Punjab-Haryana High Court
Bittu And Another vs State Of Haryana on 4 November, 2011
Author: Sabina
Bench: Jasbir Singh, Sabina
Crl. Appeals No. 199-DB of 2006 & 291-DB of 2006 - 1-
IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA
AT CHANDIGARH.
(1) Criminal Appeal No. 199-DB of 2006
Date of Decision: 04.11.2011.
Bittu and another .......Appellants
Vs.
State of Haryana ......Respondent
(2) Criminal Appeal No. 291-DB of 2006
Raj Kumar .......Appellant
Vs.
State of Haryana ......Respondent
CORAM: HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE JASBIR SINGH
HON'BLE MRS. JUSTICE SABINA
Present: Mr. P.S.Jammu, Advocate
for the appellants.
Mr. Sandeep Vermani, Addl. A.G., Haryana.
.....
SABINA, J.
Vide this judgment, the above mentioned two appeals would be disposed of as they have arisen out of the common judgment.
Prosecution case was set in motion on recovery of a dead body near the poultry farm ahead by village Dabwali on 15.10.2002. Assistant Sub Inspector Ami Lal along with other Crl. Appeals No. 199-DB of 2006 & 291-DB of 2006 - 2- police officials while patrolling near poultry form ahead of village Dabwali saw a person lying on the left side of the road with his face downwards. When they reached near the said person, they saw that the person was not breathing and had died. Deep wounds with sharp edged weapon were seen on the nipple of left side of his chest and left knee and lacerated wounds were also seen on the right knee and right hand. The deceased was wearing a Murki (earring) of gold in the right ear and a silver ring of a finger of left hand. Thereafter formal FIR No. 225 dated 15.10.2002 was registered at Police Station City Dabwali under Section 302/201 of the Indian Penal Code ('IPC' for short) and investigation of the case was started. The dead body was sent for post mortem examination. During investigation, statements of Satpal Kaur PW-11 and PW-12 Rajinder Singh were recorded.
After completion of investigation and necessary formalities, challan was presented against accused/appellants.
Prosecution, in order to prove its case, examined 18 witnesses.
After the close of prosecution evidence, the accused when examined under Section 313 of the Code of Criminal Procedure ('Cr.P.C.' for short), prayed that they were innocent and had been arrested by the police on the basis of the suspicion and thereafter, they had been falsely involved in this case. The recoveries of weapons had been planted on them.
The accused did not lead any evidence in their defence.
The trial court vide judgment/order dated 13.12.2005 and 17.12.2005 convicted and sentenced the appellants for commission of an offence under Section 302/34 IPC. Hence, the Crl. Appeals No. 199-DB of 2006 & 291-DB of 2006 - 3- present appeals by the accused/appellants.
Learned counsel for appellants has submitted that the appellants had been falsely involved in this case. The appellants were arrested in another false case and were also falsely involved in the present case with a view to solve the present murder case which in fact was a case of blind murder.
Learned state counsel, on the other hand, has submitted that the appellants had been duly identified by PW-11 Satpal Kaur and PW-12 Rajinder Singh. The said witness had no reason to falsely involve the appellants in this case.
The present case rests on an eye witness account. PW-11 Satpal kaur has deposed that she was married to Major Singh in the year 1997 and was blessed with a son Jaspreet Singh out of the said wedlock. Her son was born in the month of October and, therefore, she had gone with her brother Rajinder Singh to village Pipli and other villages to distribute the cards for a religious function in this regard. On 14.10.2002, she had gone along with her brother on his motor cycle qua the distribution of cards and while they were returning to their village Banginihal Singh via Rama Mandi, their motor cycle stopped near Rama Mandi due to some fault. They went to the mechanic for repair of the motor cycle but the same could not be repaired quickly. They left the motor cycle with the mechanic and took his scooter and proceeded further. When they had crossed village Bagha, at about 8.00 P.M., a car came from behind and the driver of the car struck the side of the car with their scooter. As a result of this they fell down. The driver of the car stopped the car. There were three occupants in the car including the driver. All the said occupants were present in the Crl. Appeals No. 199-DB of 2006 & 291-DB of 2006 - 4- court as accused. She later came to know their names as Bittu, Krishan and Raju. The witness correctly identified all the three accused with their names in the court. The accused persons then asked her to hand over her ornaments to them. She handed over the ornaments, she was wearing, to the accused. Thereafter, the accused forcibly dragged her as well as her brother in the car. The driver after reversing the car proceeded towards Bagha- Rama side. She along with her brother raised alarm and as a result of this, the accused pushed her brother Rajinder out of the car. Then the accused tied her dupatta on her eyes to