Delhi District Court
State vs . Sumant R on 30 May, 2019
IN THE COURT OF MS. PREETI PAREWA: MM06 : NEW DELHI DISTRICT:
PATIALA HOUSE COURTS : NEW DELHI
JUDGMENT
STATE Vs. SUMANT R FIR NO. : 244/2007, U/s 279/304A IPC PS : PARLIAMENT STREET A. CIS No. of the Case : 41376/16 B. Date of Institution : 15.07.2008 C. Date of Commission of Offence : 09.12.2007 D. Name of the complainant : Head Constable Dharam Pal E. Name of the Accused, his : Sumant R. Parentage & Addresses S/o Late Sh. Rama Poojari AP R/o Cherak Srimanagala Village, Chettali Post, Coffee Reaserch Sub Station Somavarpet TQ Kodagu District, Karnataka 571248 F. Offence complained of : U/s 279/304A IPC G. Plea of the Accused : Pleaded not guilty and claimed trial H. Order reserved on : Not reserved I. Date of Order : 30.05.2019 J. Final Order : ACQUITTED Brief Statement of Reasons for Decision of the Case:
1. The present FIR under Sections 279/304A India Penal Code (hereinafter referred to as "IPC") emanates from DD No.15A dated 09.12.2007, Police Station Parliament Street regarding accident in front of Krishi Bhawan, State Vs. Sumant R FIR N:244/2016, U/s 279/304A IPC PS Parliament Street Page No. 1 of 8 Rafi Marg, New Delhi, falling within the jurisdiction of Police Station Parliament Street on 09.12.2007 at about 8.15 pm. As per the Prosecution, accused Sumant. R (hereinafter referred to as "the accused") was driving a army vehicle bearing registration number 05C74841L in a rash and negligent manner so as to endanger human life and personal safety of the others and thereby committed offence punishable under Section 279 Indian Penal Code, 1860 (hereinafter referred to as "IPC"). Further, it has been alleged that on the aforesaid date, time and place while so driving the said vehicle, the accused hit against motorcycle bearing registration number DL6SAA3324 and caused death of motorcyclist Taushir Alam and thereby, also committed offence punishable under Section 304A IPC. The accused was charge sheeted for offence punishable under Section 279/304A IPC.
2. FIR was registered and has been investigated by IO HC Dharam Pal Singh and ASI Suraj Bhan. ASI Suraj Bhan filed the charge sheet against the accused upon which cognizance was taken on 15.07.2008 by the learned Predecessor of this Court.
3. Copy of charge sheet under section 207 Cr.P.C. was supplied to the accused.
4. Notice was framed vide order dated 23.03.2015 for the offence punishable Under Section 279/304A of the IPC against accused by the State Vs. Sumant R FIR N:244/2016, U/s 279/304A IPC PS Parliament Street Page No. 2 of 8 learned Predecessor of this Court, to which, the accused pleaded not guilty and claimed trial.
5. Thereafter, matter was listed for Prosecution Evidence. In Prosecution Evidence, the Prosecution has examined 07 witness in support of its case.
6. In nutshell, the testimony of the prosecution witness is as follows:
(i) PW1 SI Mahanand, who is the Duty Officer and has proved the FIR Ex.PW1/A and his endorsement on rukka Ex.PW1/B. This witness was duly crossexamined by the Ld. Defence Counsel.
(ii) PW2 Sh. Mohd. Shageer who was the father of deceased Taushir Alam, had identified the dead body. He identified his signatures at point A on postmortem report Ex.PW2/A. He proved dead body identification statement Ex.PW2/B and dead body handing over memo Ex.PW2/C. This witness was duly crossexamined by the Ld. Defence Counsel.
(iii) PW3 Dr. Rajiv Sharma deposed that he conducted the postmortem on the body of deceased and proved the postmortem report Ex.PW2/A. This witness was not crossexamined on behalf of accused despite grant of opportunity.
(iv) PW4 ASI Vijay Singh was the eyewitness of the incident. He deposed that on 09.12.2017 at about 8:15 pm he was coming towards the Chowki Boat Club from India Gate and when he reached Rafi Marg Crossing, he saw that from the side of Sunheri Masjid, one motorcyclist State Vs. Sumant R FIR N:244/2016, U/s 279/304A IPC PS Parliament Street Page No. 3 of 8 was crossing through through his green light towards Rail Bhawan and just then, from the side of Vijay Chowk, one army vehicle jumped the red light and hit the said motorcyclist. He further deposed that he immediately gave the message to the control room and attended the injured who was lying unconscious on one side and motorcycle was lying on the other side whereafter PCR reached there and shifted the injured to the hospital. He further deposed that he took lift on a scooter and apprehended the accused at Maan Singh Road Red Light and brought him back to the spot. He handed over him to PCR. He proved the site plan Ex.PW4/A, arrest memo of accused Ex.PW4/B, personal search memo of accused Ex.PW4/C and seizure memos of vehicles Ex.PW4/D & Ex.PW4/F. This witness was duly crossexamined by the Ld. Defence Counsel and during crossexamination, this witness turned hostile on the aspect of rashness and negligence of the accused.
