Delhi District Court
State vs . Rakesh Pal Etc. on 15 January, 2016
SC No. 157/15
State Vs. Rakesh Pal Etc.
FIR No. 612/14
PS Dabri
IN THE COURT OF SH. ANIL KUMAR:
ADDITIONAL SESSIONS JUDGE03 : SOUTHWEST DISTRICT
DWARKA COURTS : DELHI
In the matter of:
Unique ID of the case : 02405R0085102015
SC No. : 157/15
FIR No. : 612/14
Police Station : Dabri
Under Section : 498A/304B/34 IPC
Date of Institution : 17.07.2015
Case received on assignment : 04.08.2015
by the Court of Sessions on
Final Arguments heard on : 15.01.2016
Judgment announced on : 15.01.2016
State Vs. (1) Rakesh Pal
S/o Ram Dayal
R/o F301, Gali No.85,
Mahavir Enclave, PartIII,
New Delhi.
(2) Ram Dayal Pal
S/o Shri Shiv Balak
R/o F301, Gali No.85,
Mahavir Enclave, PartIII,
New Delhi.
(3) Rajesh Kumar
S/o Shri Ram Dayal
R/o F301, Gali No.85,
Mahavir Enclave, PartIII,
New Delhi.
Page no. 1 /18 15.01.2016
SC No. 157/15
State Vs. Rakesh Pal Etc.
FIR No. 612/14
PS Dabri
(4) Smt. Bishna Devi
W/o Shri Ram Dayal
R/o F301, Gali No.85,
Mahavir Enclave, PartIII,
New Delhi.
J U D G E M E N T
1. The accused persons namely Rakesh Pal, Ram Dayal Pal, Rajesh Kumar and Smt. Bishna Devi have been sent for trial for the offences punishable under Section 498A/304B/34 IPC.
2. In the present case, FIR was registered on the complaint of Ram Krishan, the father of deceased and chargesheet against the accused persons has been filed under Section 498A/304B/34 IPC
3. As per the story of prosecution as stated in the chargesheet, brief facts of the case in the nutshell, are that on 02.08.2014, on receipt of DD No. 38B, SI Manmohan alongwith Ct. Brijender reached at F301, Gali no. 85, Mahavir Enclave, PartIII, New Delhi where a lady namely Poonam was found hanging with white saree from a ceiling fan of the room. On enquiry it was revealed that deceased Poonam was married with Rakesh Pal (accused) on 22.05.2010. Thereafter, Crime Team was called and SDM was informed who ordered to preserve the dead body of Poonam at the Mortuary of DDU hospital till her parents arrive at Delhi. Crime Page no. 2 /18 15.01.2016 SC No. 157/15 State Vs. Rakesh Pal Etc. FIR No. 612/14 PS Dabri Team reached at the spot photographs of the spot were taken and dead body of Poonam was got preserved at the Mortuary of DDU Hospital.
On 04.08.2014, parents of deceased Poonam arrived at Delhi and Shri Jai Bhagwan, SDM, Dwarka recorded the statements of parents of deceased. In his statement complainant Ram Krishan, father of deceased stated that he got his daughter Poonam married with accused Rakesh Pal with pomp and shows and he had spent on marriage beyond his capacity. Since the inception of marriage, his daughter was being harassed by her husband and inlaws for demand of dowry. Before marriage there was no demand of dowry but after the marriage his daughter was being beaten and there was continuous demand of dowry. Complainant stated that they are poor people and due to nonfulfillment of dowry demand, his daughter was killed by hanging with the fan.
On the basis of statement of complainant, case under Section 498A/304B/34 IPC was registered and SDM ordered the investigating officer and SHO for taking action as per law. Thereafter, on the letter of SDM, postmortem on the body of deceased Poonam was got conducted and DDU Hospital and after the postmortem body of deceased as well as her belongings were Page no. 3 /18 15.01.2016 SC No. 157/15 State Vs. Rakesh Pal Etc. FIR No. 612/14 PS Dabri handed over to the parents of deceased. Doctor also handed over the ligature material i.e. white colour chunni in a sealed pulanda to the I.O./SI Manmohan. Investigation of the present case was then marked to Insp. Vijay Pal and during investigation, Insp. Vijay Pal prepared the site plan at the instance of SI Manmohan and later scaled site plan was got prepared by Ct. Hardeep Singh. He also recorded the statements of witnesses. During investigation post mortem report of the deceased was obtained. In the postmortem report, cause of death was given as asphyxia caused by ligature hanging by using chunni which was found on the neck of deceased and the manner of death was opined as suicidal and time of death was approximately two days prior to the postmortem examination.
