State vs Brahm Pal on 12 July, 2024

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Delhi District Court

State vs Brahm Pal on 12 July, 2024

          IN THE COURT OF SH. PANKAJ ARORA:
      ADDITIONAL SESSIONS JUDGE-04: NORTH-EAST:
                KARKARDOOMA: DELHI

SESSIONS CASE NO. 44827/2015
CNR No. DLNE01-000336-2012

FIR No.        118/2012
P.S.           Khajuri Khas
U/s :          302/120B/34 of IPC

STATE
                                  Versus

1. Mustaq Ali
s/o Mahmood Ali
r/o 795, Gali no. 17, D-Block,
Shri Ram Colony, Delhi

2. Brahmpal
s/o Sh. Murari Lal
r/o 795, Gali no. 17, D-Block,
Shri Ram Colony, Delhi

Date of Institution       :       03-10-2012
Date of Argument          :       09-07-2024
Date of Judgment          :       12-07-2024


JUDGMENT

01. Brief facts of this case are that on 10-04-2012, at about 9:47 pm, an information was received through Wireless Operator that at D-Block, Sri Ram Colony, Rajiv Nagar, someone had thrown acid over a child and fled away. The information was reduced into writing vide DD no. 33A (Ex. PW4/A) and same was marked to SI Amit Prakash (hereinafter referred to as First IO/ investigation officer). Thereafter, the IO along with Ct. Ashwani reached the spot i.e. at drain in front of H. No. D-17/449, where he found burnt FIR No. 118/2012 State Vs. Brahm Pal & Anr. Page 1 of 46 clothes of victim in wet condition i.e. red colour half pant, blue colour underwear and one pair of slippers, one plastic box of green colour, which was found containing some black colour liquid, were found by the IO. Same were taken into police possession. On inquiry, the IO was informed that victim had been taken to JPN Hospital. No eyewitness was found at the spot. Thereafter, IO proceeded to JPN hospital by leaving Ct. Ashwani at the spot for guarding the scene of crime. On reaching JPN hospital, the IO obtained MLC of injured Danish, 16 years old, wherein the doctor concerned had endorsed, "alleged history of acid burn near home address at around 9 pm as told by brought by and injured was having 35-40 percent burn injuries". No eyewitness was found at the hospital as well. On the basis of PCR call and medical record, IO registered the present case for the offence punishable u/s 326 of IPC. During investigation, IO got the spot inspected through Crime Team. The spot was also got photographed. The site plan was prepared. On 16-04-2012, the victim was declared fit for statement, however, as his condition was not good and having problem of low voice, the IO finally managed to record statement of victim Danish on 24-04-2012 u/s 161 of Cr.P.C, who claimed that he was studying in 10th grade in a government school and he befriended one brahmpal, a worker in the factory of mushtaq, who used to meet him quite often in his factory. He added that accused Brahmpal had telephonically called him to come at the factory of Mushtaq Ali. He went there and had conversation with brahmpal for about half an hour. When he was heading towards his home, at about 8:30 pm, in front of house of accused Mushtaq, somebody threw a stone upon him. When he turned back, he noticed that one JCL 'T', who was previously known to him and living at D block, FIR No. 118/2012 State Vs. Brahm Pal & Anr. Page 2 of 46 gali no. 16,had thrown some liquid upon him due to which he started feeling burning sensation. He removed his clothes and laid over some water lying on the road. Upon feeling burning sensation, he got to know that JCL 'T' had poured acid over him and after some time, his family members and other people had brought him to hospital. Prior to the incident, he was having 'love affair' with the daughter of mushtaq and being annoyed with our relation, mushtaq had once threatened him by saying" agar gali me dubara aaya to tera chehra kharab kar dunga". He was certain that mushtaq had got poured acid upon him under a pre-planned conspiracy and JCL'T' and his employee Brahmpal were also involved in the conspiracy, because he was having love affair with the daughter of Mushtaq Ali. On the basis of statement of victim, Section 120B/34 of IPC were added. On 12-05-2012, accused Brahmpal was arrested, who had confessed about commission of alleged offence. On 23-05-2012, JCL 'T' had surrendered himself before the concerned MM. While surrendering, the counsel of had argued that JCL 'T' was juvenile and therefore, JCL 'T' was sent to Observation Home and directions were passed for his ossification test. On 25-02-2012, ossification test of JCL 'T' was conducted wherein doctor concerned had declared his age to be between 16- 18 years and therefore, JCL 'T' was officially declared as 'juvenile'. On 29-05-2012, accused Mushtaq Ali had surrendered himself in the court and he was formally arrested. On 24-05-2012, accused Brahmpal was released on bail and on 31-05-2012, accused Mushtaq Ali was also released on bail. On 09-06-2012, JCL 'T' was also released on bail.

