Himachal Pradesh High Court
State Of H.P vs Pratap Singh & Another R on 18 April, 2015
Bench: Rajiv Sharma, Sureshwar Thakur
IN THE HIGH COURT OF HIMACHAL PRADESH, SHIMLA .
Cr. Appeal No. 387 of 2008
Reserved on: 10.4.2015
Decided on : 18th April,2015
State of H.P .....Appellant.
Versus
Pratap Singh & another r .....Respondents.
Coram
The Hon'ble Mr. Justice Rajiv Sharma, Judge.
The Hon'ble Mr. Justice Sureshwar Thakur, Judge.
Whether approved for reporting?1 Yes.
For the Appellant: Mr. Ramesh Thakur, Assistant Advocate General.
For the Respondent: Mr. Kulbhushan Khajuria, Advocate. _______________________________________________________ Sureshwar Thakur, Judge The instant appeal is directed against the judgment, rendered on 29.2.2008, by the learned Sessions Judge, Bilaspur, H.P., in Sessions trial No. 15 of 2005, whereby, the learned trial Court acquitted the accused/respondents for theirs 1 Whether reporters of the local papers may be allowed to see the judgment?
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having committed offences punishable under Sections 498-A and .
306 readwith Section 34 of Indian Penal Code.
2. The facts, in brief, are that the marriage inter-se the deceased Meena Devi and accused Prapat Singh was solemnized two years prior to the occurrence as per Hindu rites and rituals. It is further alleged that the deceased was belabored by accused No.1 which led her to flee from her matrimonial home to her parental house. The said occurrence took place six months prior to the registration of FIR. The acrimony arising from the said occurrence had come to be amicably resolved through a compromise having been arrived at inter-se the squabbling parties. It is further alleged that on 18.2.2004 at about 6.00 p.m. Smt. Sapna, Bhabi of accused No. 1, telephonically conveyed that there was an ongoing quarrel between accused No.1 and the deceased. Upon this, the complainant alongwith Smt. Champa, Dharamp Pal and other villagers namely Madan, Geeta Ram, Ram Pal etc went to village Kallar, where they have been informed that deceased was taken to Chharol for medication/treatment. After sometime, it was known to them that she had been referred to Bilaspur as a suspect case of poisoning.
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The deceased died in District Hospital, Bilaspur. Inquest papers .
were prepared and her dead body was subjected to postmortem examination. During the Course of investigation, site plan of the occurrence was prepared and statements of the witnesses were recorded.
On conclusion of the investigation, into the offences, allegedly committed by the accused, final report under Section 173 of the Code of Criminal Procedure was prepared and presented in the Court.
3. The accused persons were charged, for, theirs having committed offence punishable under Section 498-A, 306 readwith Section 34 IPC, by the learned trial Court, to, which they pleaded not guilty and claimed trial.
4. In order to prove its case, the prosecution examined 17 witnesses. On closure of prosecution evidence, the statements of accused, under Section 313 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, were recorded, in, which they pleaded innocence and claimed false implication. They chose not to lead evidence in defence.
5. On appraisal of the evidence on record, the learned trial Court, returned findings of acquittal in favour of the accused.
6. The State of H.P is aggrieved by the judgment of acquittal, recorded by the learned trial Court. The learned Assistant ::: Downloaded on - 15/04/2017 18:01:09 :::HCHP ...4...
Advocate General appearing for the State has concertedly, and, .
vigorously contended, that, the findings of acquittal recorded by the learned trial Court, are, not based on a proper appreciation of evidence on record, rather, they are sequelled by gross mis-
appreciation of the material on record. Hence, he, contends that the findings of acquittal, be, reversed by this Court, in, exercise of its appellate jurisdiction, and, be replaced by findings of conviction.
7. On the other hand, the learned counsel appearing for the appellants, has, with considerable force and vigour, contended that the findings of acquittal, recorded by the Court below, are, based on a mature and balanced appreciation of evidence on record, hence, do not necessitate interference, rather merit vindication.
8. This Court with the able assistance of the learned counsel on either side, has, with studied care and incision, evaluated the entire evidence on record.
9. The deceased was married to accused Pratap Singh. Their marriage was solemnized about two years prior to the occurrence.
A son was born out of the wedlock inter-se the accused No.1 and the deceased. The deceased as proven by the Post Mortem Report ::: Downloaded on - 15/04/2017 18:01:09 :::HCHP ...5...
Ex.PE died owing to Asphyxia caused by consumption of poison.
.
However no antemortem injuries have been divulged in the Post Mortem Report to be occurring on the body of the deceased.
10. FIR Ex. PF-1 has been registered on the basis of statement Ex.PA recorded by the complainant. The allegations in the FIR against accused No.1 is of his having belabored the deceased whereas the allegations against accused No.2, is of hers harassing the deceased on trivial matters. Besides there is a narration in the FIR of one Sapna, Bhabhi of accused No.1 having telephonically apprised the complainant of an ongoing quarrel inter-se the accused No.1 and the deceased at about 6 p.m on 18.2.2004 which led the complainant and other persons to proceed to the matrimonial home of the deceased. In proof of the allegations against the accused, the star prosecution witness PW-1 has in his deposition comprised in his examination-in-chief deposed that the accused subjected the deceased to mental as well as physical cruelty and had meted harassment to her by making demands of dowry. He further continues to depose that the deceased was belabored by accused No.1 which led her to flee from ::: Downloaded on - 15/04/2017 18:01:09 :::HCHP ...6...
her matrimonial home to her parental house. On her arrival at her .
parental house injury marks were noticed on her person. The said occurrence took place six months prior to the registration of FIR.
