Judgment Case ID: 4864

Judgment:
N: Criminal Appeal No. 476 of 1984. Appeal by Special leave from the Judgment and Order dated the 6th December	 1983 of the Allahabad High Court in Appeal No. 611 of 1976. Dr. N. M. Ghatate and C.K. Ratnaparkhi for the Appellants. Manoj Swarup Dalveer Bhandari and A.K. Sanghi for the Respondents. The Judgment of the Court was delivered by CHANDRACHUD	 C.J. It is necessary to record this short order so that it may be known as to what an incredible amount of ingenuity is exercised by the people to secure false acquittals. A person by the name of Kunwar Bahadur was murdered in the village of Bamori Kalan	 District Jalaun	 on July 18	 1971. The appellants were convicted for that murder and were sentenced to suffer imprisonment for life. On June 2	 1983	 dead body was found in Vidisha	 Madhya Pradesh. A letter purported to have been written by one Kunwar Bahadur was recovered from the person of the deceased. On the next day	 June 3	 1983	 a Hindi daily called 'Nav Bharat ' carried a news item to the effect that the dead body of one Kunwar Bahadur Singh was found in Vidisha in suspicious circumstances and that the letter which was recovered from the person of the deceased showed that he was repentant. This news item is alleged to have come to the notice of the relatives of the appellants	 who contacted the Vidisha police. The contention of the appellants is that Kanwar Bahadur	 for whose murder they were convicted in 1971 was alive for 12 years thereafter and that his dead body was found on June 2	 1983. By this appeal	 they pray for an order of acquittal	 or rather	 for an order setting aside their 12 year old conviction on the ground that they were convicted for a murder that never was. 864 Since this appeal raised a question of serious concern to the administration of justice	 an order was passed by this Court on April 11	 1984 directing the District Magistrate	 Vidisha	 to hold an inquiry into the allegation as to whether the person called Kunwar Bahadur	 who was alleged to have been murdered in 1971	 was found alive after the alleged murder and was thereafter murdered in some other incident which took place in 1983. The District Magistrate	 Vidisha	 Shri O.P. Dube	 has submitted a report which deserves high praise. He has recorded statements of 18 persons and has examined documents leading to the conclusion that the person whose body was found on June 2	 1983 is not the person who was murdered in 1971 and for whose murder the appellants were sentenced to life imprisonment. It is clear from the report of the District Magistrate that the letter which was found on the person of the dead body on June 2	 1983 is a forged and fictitious document manufactured for the purpose of getting over the order whereby the appellants were convicted for the murder of Kunwar Bahadur in 1971. The age of Kunwar Bahadur who was murdered in 1971 does not tally with the age of the person alleged to be Kunwar Bahadur whose dead body was found on June 2	 1983. The close relatives of the real Kunwar Bahadur who was murdered in 1971	 have stated before the District Magistrate that the handwriting of the letter found on the person of the dead body which was discovered on June 2	 1983 is not that of Kunwar Bahadur who was murdered in 1971. After the receipt of the District Magistrate 's Report	 this appeal came up for hearing on August 13	 1984 when Dr. N.M. Ghatate	 appearing for the appellants	 asked that the District Magistrate should be directed further to show the photograph of the dead body which was discovered on June 2	 1983	 to the close relatives of Kunwar Bahadur in order to remove any doubt on the question whether the person whose dead body was found in 1983 is the very Kunwar Bahadur for whose murder the appellants were convicted. Seeing the plausibility of this submission	 a direction was given by this Court to the District Magistrate to do the needful and submit a further report to this Court. In accordance with the aforesaid direction	 the District Magistrate showed the photograph of the dead body which was 865 found on June 2	 1983 to Kaushilya Rani	 Jamana Das Lodhi and Sughar Singh who are respectively the widow	 brother and son of Kunwar Bahadur who was murdered in 1971. The brother and son of Kunwar Bahadur stated that the photograph of the dead body which was discovered on June 2	 1983 is not that of Kunwar Bahadur. Kaushilya Rani stated before the District Magistrate that her husband was tall and slim	 that he was not fat and that his complexion was fair. However she was unable to say whether the photograph shown to her was that of her husband	 since the impression in the photograph was not clear. On the basis of these statements	 the District Magistrate has submitted a Supplementary Report to this Court stating that the photograph of the dead body is not that of Kunwar Bahadur. We had directed the District Magistrate to forward to us	 along with his report	 the photograph of Kunwar Bahadur who was murdered in 1971 and the photograph of the dead body which was found in 1983. Having compared these two photographs	 which are annexures and 10 to the report of the District Magistrate	 we are of the opinion that the conclusion to which the District Magistrate has come is correct. There is no resemblance between the two photographs. The District Magistrate has stated that the officers of the Vidisha Police Station are guilty of a serious lapse in not registering the crime of murder when a dead body was found in their jurisdiction on June 2	 1983. As observed by him in this report which is drawn with commendable care	 the entire case is shrouded in suspicion and deserves to be inquired into by the higher Police authorities. In the result	 we are of the opinion that Kunwar Bahadur for whose murder the appellants were convicted 13 years ago	 is not the same person whose dead body was found on June 2	 1983 in Vidisha. The appeal is accordingly dismissed. S.R. Appeal dismissed.

Summary:
The appellants were convicted and sentenced to suffer imprisonment for life for the murder of a person by the name of Kunwar Bahadur in the village of Bamori Kalan	 District Jalaun on July 18	 1971. Based on a news item carried by a Hindi daily called 'Nav Bharat ' on June 3	 1983	 that the dead body of one Kunwar Bahadur Singh was found in Vidisha in suspicious circumstances and that a letter purported to have been written by one Kunwar Bahadur Singh was recovered from the person of the deceased	 the appellants filed a petition before the High Court of Madhya Pradesh	 praying for their acquittals contending that Kunwar Bahadur Singh for whose murder they were convicted in 1971 was alive for twelve years thereafter and	 therefore	 their conviction was illegal. The High Court dismissed the petition. Hence the appeal by Special Leave of the Court. Dismissing the appeal	 the Court	 ^ HELD; 1:1. When a person convicted of murder raised the question that he has material to show that he was convicted for a murder that had never taken place	 as	 for example	 by showing that the person who was alleged to have been murdered is in fact alive the Supreme Court has the jurisdiction	 in appropriate cases	 to call for further data from the concerned authorities in order to examine the contention of the convict. This jurisdiction on which the Supreme Court can exercise	 though with circumspection	 is in order to do complete justice in any matter which is pending before it or which has been disposed of by it. [863G H	 864A] 1: 2. The instant case	 however	 is an example of what an incredible amount of ingenuity is exercised by the people to secure false acquittals. The two reports called for from the District Magistrate	 Vidisha	 and the two photographs of 863 the two dead bodies found in 1971 and 1983	 respectively make it clear that	 (1) Kunwar Bahadur Singh for whose murder the appellants were convicted thirteen years ago is not the same person whose dead body was found on June 2	 1983 in Vidisha and (2) The letter which was found on the person of the dead body on June 2	 1983 is a forged and fictitious document manufactured for the purpose of obtaining false acquittals. [863D	 864E	 865E F]