Delhi District Court
State vs . Sada Ram on 22 February, 2007
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IN THE COURT OF SHRI RAJNEESH KUMAR GUPTA,
ADDITIONAL SESSIONS JUDGE, DELHI.
SC/ST case No. 11 /04
FIR No. 329/99
PS Najafgarh
U/s 3 (X) of SC/ST Act 1989 and 341/325/34 IPC
State Vs. Sada Ram
S/o Shri Laxmi Narayan
R/o RZ-56 Baba Hari Dass
Colony Jharoda Delhi.
Pawan Kumar
S/o Shri Sadaram
R/o RZ-56, Baba Hari Dass
Colony,Jharoda, Delhi.
(Deceased)
JUDGMENT
1. In brief, the case of the prosecution is that on 16.6.1999 on receiving of DD No. 29-A police went to the spot at near High School Village Jharoda and found that injured was already taken to the hospital. Police went to the hospital and from where it came to know that the injured 2 was already discharged from the hospital. The statement of the injured Hukum Singh was recorded in his house on the basis of which the FIR was registered. The case of the prosecution is that the injured Hukum Singh belongs to Scheduled Caste Sub Caste 'Chamar'. On 16.6.99 when he was returning after purchasing Khal and had reached near tea shop of Ram Kishan Village Jharoda accused Sada Ram alongwith his sons Pawan Kumar and Deepak stopped him and started beating him with lathi. Prior to 16.6.99 the accused persons had also beaten the complainant by entering into his house and used to say 'Chamar Dhedo Ko Yahan Nahai Rehne Denge'. During investigation it is found that Deepak was not involved in the incident and so the charge sheet was filed against the accused Sada Ram and Pawan Kumar U/s 341/325/34 IPC and 3 (x) of Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities ) Act.
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2. IO after investigating the case, filed the charge sheet against the accused U/s 341/325/34 IPC and U/s 3
(x) of SC/ST (POA) Act. Charge U/s 341/34, 325/34 IPC and charge U/s 3 (1)(x) of Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act 1989 read with section 34 IPC was framed against the accused Sada Ram to which he pleaded not guilty and claimed trial. During trial the accused Pawan Kumar had expired.
3. In order to prove its case, prosecution has examined 9 of its witnesses. Statements of accused U/s 313 Cr.PC. was recorded. Accused persons had led three witnesses in their defence.
4. I have heard Ld. Special PP for the state and Ld. Counsel for the accused and perused the evidence on record. Ld. counsel for the accused has argued that the accused has been falsely implicated in the case by the complainant as the 4 complainant used to settle the dispute as he is operating dairy from his residence and used to leave his buffaloes out in the open and used to park his Buggi in front of the house of the accused to which accused used to object. Accused at the time of alleged date and time of the incident was on duty with the CPWD at CRPF Camp. Complainant is not a reliable witness.
PW1 Hukum Singh has deposed that he is a labourer and used to ply Bullock Cart and has buffalo. He belongs to Scheduled Caste Sub Caste Chamar. Houses adjoining to his house belongs to person of Brhamin Caste and he was alone of Scheduled Caste in that vicinity. On 16.6.99 he had gone to purchase Khal from a shop in village Jharoda. He was returning after purchasing Khal in a gunny bag and was placing it in the middle of his cycle when the accused persons met him. They stopped him and all of them gave lathi blows on his person. He sustained injuries on his right arm and various parts of his body and thereafter he became 5 unconscious. Accused Sada Ram also used derogatory remarks. At the place of occurrence many persons were coming and going when the incident occurred. He was medically examined in the DDU Hospital and gave his statement to the police which is Ex. PW1/A. He has identified the danda as Ex. P1. First of all Pawan Kumar had given the danda blow then he became unconscious and thereafter Sada Ram gave him danda blow.
In cross examination he was confronted with his statement Ex. PW1/A as he has made improvement in his examination in chief from what he has stated in statement Ex. PW1/A. He has also admitted in his cross examination that the other members of Scheduled Caste namely Jage Ram and Surja Dhobi is also residing in the locality. He remained in the hospital for about 2/3 days.
PW2 ASI Vijay Pal Singh has deposed that on 16.6.99 he was posted in PCR and on receiving the message he went to the place of occurrence and took the injured Hukum Singh to 6 DDU Hospital.
In cross examination he has deposed that injured was conscious when he met him.
PW3 H.C. Sudesh has proved the FIR as Ex. PW3/A. PW4 Dr. Ripu Daman has proved the MLC of the injured as Ex. PW4/A. PW5 J.C. Vashisht Record Clerk from DDU Hospital has deposed that on the MLC Ex. PW4/A the nature of injury has been opined as grievous by Dr. G.K. Bhagat. Dr. G.K. Bhagat has services of the hospital and his whereabouts are not known. He identified the hand writing and signatures of Dr. G.K. Bhagat.