On 03-07-2012, injured Danish was declared dead in GTB hospital. On 03-07-2012, postmortem of deceased Danish was FIR No. 118/2012 State Vs. Brahm Pal & Anr. Page 3 of 46 also got conducted. Section 302 of IPC was added in the case. Special report was sent to Senior Officers and concerned MM. On 03-07-2012 itself, accused Brahmpal and Mushtaq Ali were re- arrested and sent to JC. JCL 'T' was apprehended on 12-07-2012 and sent to Observation Home. Postmortem report of deceased was obtained wherein the doctor concerned had opined the cause of death as 'septicaemic shock as a result of infected burns about 40 per cent of total body surface area'. The IO got prepared scaled site plan and obtained call details records of accused persons and victim Danish. Upon analysis of CDR, it was found that on 10-04- 2012, few minutes before the incident, accused Brahmpal had called from his mobile no. 9871705639 to victim Danish on his mobile phone no. 8527602123. During investigation, father of deceased namely Chunne had handed over to the IO one photocopy of diary wherein daughter of accused Mushtaq Ali namely Chandni had written a note for deceased Danish, which was found from the school bag of Danish. Specimen and admitted handwriting of Chandni was obtained and sent to FSL for comparison. After completion of necessary formalities, chargesheet in the present case was filed in the court of concerned 'Ilaqua' MM.

COMMITTAL

02. After taking cognizance and compliance of section 207 Cr. PC, present case was committed to the court of sessions vide order dated 01-10-2012 of ld. MM/(NE)/KKD. Thereafter, the then Ld. District and Sessions Judge, KKD Courts allocated this case to the ld. Predecessor of this court.

FIR No. 118/2012 State Vs. Brahm Pal & Anr. Page 4 of 46

CHARGE

03. On the basis of facts emerging from the chargesheet and after hearing the arguments, Ld. Predecessor of this court framed charge against the accused Brahm pal and mushtaq vide order dated 07-11-2012 for the offences punishable u/s 120B and u/s 302 of IPC, to which the accused persons pleaded not guilty and claimed trial. Thereafter, prosecution got examined as many as 32 witnesses.

PROSECUTION EVIDENCE 4.1. PW1 Mohd. Abdul Hafiz deposed that he does job work of nickle polishing at Jahangirpuri, Delhi. On 10.04.2012, at about 9:30 p.m, he was sitting outside his house in the gali. The house of deceased Danish was situated in a gali behind his gali. He stated that at that time he had seen Danish running away from gali No.17 and he was raising alarm "mujhe bachao" and Danish had laid himself in a nala in street No.17, he was burning due to acid thrown on him. He also deposed that he had called up police at 100 number from his mobile phone No. 9582974624 and police had not come at the spot at that time and therefore, the father of Danish namely Chuna had shifted Danish to hospital on the motorcycle of his neighbour and then he had come back to his house. He also deposed that after some time police had also arrived in Gali No.17 and inspected the site and found one plastic jug and one pair of chappal.