During investigation, I.O./Insp. Vijay Pal recorded the statement of Shri Jaswant, real brother of deceased Poonam, who in his statement stated that his deceased sister was residing in Delhi after her marriage i.e. in the year 2010 and he (Jaswant) was working in Delhi and he used to go the matrimonial house of Poonam and she used to tell him that she was being harassed by her husband, her parentsinlaw and brother inlaw for not bringing sufficient dowry in marriage and on this pretext they used to beat her. Her inlaws had asked her to bring motorcycle from her parents. He further stated that one month prior to her death, Poonam had Page no. 4 /18 15.01.2016 SC No. 157/15 State Vs. Rakesh Pal Etc. FIR No. 612/14 PS Dabri come to her parental home and refused to go back but Rakesh Pal forcefully took her back. Jaswant and one of his cousin Ranjit visited the matrimonial house of Poonam 23 days prior to her death and on that day Poonam had alleged that she was being harassed by her in laws.
During investigation, I.O. recorded the statement of Ranjit, cousin brother, father and mother of deceased Poonam and in their statements they all stated that Poonam was being harassed by her in laws for bringing less dowry and they were demanded motorcycle for Rakesh Pal and due to the said reason Poonam committed suicide.
On 20.04.2015, accused Rakesh Pal was apprehended and on interrogation, he stated that he was facing financial problem and he required a motorcycle so he had demanded motorcycle from Poonam and her parents and for this reason there used to remain quarrel between him and Poonam and on the early morning of 02.08.2014, Poonam hanged herself in his house. Thereafter, accused Rakesh Pal was arrested.
Thereafter, Insp. Vijay Pal was transferred and further investigation of the case was assigned to Insp. Vijay Shanwal.
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SC No. 157/15
State Vs. Rakesh Pal Etc.
FIR No. 612/14
PS Dabri
During investigation, I.O/Insp. Vijay Shanwal obtained the subsequent opinion of postmortem report from the doctor and doctor mentioned that "all Cartilage and hyoid bone found intact"
and it was a case of hanging instead of strangulation especially in this case.
During further investigation, Ram Dayal (fatherinlaw) and Rajesh (brotherinlaw) were also arrested. Accused Bishna Devi was however, put in column no.11 but she was chargesheeted without arrest since nothing was to be recovered from her and she being 52 years of age On conclusion of necessary investigation, chargesheet was prepared and the same was filed in the Court of Ld. Area Magistrate/Ld. M.M.
4. After supplying the complete copies to the accused persons, the concerned Ld. Metropolitan Magistrate committed the case to the Court of sessions complying the provisions under Section 207/209 Cr.P.C., as the offences for which the cognizance was taken, were triable by the Court of Sessions.
5. After hearing arguments on the point of charge vide order Page no. 6 /18 15.01.2016 SC No. 157/15 State Vs. Rakesh Pal Etc. FIR No. 612/14 PS Dabri dated 20.08.2015, charge under Section 498A/304B/34 IPC was framed against the accused persons Rakesh Dayal, Ram Dayal Pal, Rajesh Kumar and Bishna Devi to which they pleaded not guilty and claimed trial.
6. For discharging the onus placed on it, prosecution has been called upon to adduce evidence to establish its case as per law. Prosecution has cited total 19 witnesses to establish its case as per law out of which following 16 witnesses were examined namely: PW1 Dr. Vipin Kumar Jha (DDU Hospital) PW2 Dr. B.N. Mishra (DDU Hospital) PW3 HC Balwant Singh PW4 Shri Ram Kishan (Complainant/father of deceased) PW5 Smt. Kiran (mother of deceased) PW6 Shri Jaswant (brother of deceased) PW7 Shri Ranjit (Cousin brother of deceased) PW8 Insp. Mahender Kumar PW9 Insp. Vijay Pal PW10 Shri Jai Bhagwan (the then concerned SDM) PW11 Ct. Hardeep Singh PW12 Lady Ct. Manisha PW13 SI Khajan Singh PW14 Ct. Anil PW15 SI Manmohan Singh PW16 Insp. Vijay Shanwal Page no. 7 /18 15.01.2016 SC No. 157/15 State Vs. Rakesh Pal Etc. FIR No. 612/14 PS Dabri
7. PW1 Dr. Vipin Kumar Jha, Senior Resident, DDU Hospital has proved on record the MLC no. 7753, of deceased Poonam, as Ex.PW1/A. He deposed that the patient Poonam was brought dead with alleged history of hanging.