PW6 Kiran Devi has deposed that he had issued the Caste certificate to the complainant which is Ex. PW1/B. PW7 SI Prabhu Dayal has deposed that on 16.6.99 on receiving of DD No. 29-A he alongwith Ct. Jai Pal went to the spot where on inquiry it was learnt that injured was already removed to the hospital by PCR Van. He alongwith Ct. Jai Pal 7 went to the DDU Hospital where he collected the MLC of the injured and injured was already discharged from the hospital. On 17.6.99 he went to the house of the complainant alongwith Ct. Jai Pal and recorded his statement, prepared rukka Ex. PW3/A and got the case registered in the police station. He prepared the site plan of the occurrence Ex. PW7/A. Accused was arrested. Accused Pawan Kumar got recovered the danda from his house which was seized vide memo Ex. PW7/D. PW8 Amit Roy ACP has deposed that he has taken the investigation on 18.6.99. He had received the case file from SI Prabhu Dayal. SI Prabhu Dayal had investigated the matter under his supervision. After completion of the investigation he challened the accused. PW9 Ct. Jai Pal who was present with the PW7 during investigation of the case has supported the case of PW7. DW1 Rampat has deposed that he knew the accused. He belongs to Chamar Caste. Complainant also belongs to 8 Chamar Caste. Complainant is maintaining a dairy at his residence and has 50 buffaloes. The buffaloes are left out in the open and they create dirt and nuisance outside the house of the accused. All the residents are fed up with the same and accused used to object to the same which led to dispute between the accused and the complainant. DW2 Nathu Khan who is the supervisor Horticulture Department and has deposed that accused Sada Ram is working in CPWD Horticulture Department. On 16.6.99 accused attended his duties and proved the copy of attendance register Ex. DW2/1. The office timings from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.. There was no request for any short leave on the said date of Sada Ram and he attended his duties till 5 p.m. In cross examination he has deposed that in the attendance register letter 'P' is subscribed and the time of arrival and departure is not recorded therein. Signature of Sada Ram were not appearing on the attendance register. 9 DW3 Anand Singh has deposed that he knew the accused and he belongs to Scheduled Caste Sub Caste Chamar. He has been visiting terms with the accused. He has never heard using the caste related words against the complainant or his children. He has also deposed on the same lines as DW1.
5. Perusal of the complainant of Hukum Singh which is Ex. PW1/A shows that he has no where stated in his complaint that the accused had used derogatory remarks as to his caste at the time of incident. He has simply stated in his complaint that prior to this incident the accused used to use the derogatory caste remarks. In his evidence he had deposed that accused has used derogatory remarks at the time of incident. He has not deposed any dates on which the accused has used the derogatory remarks prior to this incident. The testimony of complainant as to the use of derogatory remarks does not support the allegations as made 10 in his complaint as Ex. PW1/A. Even for the sake of arguments if it is taken that these derogatory caste remarks made by the accused at the time of alleged incident then also no offence U/s 3(1)(x) of Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribes (POA) Act is proved against the accused as these caste remarks are not made within the public view as there is no independent witness to the alleged remarks made by the accused. It is one of the essential ingredients of Section 3 (1) (x) of Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribes (POA) Act that accused must have been insulted the complainant within the public view which means that remarks must be made in the presence of independent public persons.
(Relied upon 109(2004) DLT 915)
6. PW1 has also made contradictory statements in his testimony as he has deposed in his examination in chief that he was alone in the vicinity and in cross examination he has 11 deposed that there are also other Scheduled caste residing in that vicinity.
PW1 has been confronted with his statement Ex. PW1/A and he has made material improvement in his testimony in the court from his statement made to the police which is Ex. PW1/A. PW1 has stated in his evidence that accused Sada Ram, his son Pawan Kumar and Deepak met him and and all of them started giving lathi blow on his person. During investigation it was found by the police that Deepak Sada Ram was not involved in the incident. PW1 has also stated in his evidence that first of all Pawan Kumar had given danda blow then he became unconscious and thereafter Sada Ram gave the danda blow. When PW1 has become unconscious and then how he came to know that accused Sada Ram had also given the danda blow is not explained by the prosecution. The alleged weapon of offence i.e. Danda is also alleged to have been recovered at the instance of Pawan Kumar not at 12 the instance of accused Sada Ram.
DW1 and DW3 has supported the defence of the accused that DW1 was running a dairy at his residence and had kept several buffaloes. These buffaloes were left on the road which creates dirt and nuisance. Hukum Singh also used to park bulk cart outside the house of the accused so there is a dispute of the accused with the complainant. In my view as there is dispute so the possibility of the accused being falsely implicated in the case by the complainant cannot be ruled out. The testimony of PW1 also suffers from several infirmities as discussed above so he is not a reliable witness.
7. In view of the above discussions, I am of the opinion that prosecution has failed to prove its case beyond reasonable doubt against the accused Sada Ram. Accordingly, accused is acquitted of the charge. His bail bond and surety bond stands cancelled.
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8. File be cosigned to Record Room.
Announced in the open Court (RAJNEESH KUMAR GUPTA) today i.e. 22.2.2007 Additional Sessions Judge, Tis Hazari Courts, Delhi.