During his cross-examination by Ld. Defence counsel, he deposed that he had stated to the police in his statement that he had seen Danish running away from gali No.17 and he was raising alarm "mujhe bachao". He was called by police in police station FIR No. 118/2012 State Vs. Brahm Pal & Anr. Page 5 of 46 after three months of incident and when he reached at the spot some public persons were also present there. Police had reached at the spot within thirty minutes after his call at 100 number. Father of victim had shifted the injured to hospital before ten minutes of the arrival of police. He had stated to police in his statement that he had seen Danish running and raising alarm bachao bachao'. Police had recorded his statement in this case only once on the fact of making call at 100 number. He denied the suggestion that he was deposing falsely at the instance of father of deceased.

4.2. PW2 Sh. Chunne, was the father of deceased Danish. He deposed that deceased Danish was his son. On 10.04.2012, he was on duty and Danish was helping his mother at house. On that day, accused Braham Pal had made a phone call to Danish and when mother of Danish had asked him as to who was calling, Danish had stated that accused Braham Pal was calling him and thereafter, Danish had left the house and had gone to the house of accused Mustaq to meet accused Braham Pal. He further deposed that Braham Pal was the employee of accused Mustaq. He deposed that there, accused Braham Pal, Mustaq and one Tidda had served Pepsi mixed with acid to deceased and asked him to drink and on drinking the aforesaid mixed cold drink, he felt irritation in his throat. Thereafter, Danish had stated them that he was going to his house and as soon as Danish had moved out of the house of accused Mustaq, all the abovesaid three persons had poured acid upon Danish while he was stepping out from the house of accused Mustaq and thereafter, Danish started running in Gali No.17 and laid in a Naali. He further deposed that one neighbur had informed his wife about the condition of Danish at about 09:00 pm, at that FIR No. 118/2012 State Vs. Brahm Pal & Anr. Page 6 of 46 time, he was coming back to his home from his workplace and as soon as, he reached near P.S. Khajuri Khas, he received a phone call from his brother-in-law about the incident on his mobile phone and he informed him about the incident and then he rushed to his house. When he reached at the spot, i.e. Gali No.17, he found a crowd of public persons and he also noticed that Danish was in nude condition as his wearing clothes were burnt due to acid and then he wrapped him in a bed-sheet and took him to hospital at Zero Pusta on the motorcycle of his neighbour. After refusal of the hospital, they took Danish to Irwin Hospital and Danish was admitted there. Danish regained his consciousness after two days and he was ready to give his statement but the I.O. did not record his statement by saying that why he was naming accused Mustaq. The IO had also not recorded his statement as well as of his son Danish till that day. Danish was student of 10 th standard in Govt. School at Khajuri, Delhi and he had appeared in the examination of tenth standard. He had given photocopy of one diary to police and police had seized the same vide memo Ex.PW2/A. Witness had produced the original diary. The five pages of the diary were Ex.PW2/B-1 to Ex.PW2/B-5. He claimed that he had found the aforesaid diary from the school bag of Danish. When he along with his wife reached the place where Danish was lying in Gali No. 17 and made enquiry from him about his condition, Dansih told them that accused Brahm Pal, Mustaq and Tidda served Pepsi mixed with and to him, and when he came out of the house of Mustaq, all the three accused persons poured acid upon him. His daughter Gulista was studying in Government School, Khajuri Khas. Chandni, daughter of accused Mustaq also studied in the same school. His deceased son Danish and Chandni were friendly FIR No. 118/2012 State Vs. Brahm Pal & Anr. Page 7 of 46 with each other. Accused Mustaq was annoyed with their friendship. He kept a mobile phone bearing no. 8527602123 at his house and Danish also used to use the said mobile phone. The accused Brahm Pal, who was an employee of Mustaq and his son Danish were friends and they used to visit each other. The accused Brahm Pal generally called Danish to meet him at the house of Mustaq from where he runs stitching unit. His son was discharged from Irwin Hospital about 10-15 days after treatment and PW3 used to take Danish to Irwin Hospital for follow-up treatment. On 03.07.2012 when condition of his son Danish deteriorated, he took him to GTB Hospital but on the way, Danish had died and Doctors declared him 'brought dead' in GTB Hospital. On the same day, postmortem was conducted on the dead body of his son Danish and he identified his dead body in the Mortuary. His statement about identification of dead body of Danish was recorded by IO vide Ex.PW2/C. They received his dead body vide receipt Ex.PW2/D. Mobile no. 8527602123 was obtained in his name. PW3 identified his signature on Customer Application Form, his photograph, Copy of his voter card and Copy of Customer Application Form.

