Sandeep vs State Of U.P

1. These appeals arise out of the common judgment of the Division Bench of the High Court of Allahabad in Criminal Appeal No.4148/2007 along with Criminal Reference No.19/2007 by which, the High Court while accepting the Criminal Reference insofar as it related to appellant Sandeep in Criminal Appeal No.1651/2009, rejected the same insofar as it related to appellant Shashi Bhushan in Criminal Appeal Nos.1425-26/2011. In other words, while upholding the sentence of death awarded to Sandeep, the appellant in Criminal Appeal No.1651/2009, the Division Bench modified the sentence into one of life imprisonment insofar as it related to Shashi Bhushan, the appellant in Criminal Appeal Nos.1425-26/2011.

2. Shorn of unnecessary facts, the case of the prosecution as projected before the trial Court was that on 17.11.2004 I D.N. Verma (PW-

Accused Sandeep stated to have extended a promise to marry her at Haridwar. While the vehicle started moving, accused Sandeep asked Jyoti to get the foetus aborted to which she did not agree instead threatened him by saying that she will reveal all facts to his parents as well as to the police and that as they reached Modinagar, he started beating her. According to the version of accused Sandeep, as told to PW-1, at Modinagar he purchased two bottles of acid and four shaving blades, that when they reached Khatoli, on seeing an isolated place, they tried to pull out the injured Jyoti from the vehicle and that at that point of time they were apprehended by the police. It is the case of the prosecution that while both the accused were taken into custody, the vehicle in which they were travelling was also seized along with the jack and pana, four blades and two acid bottles. The articles, namely, blood stained floor mat, empty bottles of acid, one pair of ladies footwear were stated to have been seized after preparing a seizure memo. A copy of the seizure memo was stated to have been handed over to the accused. It is the specific case of the prosecution that since it was late in the night and it was a lonely place, there were no independent witnesses other than the police personnel. The seizure memo was marked as Exhibit K-1.

3. The statement of PW-1 was registered as FIR No.Nil/2004 on the files of P.S. Ratanpuri on 17.11.2004 against both the accused persons for offences under Sections 307, 326, 324 and 328, Indian Penal Code (in short ‘IPC’) which came to be subsequently altered later on as one under Sections 302/34 IPC after the victim was declared dead by the hospital authorities. On the above set of facts, District and Sessions Judge, Muzaffarnagar framed charges against both the accused persons for offences under Section 302, IPC read with Section 34, IPC and Section 316, IPC read with Section 34, IPC and proceeded with the trial. In support of the prosecution as many as 10 witnesses were examined.

j. The statement of the accused as stated to have been made to PW-1 contained various facts unconnected to the crime and also the self incriminating facts which could be distinguished.

22. With this, we come to the next submission of learned counsel for the appellants, that in the absence of independent witnesses, no reliance can be placed upon PW Nos.1 to 5, who were all police personnel. To deface the evidence of PW Nos. 1 to 5, it was contended that near the place of occurrence, a crusher unit was existing, and at that point of time, the crusher unit was also working. It was suggested to PW-1 that the crusher unit was around 100 yards away from the place of occurrence. It was also suggested to PW-2 that the crusher unit was running at that point of time which was 100 yards away from the place of occurrence. In another place, it was stated by PW-3 that the crusher unit was around ½ KM away from the bridge and it was working. It was also stated by him that at that point of time, 3-4 persons were working in the crusher unit. From what has been stated by the above witnesses, what all that can be inferred was that a crusher unit was at least 100 yards away from the place of occurrence and that even at that point of time, namely, at 21.30 hours, the unit was working with at least 3-4 labourers. Beyond the above fact, it was not the case of the appellant that any worker from the crusher unit was present at the spot and yet he was neither shown as a witness nor examined and thereby any prejudice was caused to the appellants. It is also not the case of the appellants that apart from the labourers working in the crusher unit, any other independent witness was present at the spot who was not cited nor examined as a witness. Therefore, when the above facts are clear, we are at a loss to understand as to how the grievance of the appellants as regards non-examination of any independent witness can be taken as a factor to put the case against the prosecution and to hold that the whole case of the prosecution should be set at naught. Apart from the above, no other point was raised as regards the non-examination of any independent witness as to the occurrence narrated by the prosecution.

36. We, therefore, do not find any scope to interfere with the sentence of life and other sentences imposed against accused Shashi Bhushan under Section 302, IPC read with Section 34, IPC by the High Court and the other sentences under Section 316 read with Section 34 IPC.

38. Taking note of the above decision and also taking into account the facts and circumstances of the case on hand, while holding that the imposition of death sentence to the accused Sandeep was not warranted and while awarding life imprisonment we hold that accused Sandeep must serve a minimum of 30 years in jail without remissions before consideration of his case for premature release.

39. Criminal Appeal No.1651/2009 and the Criminal Reference No.19 of 2007 thus stand disposed of modifying the punishments imposed on accused Sandeep as one for life and he should undergo the said sentence of life for a fixed period of 30 years without any remission to be allowed. The Criminal Appeal Nos.1425-26/2011 of accused Shashi Bhushan stand dismissed.