make her temporarily blind. Accused Bittu was driving the car and the remaining accused were sitting on the back seat and she was made to sit in between the two accused. Accused Bittu was armed with a pistol, accused Krishan was armed with a kirpan while accused Raju was armed with an iron rod. The accused then threatened to kill her in case she raised alarm. Out of fear, she did not raise any alarm thereafter. After travelling for half an hour, the accused took her in the field which had a boundary wall. Thereafter, she was made to come out of the car and her dupatta was untied. Accused Bittu and Krishan then committed rape on her person. Then she was again made to sit in the car. While they were travelling, a person signaled the car to stop. Accused Bittu stopped the car. The said person was given lift by the accused and was made to sit on the back side of the car. She was made to sit on the front seat of the car by the side of the driver. Thereafter, the accused got petrol filled in the car from a petrol pump at Dabwali. From there they proceeded towards village Pipli-Kalanwali. The person who had been given lift Crl. Appeals No. 199-DB of 2006 & 291-DB of 2006 - 5- replied to a question qua his occupation that he was dealing in sale and purchase of buffaloes and that his village was a little ahead. The accused then asked the said person to give them money he was carrying but the said person refused to do so on the plea that he was having small children. Then accused Krishan gave a kirpan blow on the left leg of the said person. Thereafter, the injured gave money to the accused. The injured was then taken out of the car and fearing that he would disclose the matter to the police, accused Krishan inflicted another kirpan blow on the said person while accused Raju had caught hold of the hands of the said person. Accused Bittu was also standing with the other two accused at that time. The person, who had taken lift, fell down on the ground. Thereafter, the accused proceeded further in the car. She was also made to sit in the car. On the way, Raju asked her that if she had any relative in village Pipli. She told them that her sister was residing in village Pipli. She went to the house of her sister. Her brother had got a case registered at Police Station Rama Mandi after he was thrown out of the car by the accused persons. On 31.10.2002, she had gone to police station Rama Mandi along with her brother to inquire qua the progress of the case and at that time accused Bittu was present in police custody as he had already been arrested by the police. She along with her brother identified accused Bittu as one of the assailants. On the same day they also learnt that some persons had been arrested by Haryana police. Thereafter, she went to Haryana along with her brother where they identified accused Raju and Krishan as assailants who had committed the murder of the unknown person along with Bittu and qua commission of her rape.
Crl. Appeals No. 199-DB of 2006 & 291-DB of 2006 - 6- PW-12 Rajinder Singh has corroborated the statement of PW-11.
PW-6 Dr. Ramesh Kumar deposed that on 16.10.2002 he had conducted the post mortem examination on the dead body of an unknown person aged about 25-30 years and had found following injuries on his person:-
1.An illiptical horizontally placed slightly oblique wound of size 4x2 cms on left side of chest, about 5"
below the mid-line of left clavicle and 3 inches from the mid-line of body. On probing the wound was tracking down inferomedially into chest cavity into the intercostal space.
2.Testis and penis retracted and swollen.
3.Lacerated wound of about 4 x 0.3 cm in size over the antero-lateral border of left knee. On dissection of injury No.1, following findings were noted:-
A penetrating wound of 4 x 2 cms in size horizontally placed, slightly oblique on left side of chest, tracking toward the right side of chest cavity, pearcing into costal space muscles with contusion of muscles nearby inferomedially. On opening the body cavity (chest), two dep cut, one on right atrium and other on ventricle were seen with pericordium full of blood. One sharp cut on medial border of right lung with haemo-thorax with right pleuratear.
The other organs were pale and healthy, as described. In his opinion, injury No.1 was sufficient to cause Crl. Appeals No. 199-DB of 2006 & 291-DB of 2006 - 7- death in the ordinary course of nature. All the injures were ante-mortem in nature. The time between the injuries and death was few minutes and between death and post mortem was 24 hours to 48 hours.
PW-8 Kartar Singh deposed that deceased Karnail Singh was his real brother. 4/5 days prior to 16.10.2002, his brother had gone to Punjab in connection with his business. On
16.10.2002, they came to know that a young man had been murdered. He went to police station City Dabwali along with Giani Ram, Raja Ram and others. They were shown some photographs and clothes and he identified those to be of his brother Karnail Singh. He also deposed qua the recovery of sword from accused Krishan and an iron rod from accused Raju on the basis of their disclosure statements.