8. PW2 Dr.B.N. Mishra, Medical OfficercumMedico Legal Expert and Criminologist, Department of Forensic Medicine, DDU Hospital, New Delhi, who had conducted the postmortem on the body of deceased Poonam, has deposed that during examination he observed the ligature mark on the neck of deceased. He prepared his report vide Ex.PW2/A. On the basis of autopsy findings, he opined that the cause of death was due to asphyxia caused by ligature hanging by using chunni which was found on the neck of deceased. The manner of death was suicidal and time since death was approximately two days prior to the postmortem examination. He proved his opinion on record as Ex.PW2/B. Dr. B.N. Mishra further deposed that on 24.06.2015, on application moved by SHO, PS Dabri, he gave subsequent opinion/ clarification regarding injury sustained by deceased and he gave the same vide Ex.PW2/C, stating that it was a case of hanging despite of nonbreaking (intact) of cartilages of neck. He further deposed that Page no. 8 /18 15.01.2016 SC No. 157/15 State Vs. Rakesh Pal Etc. FIR No. 612/14 PS Dabri in case of hanging, the breaking/fracture of cartilages/hyoid bone of the neck is not common and not necessary in all cases. The pattern/ nature of ligature mark is suggestive of suicidal hanging other than strangulation etc.
9. PW3 HC Balwant Singh was the duty officer on 04.08.2014 and on that night at about 11:00 a.m. on receipt of rukka, presented by the SHO himself, he got recorded the present FIR through CIPA computer and proved the computerized copy of same as Ex.PW3/A and his endorsement made on the rukka as Ex.PW3/B.
10. Complainant Ram Kishan, father of deceased, stepped into the witness box as PW4 and deposed that around 34 years back he married her daughter Poonam off with accused Rakesh Pal and after the marriage his daughter Poonam started residing with her inlaws in Uttam Nagar, Delhi. He further deposed that accused persons were his distant relatives, hence, the marriage was performed with the consent of both the sides and there was no type of cruelty, torture or demand from the side of accused persons nor his daughter was ever given any beatings by the hands of accused persons. He further deposed that after three years of marriage, he received a telephone call from Delhi that his daughter was no more and on receiving of said information, he alongwith his wife came to Delhi.
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SC No. 157/15
State Vs. Rakesh Pal Etc.
FIR No. 612/14
PS Dabri
His two sons Ranjit and Jaswant, who were already in Delhi, also reached at the matrimonial house of Poonam. The dead body of Poonam was already removed to hospital. Thereafter, they went to the hospital where his statement regarding identification of body was recorded and he proved the same on record as Ex.PW4/A. He further proved the statement, which was made by him to police as Ex.PW4/B. Since complainant was not supporting the case of prosecution as per his earlier statement given by him to police, he was cross examined by Ld. Addl. P.P. for the State by the permission of Court, but in his cross examination also he remained stuck to his stand and did not support the prosecution's story. During his cross examination conducted on behalf of State he proved on record the memo, vide which belongings of deceased i.e. nathiya (nose ring), four silver bichhua, one pair of artificial ear tops and one artificial nose ring were handed over to him, as Ex.PW4/C. He also proved on record the memo vide which dead body of Poonam was handing over to them as Ex.PW4/D. The marriage photograph of Poonam and Rakesh was handed over by him to police and he proved the memo of handing over of same as Ex.PW4/E and the said photograph as Ex.PW4/F. Page no. 10 /18 15.01.2016 SC No. 157/15 State Vs. Rakesh Pal Etc. FIR No. 612/14 PS Dabri
11. PW5 Smt. Kiran, mother of deceased, deposed on the same lines as deposed by complainant Ram Kishan and she did not support the case of prosecution even in her cross examination conducted by Ld. Addl. P.P. for the State. She proved on record her statement made to police as Ex.PW5/A.
12. PW6 Shri Jaswant, real brother of deceased Poonam and PW7 Shri Ranjit, cousin brother of deceased Poonam also turned hostile and did not support the prosecution's case. They were then cross examined on behalf of State but they remained stuck to their stand. They deposed that Poonam never attributed any beatings nor accused persons made by demand nor any complaint was made by Poonam regarding cruelty and dowry demand and that the matrimonial life of Poonam was very cordial.