PW3 correctly identified accused Mustaq and Brahm Pal in the court. He identified the cloth pieces as of the clothes worn by his son as Ex. P1 (colly) and one pair of slipper as Ex. P-2 of his son Danish.

The witness also produced the original diary, copy of pages of which were already exhibited as PW2/B-1 to Ex. PW2/B-5, which was already seen and returned on 02.07.2013. The document was already exhibited in evidence.

During cross-examination by Ld. Defence, he deposed that he found diary Ex. P-1 on 13.04.2012 in the school bag of his FIR No. 118/2012 State Vs. Brahm Pal & Anr. Page 8 of 46 deceased son Danish. When he reached the spot with his wife, his brother-in-law Aslam was already there. Aslam and one another person took out Danish from nali. He took Danish to hospital on the motorcycle of his neighbour Khalid. Police met him in hospital in the night of incident. At that time. Khalid and few other of neighbours were present in hospital. He did not know whether police official recorded statement of his wife. Police did not record his statement or statement of his wife. He denied that he did not obtain follow-up treatment of Danish after discharge from the hospital on 26.04.2012. He denied that condition of Danish was deteriorated or that he died as no follow-up treatment was taken. My brother-in-law Aslam informed him about the incident. He reached to his son within 15 minutes after receiving the information. He denied that his son did not talk to him or any other person in his presence after the incident till 16.04.2012. Ansaries are married in their community. He denied that accused persons are falsely implicated in this case.

4.3. PW3 Shamina deposed that deceased Danish was her son. She deposed that in the year 2012, he(Danish) was studying in 10t h standard in a Govt. school. She also deposed that on 10.04.2012, she alonwith her son Danish was doing household work and a call was received on the mobile phone of her son from the accused Brahm Pal, but she did not recollect the mobile number of her son as well as of accused Brahm Pal. She deposed that after hearing said phone call, her deceased son wanted to meet him and she asked her son where he was going and he told her that Mustaq was calling him and then her deceased son went to meet Mustaq at his house at around 8.15 PM by informing her. She also deposed that FIR No. 118/2012 State Vs. Brahm Pal & Anr. Page 9 of 46 after 20 minutes, she heard noise from outside her house and persons of the locality were shouting, "Danish Jal gaya", she rushed immediately towards D block, Gali No. 17 and saw her son was lying in a drain and she took out her son from the drain, in the meantime, her husband Chunne also reached there from his place of work and they made enquiry about the incident from her son but he was saying that he was unable to see and on further enquiry her son told them that he had gone to the house of accused Mustaq where he offered Pepsi to him and after consuming Pepsi he felt burning in his body, thereafter, he started running from there and he was chased by Brahm Pal, Mustaq and Tidda. She deposed that her son further told them that all the three accused persons had poured acid on him. She further deposed that her son was taken to hospital by her husband with the help of neighbors. She deposed that her son remained under treatment at Irwin hospital for about 3 months, though he was discharged from hospital after one month. She also deposed that her son died on the 3rd of July, 2012 in the Seelampur Court. She deposed that the daughter of accused Mustaq namely Chandni was having love affair with her son and due to the said reason accused had murdered her son. She deposed that she was having only one son and she has three daughters at present. She further deposed that she had made statement to the police regarding the aforesaid facts.