The acrimony arising from the said occurrence had come to be amicably resolved through a compromise having been arrived at inter-se the squabbling parties. The anvil of the prosecution case, as propounded by PW-1 in his deposition on oath, is, the receipt of a telephonic massage by him from Smt. Sapna Devi, Bhabhi of accused No.1, qua the latter belaboring the deceased. The said belaboring actuated or fomented besides instigated the deceased to commit suicide. However in the face of the non-examination of Sapna Devi, who telephonically intimated the complainant about the belaborings being meted on the fateful day upon the deceased by accused No.1 which led her to commit suicide, as such, for lack of examination of Sapna, Bhabhi of accused No.1 qua the factum as deposed by the complainant of hers having telephonically intimated him about the belabouring having been delivered upon the deceased by accused No.1 which actuated her to commit suicide, renders the deposition on oath of PW-1 qua the aforesaid fact to be ::: Downloaded on - 15/04/2017 18:01:09 :::HCHP ...7...
suffering for lack of corroboration with an infirmity, besides its .
hence being constituted to be a hearsay piece of evidence which evidence, as such, is legally un-worthwhile. Moreover, the mental trauma to which the deceased was subjected to by the accused constituted by the accused making demands for dowry upon the deceased, is a fact which has occurred only in the examination in chief of PW-1, its occurrence only in the recorded deposition of PW-
1, whereas it remains un-narrated in the previous statement recorded in writing of this witness by the police, renders it to be constituting an embellishment or improvement, as such unreliable.
11. The deposition, too of PW-2 ( Smt. Champa Devi) qua the fact of the deceased having been subjected, by the accused, to, mental trauma constituted by theirs making demands of dowry from her is also an improvement or an embellishment constituted by the fact of its occurring only in her examination-in-chief and not in her previous statement recorded in writing. Consequently, the deposition on oath of PW-2 inasmuch as hers attributing an incriminatory role to the accused constituted by theirs demanding dowry from the deceased when occurring only in her examination-
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in-chief, is an embellishment and is rendered legally un-wrothwhile .
and incredible. The depositions also of PW-3 (Babu Ram) and PW-
4 (Kamla Devi) qua the fact of the accused having subjected the deceased to mental trauma comprised in their act of demanding dowry from her, stands to face incredibility constituted by the fact aforesaid occurring only in their respective examinations-in-chief and not in their previous statements recorded in writing.
Consequently, for their statements being imbued with an embellishment and an improvement, the said fact as deposed by them for the first time in the Court during the course of the recording of their depositions on oath, cannot be imputed any credibility.
12. The belaborings or physical cruelty meted by the accused No.1 to the deceased occurred six months prior to the occurrence. The acrimony between the accused and deceased arising out of the said belaborings was amicably resolved whereafter the deceased rejoined her matrimonial home. Given the improximity inter-se the occurrence of physical belaboring meted out by the accused to the deceased inasmuch as it having occurred ::: Downloaded on - 15/04/2017 18:01:09 :::HCHP ...9...
six months prior to the fateful event cannot render it to be .
constituting a potent instigatory or fomenting cause for the deceased to commit suicide. The immediate proximate purported incident of physical cruelty is the one attributed to the accused by Sapna, Bhabi of accused No.1, who telephonically conveyed the fact of the accused No.1 delivering merciless beatings upon the deceased. The said fact would have constituted an instigatory or potent cause for the deceased to commit suicide if Sapna had been led into the witness box. However she has not been led into the witness box, whereas she was the best witness to prove the factum of merciless beatings having been delivered by the accused No.1 to the deceased. Apart from the fact that the non-examination of Sapna to prove the factum of merciless beatings having been delivered upon the deceased by accused No.1 which instigated her to commit suicide has hence not lent any succor to the prosecution case comprised in the testimony of PW-1, the complainant, the further vigorous fact of non-display, in the Post Mortem Report of Antemortem injuries existing on the body of the deceased throws overboard as well as dispels the efficacy of the prosecution version ::: Downloaded on - 15/04/2017 18:01:09 :::HCHP ...10...
anvilled upon the deposition of PW-1, of the accused No.1 .
immediately proximate to the occurrence, inasmuch, as on the fateful day having delivered merciless beatings to the deceased which constituted the fomenting cause for her to commit suicide.
Moreover the version of PW-10 (Dr. G.D Jassal) which belies the version of PW-15 and which also underscores the factum of the deceased being cooperative at the time of hers having reached at Zonal Hospital Bilaspur for treatment cannot be undermined inasmuch as bespeaks the fact of the deceased being capable to narrate a version qua the occurrence. However she omitted to disclose to PW-10 a version qua the incident with a communication therein of an incriminatory role to the accused. As such, the non-
disclosure by the deceased to PW-10 even when she was in a conscious state of mind, a version qua the occurrence brings to the fore the factum that she committed suicide for reasons other than the one as attributed to the accused in the complaint.
13. A wholesome analysis of the evidence on record portrays that the appreciation of evidence as done by the learned trial Court does not suffer from any perversity and absurdity nor it ::: Downloaded on - 15/04/2017 18:01:09 :::HCHP ...11...
can be said that the learned trial Court in recording findings of .
acquittal has committed any legal misdemeanor, in as much, as, it having mis-appreciated the evidence on record or omitted to appreciate relevant and admissible evidence. In aftermath this Court does not deem it fit and appropriate that the findings of acquittal recorded by the learned trial Court merit interference.
14. In view of the above discussion, we find no merit in this appeal, which is accordingly dismissed, and, the judgment of the learned trial Court is maintained and affirmed. Record of the learned trial Court be sent back forthwith.
(Rajiv Sharma)
Judge
18th April, 2015 (Sureshwar Thakur)
(tm/priti) Judge
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