Yogesh Singh vs Mahabeer Singh & Ors

2. The case of the prosecution is that on 26.06.1982 at about 8.00 A.M., the deceased Mohan Singh, who was a resident of Village Garh Umrao, Tehsil Sadabad, District Mathura, U.P., after taking bath at the tube- well, was going to his house along with his minor daughter Lajjawati (PW-5). He was carrying his single barrel gun and the strip of cartridges with him. The respondents Phal Singh and Mahabir Singh, along with other accused Om Prakash and Gopi Chand, were clearing the irrigation channel of their field; whereas respondents Raj Pal and Satya Pal were scrapping grass in their respective fields. Jaipal Singh and Om Prakash were engaged in plucking the Moong Pods from the field. When deceased Mohan Singh reached the ridge of the field of Om Prakash and Gopi Chand, Phal Singh and Jaipal Singh caught him by his hands whereas respondent Om Prakash came from behind, put his arm around him and put him down on the ground. In the meantime, other accused persons also reached there. Then the accused Jaipal and Om Prakash caught hands of the deceased and accused Rajpal and Satyapal caught the legs of the deceased. Rajpal hit the deceased with a Ballam. Accused Mahabir Singh and Phal Singh severed the head of the deceased Mohan Singh by hitting him with Phawara (Spade).

3. At the time of the incident, Kalyan Singh (PW-1), who is the father of deceased Mohan Singh, and Bani Singh (PW-2) were sitting at the tube well of Bani Singh situated at a distance of around 150 yards from the place of incident. On hearing the cries of deceased Mohan Singh and Lajjawati (PW-5), the aforesaid witnesses rushed to the place of incident. In the meantime, accused Harcharan also arrived at the place of incident carrying his gun. In order to dissuade Kalyan Singh and Bani Singh, the accused respondents Phal Singh and Harcharan fired in the air. Then the accused persons tried to take away the body of deceased Mohan Singh by dragging it for some distance. But due to the hue and cry raised by the eye-witnesses, the accused fled away from the place of incident. Thereafter, Kalyan Singh (PW-1) went to Police Station Sadabad with a written complaint of the incident, on the basis of which an FIR of the incident was lodged on the same day at around 11.00 A.M. and Case Crime No.139 of 1982 was registered.

4. Thereafter, investigation started and police sent the dead body of Mohan Singh for post-mortem, prepared Site Map of the place of the incident, and collected blood-stained soil and clothes of the deceased. In the evening, accused Harcharan was arrested and on the information given by him, a blood-stained Phawara (Spade) was recovered. All the articles recovered were sent for chemical examination.

5. Dr. K.C. Jain (PW-4) conduced the post-mortem examination of deceased Mohan Singh which disclosed that there were three ante mortem injuries present on the corpse of Mohan Singh; head was severed from the body; and there was fracture on 6th and 7th vertebra. The doctor opined that the death was caused due to shock and hemorrhage due to above stated injuries.

6. After the investigation was complete, seven persons, namely, Mahabir Singh, Phal Singh, Jaipal Singh, Om Prakash, Raj Pal, Satya Pal and Har Charan were challaned by the police and charge-sheet was submitted in Court. As the case was exclusively triable by the Court of Sessions, it was committed to the Court of learned Sessions Judge, Mathura. Thereafter, charges were framed against all the accused persons vide order dated 16.12.1982, they were tried for the respective offences and after hearing the counsel for the prosecution and also the counsel for the accused, the learned Sessions Judge vide his order dated 26.07.1983, convicted six accused persons (respondents Nos.1 to 6 herein) for committing the offence under Section 302 read with Section 149 IPC and sentenced each of them to undergo rigorous imprisonment for life. They were also convicted severally under Sections 147, 148 & 379 of IPC. The accused Har Charan was not found guilty of the offences punishable under Section 148 or Section 302/149 of IPC and hence he was acquitted.

10. The Trial Court convicted the accused relying upon the successful establishment of the following facts by the prosecution:

11. On the other hand, the High Court found that the prosecution story was not reliable since the eye-witnesses were interested and other witnesses were inimical and had the motive to falsely implicate the accused persons. Further, their presence at the scene of occurrence at the time of the incident was also doubted. It was further found that the aforesaid prosecution witnesses not only made false statements on the most material parts of the prosecution case, but were even otherwise not acceptable to a reasonable person. Moreover, the testimony of the formal witnesses was also found to be not trustworthy on account of serious lapses in recording of evidence, holding of inquest and dispatching of FIR to the nearest Magistrate leading to an inference as to its antedating. Resultantly, the accused persons were acquitted by the High Court.

55. We, therefore, allow this appeal and set aside the impugned judgment passed by the High Court. Having regard to the evidence on record, the view expressed by the High Court, in our opinion, is not a plausible one. On the other hand, the trial court has correctly analyzed the material on record in the factual as well as legal perspectives to arrive at its conclusion. The Judgment and order of conviction and sentence passed by the learned Sessions Judge, Mathura, thus stand restored. The respondents are hereby directed to surrender before the Trial Court within a week, failing which the learned Sessions Judge concerned shall take prompt steps to put the respondents accused back in jail to undergo the sentence awarded to them.

….....….……………………J (Pinaki Chandra Ghose) ….....…..…………………..J (Amitava Roy) New Delhi;

October 20, 2016.