In her cross-examination by Ld. Defense counsel, She that her father, her nephews and brothers were also present there in that crowd. She do not remember the names of the other persons as she was concentrated on her son. She did not remember the time when police officials met her. Only one police official came inside the house. My other family members were also present there and after FIR No. 118/2012 State Vs. Brahm Pal & Anr. Page 10 of 46 formal inquiry the police official return back. She did not remember as to when the police official met her second time and at what place. Her statement was recorded by the police in the PS after the death of her son. Her husband and her father were also present in the PS. Her family surname is Ansari. She knew accused Mustaq Ali before this incident. Accused Mustaq was also Ansari. Her deceased son started responding and giving answers from next day morning. Her deceased son was not all right when discharged from the hospital. her son was discharged from the hospital as per advice of the doctors. She did not remember the date of discharge. she used to take my son for follow up treatment in the same hospital where he was initially medically treated. She did not remember the date when she came to know about the letters seized vide seizure memo Ex. PW-2/A. These letters were found from the school bag of her deceased son and these were found after the incident but prior to his death and during that time her son was under treatment.

Accused visited hospital to see her son. Accused Bhrampal has not visited either at hospital or their house after the incident. Her son deceased Danish did not tell anything about the said letters to them.

She did not remember the number from which her son Danish has received call, it was call of accused Bhrampal who had called him. She had stated in her statement to the IO that accused persons gave Pepsi to her son for drink. She stated everything to the IO what she stated before the court in her statement. PW3 was confronted with her previous statement Ex. PW-3/Dx1 where the said fact was not mentioned.

FIR No. 118/2012 State Vs. Brahm Pal & Anr. Page 11 of 46

4.4. PW4ASI Jagbeer Singh was posted as Duty Officer at PS Khajuri Khas at the relevant time. He proved the contents of DD No. 33-A, which he claimed to have been recorded by him as Ex. PW4/A. Witness was cross-examined but nothing material came out in the cross examination.

4.5. PW5 ASI Manohar Lal was Duty Officer posted at PS Khajuri Khas in the intervening night of 10/11.04.2012. He has proved the copy of FIR Ex. PW5/A; endorsement made by him on rukka as Ex. PW5/B. Witness was cross-examined but nothing material came out in the cross examination.

4.6. PW6 Dr. Mumtaz N. Khan was the doctor who examined the victim on 03.07.2012 at GTB Hospital. He claimed that after examination of above said patient, she declared the patient as brought dead. He has proved the MLC prepared by him as Ex. PW6/A; hospital sheet prepared by him as Ex. PW6/B; death certificate prepared by him as Ex. PW6/C. Witness was cross-examined but nothing material came out in the cross examination.

4.7. PW7 Dr. Varsha Gupta, Doctor, deposed that on 10.04.2012, patient Danish 16 years male was transferred to Department of Burns and Plastic Surgery from Casualty of LNJP Hospital with 25% Total Body Surface Area homicidal chemical burn with facial and genital burn Patient was treated under Dr. RB Ahuja in Burns Ward 20 from 10.04.2012 to 26.04.2012 in satisfactory condition FIR No. 118/2012 State Vs. Brahm Pal & Anr. Page 12 of 46 with advice to follow-up OPD and during the said period, she had also attended the patient from time to time. She deposed that she had brought original file containing Admission Sheet and treatment papers of patient Danish from MRD Department of their hospital containing 44 pages which were proved by her as Ex.PW7/A-1 to A-44.

In her cross-examination, she stated that case history was given by his father Chunne and same is mentioned at point DX in page no. 9 of treatment papers. She stated that there was no evidence of internal injury. She also stated that patient was endorsed fit for statement at point X on 16.04.2012 on his MLC bearing no. 58034/12. She further deposed that before that, patient was endorsed unfit for statement on 10.04.2012, 11.04.2012, 13.04.2012 and 14.04.2012 by Resident Doctors of their Department. She stated that patient did not come to her for further treatment after discharge.

4.8. PW8 Ct. Naresh Pal was the Investigating Officer. He claimed that on 03.07.2012, he had delivered inquest papers to SI Amit Prakash at Mortuary, GTP Hospital, which was handed over to him by DO. He further claimed that SI Amit Prakash filled inquest papers and postmortem of dead body of Danish was conducted. Dead body of deceased Danish was handed over to his father after postmortem.