13. PW8 Insp. Mahender Kumar, the then SHO PS Dabri has proved on record his endorsement made on the joint statement given by parents of deceased as Ex.PW8/A on the basis of which present case was registered.
14. PW9 Insp. Vijay Pal has deposed that on 04.08.2014, investigation of the present case was marked to him and during investigation he prepared the site plan at the instance of SI Page no. 11 /18 15.01.2016 SC No. 157/15 State Vs. Rakesh Pal Etc. FIR No. 612/14 PS Dabri Manmohan as Ex.PW9/A and he later got prepared the scaled site plan through Ct. Hardeep Singh. He further deposed that during investigation he examined the relatives of deceased and recorded their statements and thereafter, arrested the accused Rakesh Pal vide arrest memo Ex.PW9/B. He proved on record his personal search memo as Ex.PW9/C and disclosure statement of accused Rakesh Pal as Ex.PW9/D. He has also proved on record the application moved by him before the Court as Ex.PW9/E for sending the accused to judicial custody. He further deposed that during investigation, father of the deceased handed over him the marriage photograph of deceased with accused Rakesh which he took into possession vide memo. Thereafter, he was transferred from PS Dabri and the investigation of present case was assigned to some other I.O.
15. PW10 Shri Jai Bhagwan, the then SDM, Dwarka has deposed that on 04.08.2014, he had recorded the statement of parents of deceased after making preliminary enquiries from them and thereafter, he had made endorsement on their statement vide Ex.PW10/A directing the I.O/ SHO for proceeding further in the case as per law. He has further proved on record the directions given by him with regard to the postmortem of deceased as Ex.PW10/B.
16. PW11 Ct. Hardeep Singh, draftsman has proved on record Page no. 12 /18 15.01.2016 SC No. 157/15 State Vs. Rakesh Pal Etc. FIR No. 612/14 PS Dabri the scaled site plan as Ex.PW11/A.
17. PW12 Lady Ct. Manisha has deposed that on 02.08.2014 she was the DD Writer at PS Dabri and on that day at about 10:36 a.m., she recorded the DD No. 38B pertaining to death of a lady by hanging and the same was handed over to SI Manmohan for necessary action. She has proved on record the said DD as Ex.PW12/A.
18. PW13 SI Khajan Singh has deposed that on 02.08.2014, he had reached the spot alongwith crime team where they found a girl hanging with a ceiling fan with chunni and he had inspected the spot and photographer of the crime team took the photographs of the scene of crime from different angles. After inspecting the spot, he prepared the report Ex.PW13/A.
19. PW14 Ct. Anil, photographer of the crime team as proved on record the 19 photographs of the scene of crime which were taken by him from different angles on 02.08.2014 as Ex.PW14/A1 to Ex.PW14/A19 and the strip of the negatives as Ex.PW14/B collectively.
20. PW15 SI Manmohan has deposed that on 02.08.2014, he Page no. 13 /18 15.01.2016 SC No. 157/15 State Vs. Rakesh Pal Etc. FIR No. 612/14 PS Dabri was on emergency duty and at about 10.36 a.m. on receipt of DD No. 38B Ex.PW15/A he alongwith Ct. Bijender reached at the spot where a lady was found hanging with a ceiling fan with a chunni. He informed the senior officers, the concerned SDM, control room and the crime team. Thereafter, senior officials of the local police SHO PS Dabri came at the spot, simultaneously crime team also came at the spot and Incharge, Crime Team inspected the spot and photographer of the crime team took the photographs of the scene of crime and Incharge of crime team handed over him the crime team report. He has further deposed that thereafter, dead body was brought down by cutting the chunni with the help of a blade. SDM could not reach at the spot. Thereafter, dead body was sent to the Mortuary of DDU hospital through Ct. Bijender and the dead body was preserved. The relatives of the deceased were also informed over phone. SI Manmohan has further deposed that on 04.08.2014, parents of deceased reached at Delhi and he took them to the office of SDM and he took the statement of parents of deceased. Thereafter, he took them to the Mortuary of DDU hospital and on the authorization of SDM he prepared the inquest papers. The parents of the deceased identified the dead body of their daughter. SI Manmohan Singh has also proved on record the request written to Incharge, Mortuary, DDU hospital as Ex.PW15/B, brief facts as Ex.PW15/C, Form 25.35 (1)(B) as Ex.PW15/D. He has further Page no. 14 /18 15.01.2016 SC No. 157/15 State Vs. Rakesh Pal Etc. FIR No. 612/14 PS Dabri deposed that he also recorded the statement of parents of deceased regarding identification of dead body. Prior to postmortem, the mother of deceased took search of dead body of her daughter Poonam and found one gold nose ring, four silver toe rings, two artificial ear tops and one artificial nose pin which he took into possession vide memo. Thereafter, postmortem was got conducted and after the postmortem, the body of deceased was handed over to the parents of deceased. He has further deposed that after the postmortem, doctor handed over him the ligature material i.e. white chunni in sealed condition which he took into possession vide memo Ex.PW15/E. Thereafter, he returned to the police station and handed over the documents to SHO who after perusing the same made his endorsement on the statement of father of deceased and got the FIR of the present case registered and further investigation of the case was assigned to Inspector Vijay Pal.
