Chaman & Anr vs State Of Uttrakhand

3. The genesis of the prosecution case is traceable to the F.I.R. lodged on 12.6.1996 by Rajo Devi, widow of the deceased Jagram, addressed to the Station In-charge, Police Station Cleamantown, Dehradun. She alleged in the FIR that prior to the date of incident i.e. 12.6.1996, the appellants Chaman, Rakesh @ Mota and Sukhbeer along with two associates had come to their residence in search of her son Vinod, who they alleged was involved in the murder of the son of Chaman. As Vinod was not available there, they went back. They returned on the date of the incident at about 11 A.M., when she along with her husband and daughters Bina and Manju were present in the house. The appellants again enquired about Vinod and as he was not present in the house, they took away her husband Jagram with them. The informant stated that the appellants had come in a jeep bearing No. UP 015 5330 and had forced her husband in the said jeep and had taken him away. She expressed apprehension that due to the impression of the appellants that her son Vinod was involved in the murder of the son of Chaman, they would eliminate her husband, Jagram. She mentioned as well in the FIR that at the time of the incident, her daughters Bina and Manju raised alarm, but the people of the locality did not intervene.

4. This information was registered as FIR No. 250 of 1996 and in course of the investigation, on 15.6.1996 at about 1400 hours, one Amar Singh informed the Police Station Chandpur, District Bijnour that a decomposed dead body, 3/4 days old, had been detected in a jungle between Cehla and Ismailpur. This information was recorded and inquest of the dead body was conducted in presence of panch witnesses, whereafter the body was dispatched for post-mortem examination. At that stage, the dead body was unidentified. It was found to be decomposed with maggots. No visible injury was noticed on the dead body. The appellant Chaman was arrested on 3.7.1996, who thereafter led the police to the jungle at Village Cehla, within the jurisdiction of P.S. Chandpur, District Bijnour from where a rope, as shown by him, was recovered from bamboo bushes. According to the prosecution, the appellant Chaman also showed to the police, the place in the jungle where Jagram had been killed by hanging him by that rope from a tree. The rope was seized vide recovery memo and the site plan of the place of occurrence as indicated by the appellant Chaman, was prepared.

5. The dead body, on the completion of inquest, was sealed and was brought to the District Hospital, Bijnour for autopsy. On the basis of the evidence collected in the course of investigation, charge-sheet was submitted against the appellants – Chaman, Rakesh Kumar @ Mota, Sukhbeer, Ghanshyam @ Bundu, Tofique and Ashok under Sections 302/364/201 IPC. The case being exclusively triable by the Court of Sessions was committed to the Court of Additional Sessions Judge, Fast Track (IV), Dehradun. Charge was framed under Sections 147, 201/302/364 r/w 149 IPC, to which the accused persons pleaded “not guilty” and claimed to be tried.

6. The prosecution examined ten witnesses, whereafter the statements of the accused persons were recorded under Section 313 Cr.P.C.. All of them stood by their denial in their statements. On the conclusion of the trial, the trial court acquitted accused Ghanshyam, Tofique and Ashok of all the charges. It acquitted appellants as well, of the charges under Sections 147, 201 r/w 149 IPC but convicted them, under Sections 302/364 r/w 34 IPC and sentenced them as above.

14. The facts narrated in the FIR dated 12.6.1996, in our estimate, are of sufficient clarity regarding the dual visits of the appellants to the house of the deceased in search of his son Vinod. The contents thereof do not admit any doubt that the appellants along with two others had come in a jeep, the number whereof had been provided in the FIR, on the date of the incident at about 11 A.M. and had taken away with them the deceased, father of Vinod in presence of the informant- Rajo Devi, his daughters Bina and Manju. There is a clear averment that though the daughters raised alarm and that the people of the locality were present, no body did come forward to prevent the abduction. The omission on the part of the people in the neighbourhood to intervene per se, in our opinion, does not detract from the truthfulness of the report made which admittedly had been done within the shortest possible time. Though the FIR was written by one H.S. Verma, his non-examination as well is of no adverse bearing on the prosecution case. The letter by Surender, a detenu in the District Jail, Bijnour hinting at the plot to kill Chaman also, in our comprehension, is not of any definitive significance.

15. PW1-Rajo Devi, in unequivocable terms, stated on oath that on the date of the incident at 11 A.M., the appellants and two other persons, whose names were not known to her, had come in a car with curtains. They searched for her son Vinod and when he was not found, they picked up her husband Jagram, pushed him in the car and took him away. She identified the appellants and other accused persons in the court to be the kidnappers of her husband. She stated as well, in terms of the FIR filed, that the appellants had visited her house 15 days prior to the date of the incident looking for her son Vinod, disclosing it to her that they suspected that he was involved in the murder of the son of Chaman. The witness also deposed that thereafter she along with her two daughters Bina and Manju and son-in- law, had visited the Bijnour mortuary and had identified the dead body of her husband.

32. Judged by the above touchstone of reasonableness of doubt in evaluating the facts and circumstances of the present case, we are clear in our mind that the complicity of the appellants in the offences with which they have been charged, has been convincingly proved as required in law.

34. On a anxious consideration of the entire gamut of the facts of the case and the principles of law evolved, we are, thus of the unhesitant opinion that the concurrent convictions and the sentences based thereon, as recorded by the trial court and the High Court, do not warrant any interference in the present appeals. The appeals are, thus dismissed.