PW-9 ASI Ami Lal has deposed as per the contents of the FIR. He further deposed that he lifted blood stained earth from the spot. He had prepared rough site plan qua the place of occurrence. He had prepared inquest report qua the unknown dead body at the spot. The place of occurrence was got photographed.
PW-15 Inspector Ram Rattan deposed that on 15.10.2002, he reached the spot and took over the investigation of the case from ASI Ami Lal. The dead body was sent for post mortem examination. After completion of investigation, he prepared the report under Section 173 Cr.P.C.
PW-16 ASI Sham Lal deposed that he conducted the investigation in case FIR No. 133/2002 under Section 342, 366, 323, 376, 34 IPC registered at Police Station Raman. Rajinder Singh and Satpal Kaur were present with them. On receipt of a Crl. Appeals No. 199-DB of 2006 & 291-DB of 2006 - 8- secret information, they chased a car driven in the revenue estate of Raman. Five persons were sitting in the car. Two persons managed to escape and three persons were apprehended by them. Accused Bittu was one of them and was identified by PWs Sat Pal Kaur and Rajinder Singh qua their kidnapping and also as one of the assailants in the murder case. Accused Bittu was arrested. In the meantime, he received a phone call from Haryana police with regard to arrest of two persons. Then he went to Haryana along with PWs Satpal Kaur and Rajinder Singh near village Makha. Accused Raj Kumar alias Raju and Krishan Kumar were apprehended after they were identified by Satpal Kaur and Rajinder Singh as the persons involved in their kidnapping and murder in the present case.
PW-17 Inspector Gurdarshan Singh has corroborated the statement of PW-16.
PW-18 Inspector Jaipal Singh deposed that on 31.10.2002, he was posted as Incharge, CIA Staff, Sirsa. He had been assigned with the investigation of this case. On that day, he received an information that three persons had been apprehended in Punjab whereas two persons had fled towards Haryana side. He held a nakabandi on Pipli-Makha road. After about two hours accused Raj Kumar and Krishan Kumar came from the side of Makha and they were arrested on suspicion. The message was conveyed to Punjab police. Thereafter, ASI Sham Lal along with Satpal Kaur and Rajinder Singh came there. Accused Raj Kumar and Krishan were identified by PWs Satpal Kaur and Rajinder Singh as the persons who had abducted them and qua rape on Satpal Kaur and murder of unknown person near Dabwali. During interrogation on 01.11.2002, accused Raj Crl. Appeals No. 199-DB of 2006 & 291-DB of 2006 - 9- Kumar and Krishan got recovered one iron rod and sword from the disclosed places on the basis of their disclosure statements. On 16.11.2002 he arrested accused Bittu who was already in custody in FIR No. 626 of 2002 under Section 457/380 IPC.
As per the eye witness account, the accused had abducted PWs Satpal Kaur and Rajinder Singh in a car after they had crossed village Bagha. Thereafter, PW Rajinder Singh was thrown out of the car. PW Satpal Kaur was taken to a bounded field and was raped by appellants Bittu and Krishan. Thereafter, the accused gave lift to the deceased and committed his murder. As per the eye witness account, accused Bittu was armed with a pistol, accused Krishan was armed with a sword whereas accused Raj Kumar was armed with an iron rod. Accused Krishan had given blows with his sword on the person of the deceased. The said eye witness account is duly corroborated by the medical evidence. PWs Satpal Kaur and Rajinder Singh had no ill will against the appellants to have falsely involve them in this case. Another fact which renders credence to the statements of PW-11 and PW-12 is that PW-12 had lodged the FIR qua their abduction on 14.10.2002 whereas the present FIR was registered on 15.10.2002 after the dead body of the deceased was recovered on 15.10.2002 by PW-9 ASI Ami Lal. Ex.PQ is the copy of the FIR No. 133 dated 14.10.2002 registered at Police Station Rama under Section 342, 366, 323, 34 IPC by Rajinder Singh qua their abduction. All the appellants have been duly identified by PW-11 and PW-12. The said witnesses have deposed in a natural manner and their statements in this regard inspire confidence. In these circumstances, learned trial court had rightly convicted and sentenced the appellants qua offence under Section 302/34 Crl. Appeals No. 199-DB of 2006 & 291-DB of 2006 - 10- IPC.
Accordingly, both the appeals are dismissed.
(JASBIR SINGH) (SABINA)
JUDGE JUDGE
November 04, 2011
Gurpreet