomen. PW1 was carrying torch and saw the occurrence in that light. Two more persons, Rajendra Singh, PW2 and Prem Ram, PW3, who after attending the marriage were taking rest in the nearby house of Shyam Lal, upon hearing the alarm raised by Devendra Lal, reached the place of occurrence. In the light of the torches they were carrying, they witnessed the accused committing the crime. Upon hearing the alarm raised by Devendra, these witnesses saw the accused persons running away, however, they did not chase them out of fear.

3. Devendra Lal, was immediately taken to a hospital in Haldwani where he succumbed to his injuries. At about 8.45 a.m., on 13th March, 1991 Bhupal Chandra, PW1, lodged the First Information Report (for short, the ‘FIR’) against the three accused persons at Police Station Kaladhungi and a crime case No. 68 of 1991 was accordingly registered under Section 302 of the Indian Penal Code (for short, the ‘IPC’) against all the three accused persons. In the First Information Report, Ext. A1, the complainant stated that the motive for commission of crime by the accused was previous enmity between the parties. According to him, during Deepawali festival, the accused persons along with Devendra Lal were playing cards and gambling, when they picked up a quarrel and there was a scuffle between the parties. The scuffle did not aggravate into any serious situation because of intervention by Sabhapati, the head-man of the village. Though, he got the matter compromised, the three accused continued to harbour enmity and even threatened Devendra Lal to see him later.

4. After Devendra Lal succumbed to his injuries in the hospital, a report was sent to the police. Sub Inspector Daya Ram Singh, PW8 came to the civil hospital, Haldwani, took up the charge of the dead body and prepared the inquest report, Ext. A6, whereafter the body was handed over to Dr. T.C. Pant, PW7 with a request to perform post-mortem upon the body of the deceased. The doctor performed the post-mortem and prepared a report, Ext. A7, in which he noticed the injuries upon the body of the deceased as well as the cause of death, which reads as under:-

5. PW9, Sub Inspector Ram Baran Ram, interrogated the witnesses, inspected the torches of the complainant and witnesses, prepared memorandums, Ext. A2 to A4, the site plan of the place of occurrence, Ext. A10, arrested the accused persons on 15th March, 1991 and recovered the knife used in the crime upon the statement of Jeewan vide memorandum Ext. A-

12. The Report was filed in the court of competent jurisdiction. The accused persons were committed to the court of III Additional Sessions Judge, Nainital and were tried under Section 302 IPC read with Section 34 IPC, the offence with which they were charged. The learned trial court vide its judgment dated 25th February, 1994 formed the view that the prosecution had been able to prove its case beyond reasonable doubt and therefore convicted the accused persons of committing an offence under Section 302 read with Section 34 IPC and awarded them the following sentence :-

10. According to the prosecution, the deceased Devendra was murdered by three accused to which his brother Bhupal Chandra, PW1, Rajendra Singh, PW2 and Prem Ram, PW3 were eye-witnesses. They were coming from the marriage and in torch light they saw the accused persons committing the crime. PW1 has fully supported the case of the prosecution and has stated that Jeewan was carrying a knife and Kamal and Dalip were carrying Dandas. There was a heated exchange of words between them and thereafter Kamal caught hold of Devendra while Jeewan stabbed three to four times in the stomach of Devendra. On seeing this, PW1 raised an alarm and then witnesses Rajendra Singh and Prem Ram came to the place of occurrence. Upon their coming, the accused persons ran away.

31. In view of the above discussion, we see no reason to interfere with the concurrent finding of conviction and order of sentence passed by the courts. Consequently the appeal is dismissed.