(v) PW5 Retired SI Suraj Bhan was 2nd Investigating Officer of the case. He deposed that he took the dead body of the deceased and got conducted the postmortem whereafter he handed over the dead body of the deceased to his parents vide identification memos Ex.G, Ex.PW2/C and handing over memo Ex.PW2/C and also prepared the chargesheet of the present case. This witness was not crossexamined on behalf of accused despite grant of opportunity.
(vi) PW6 ASI Dharampal Singh who is the 1st Investigating Officer of the present case and has deposed on the lines of investigation conducted by him. He proved the tehrir as Ex.PW6/A, site plan State Vs. Sumant R FIR N:244/2016, U/s 279/304A IPC PS Parliament Street Page No. 4 of 8 Ex.PW4/A, arrest memo of accused Ex.PW4/B, personal seach memo of accused Ex.PW4/C, seizure memos of the vehicles Ex.PW4/D & Ex.PW4/E, photographs of the vehicles as Ex.H (Colly). This witness was duly crossexamined by the Ld. Defence Counsel.
(vii) PW7 SI Richard Khalkho deposed that on 09.12.2007 he was on duty in PCR Van and shifted the injured to RML Hospital in PCR Van. This witness was duly crossexamined by the Ld. Defence Counsel.
7. During the recording of proceedings under Section 294 Cr.P.C. dated 22.01.2019, the accused admitted the mechanical inspection report of truck as well as motorcycle which are Ex.A & Ex.B respective. He further admitted MLC of deceased Ex.C, death report Ex.D, death summary Ex.E, reply / opinion regarding PM report Ex.F, identification memo Ex.G and photographs of the vehicles Ex.H (Colly). Further, the identity of the offending vehicle as well as the accidental motorcycle was undisputed by accused & recorded during proceedings dated 03.08.2018.
8. Thereafter, vide order dated 27.03.2019, in view of submissions of Ld. APP for the State, PW Inspector C. M. Meena was dropped from the list of prosecution witnesses. Thereafter, no other PW was cited in the list of PWs and accordingly, Prosecution Evidence was also closed vide order dated 27.03.2019.
9. Statement of accused under Section 313 Cr.P.C. read with Section 281 State Vs. Sumant R FIR N:244/2016, U/s 279/304A IPC PS Parliament Street Page No. 5 of 8 Cr.P.C. was recorded on 18.04.2019 wherein accused opted to lead defence evidence.
10. Accused examined himself as DW1. He deposed that on 09.12.2007 at around 7:30 pm, he started driving a army truck bearing registration no. 05C 074871L from his unit at Delhi Cantt. and going towards India Gate. When he crossed Vijay Chowk and was going towards Rajpath at about 8:15 pm and reached Rafi Marg Crossing, the traffic signal from his side was green and suddenly he heard some noise from his truck. At that time the road was busy and there was lot of traffic. From the rear view mirror, he saw that one motorcycle had hit his truck from driver side tail, while jumping the red light signal towards Rail Bhawan. As the road was busy, he drove his truck towards the side of the footpath and halted his truck there, thereafter, he reached the place of incident on foot and saw that one motorcyclist along with his motorcycle was lying on the road. Thereafter, police patrolling car reached at the spot and there were public persons at the spot. The PCR took the injured to the hospital. Police conducted enquiries from him and took his army truck to Police Station Parliament Street and registered the FIR. He further deposed that an internal inquiry was conducted by his employer (Army) against him, which was decided in his favour. He placed on record the said proceedings as Mark D1 (Colly). This witness was duly crossexamined by the Ld. APP for the State.
State Vs. Sumant R FIR N:244/2016, U/s 279/304A IPC PS Parliament Street Page No. 6 of 8
11. Final arguments heard. Case record perused meticulously.
12. This Court has thoughtfully considered the material on record and arguments advanced.
13. In the present case, PW4 ASI Vijay Singh is the only eyewitness of the present case, as per the Prosecution. Also, as per the tehrir Ex.PW6/A, no eyewitness was found present at the spot after the reporting of the incident. PW4 has in his crossexamination testified that he does not remember from which side the accidental motorcycle was hit by the offending truck. He also deposed that he was not sure whether the offending truck jumped the red light signal or not because just thereafter, the traffic from the side of the offending truck also started moving. He also testified that he had handed over the accused to the IO, whereas the case of the Prosecution is that the accused had himself gone to the Police Station. Thus, in view of the contradictions in the testimony of PW4, he does not appear to be a reliable witness and his veracity is doubtful.
14. In view of above, the case of the prosecution could not be established beyond reasonable doubts. Accordingly, accused Sumant R is found not guilty and resultantly, he stands acquitted in the present case.
15. Accused Sumant R is directed to furnish personal bond and surety bond State Vs. Sumant R FIR N:244/2016, U/s 279/304A IPC PS Parliament Street Page No. 7 of 8 in the sum of Rs.10,000/ under Section 437A Cr.PC. Personal bonds and surety bond furnished by the accused. Considered and accepted for a period of six months from today.
16. File be consigned to Record Room.
Announced in the open (PREETI PAREWA)
Court on 30th May, 2019 MM06 / NDD / PATIALA HOUSE
COURT, NEW DELHI
State Vs. Sumant R FIR N:244/2016, U/s 279/304A IPC PS Parliament Street Page No. 8 of 8