SI Manmohan Singh has further deposed that on 26.08.2014, he alongwith Insp. Vijay Pal and Ct. Hardeep Singh, Assistant Draftsman went to F301, Gali No.85, Mahavir Enclave, PartIII, New Delhi where at his instance, Ct. Hardeep Singh prepared the site plan.
21. PW16 Insp. Vijay Shanwal has deposed that on 12.05.2015 Page no. 15 /18 15.01.2016 SC No. 157/15 State Vs. Rakesh Pal Etc. FIR No. 612/14 PS Dabri further investigation of the present case was assigned to him and he, during investigation, called the brother of the deceased namely Jaswant Singh and made inquiries from him and recorded his statement. On 14.07.2015, he arrested the accused Ram Dayal and Rajesh Kumar vide arrest memos Ex.PW16/A and Ex.PW16/B respectively and also conducted their personal search vide memos Ex.PW16/C and Ex.PW16/D respectively. He further deposed that during investigation, he obtained the subsequent opinion as the cartilage and hyoid bone of the deceased were found intact and also I collected the relevant papers and filed the chargesheet against the accused persons.
22. I have heard Ld. Addl. P.P. on behalf of the State as well as Ld. Defence Counsel and the I.O. of present case.
23. I have gone through the record and the evidences adduced by prosecution witnesses. The FIR of present case was registered on the complaint of PW4 Shri Ram Kishan, father of deceased who, in his evidence recorded in the Court as well as PW5 Smt.Kiran, mother of deceased and PW6 Shri Jaswant and PW7 Shri Ranjit have turned hostile. Out of 19 prosecution witnesses there are only 4 public witnesses and they are the star witnesses of the case but all have turned hostile. The other witnesses are formal/police witnesses.
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State Vs. Rakesh Pal Etc.
FIR No. 612/14
PS Dabri
In their deposition before the Court, public witnesses i.e. father, mother and brothers of deceased have deposed that accused persons neither harassed the deceased Poonam nor there was any demand from them and they went to say to the extent that the deceased was under depression as she was not blessed with any issue after her marriage and due to this reason she committed suicide. Since, there is no incriminating evidence against accused persons, hence, examination of remaining prosecution witnesses in this matter would be an exercise in futility, hence, PE is closed
24. It is thus, clear from discussion that the prosecution has miserably failed to bring even an iota of incriminating evidence against the accused persons justifying examination of accused persons under Section 313 Cr.P.C. and there being no sufficient incriminating evidence against the accused persons, warranting recording of statement of accused persons under Section 313 Cr.P.C., their statement under Section 313 Cr.P.C. has been dispensed with.
25. In view of above scrutiny of evidences, I find that this case suffers from lack of evidences and it is hold that prosecution has miserably failed to prove the charges levelled against the accused persons. Hence, accused persons Rakesh Pal, Ram Dayal Pal, Rajesh Kumar and Smt. Bishna Devi are acquitted of all the Page no. 17 /18 15.01.2016 SC No. 157/15 State Vs. Rakesh Pal Etc. FIR No. 612/14 PS Dabri charges levelled against them in present case.
26. File be consigned to record room after due compliance.
Announced in the Open Court On 15th Day of January 2016 (Anil Kumar) ASJ03/ Dwarka Courts Delhi/15.01.2016 Page no. 18 /18 15.01.2016