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The Judgment of the Court was delivered by AHMADI, J. In Criminal Case No. 3 of 1975, three persons were put up for trial before the learned Special Judge, Sultanpur (U.P.). The case arose out of the death of one Ram Dhiraj Tiwari in police custody. Accused No. 1 Rafiuddin Khan (Respondent in Criminal Appeal No. 477 of 1979) was the Sub-Inspector of Police Station Kure Bhar in District Sul- tanpur at all material times during the commission of the crime. Accused No. 2 Shamsher Ali (since acquitted) was posted at the said police station as Beat Constable No. 3. His companion Accused No. 3 (Appellant in Criminal Appeal No. 111 of 1979) was the Head Moharrir of the said police station. Crime No. 71 of 1971 under Section 395, IPC was registered at the said police station on 25.5. 1971 concern- ing a dacoity committed at Village Khara within the jurisdiction of the said police station. In that connec- tion one Jagdamba was arrested on 20.9.1971. During interro- gation by AI the said suspect is alleged to have made.a confessional statement involving Ram Dhiraj Tiwari. On the basis of this information A 1 directed A2 and Ram Jas (PW 6) and Harakh, both police chowkidars, to apprehend Ram Dhiraj and produce him before him. Pursuant thereto A2 and his companions apprehended Ram Dhiraj from his residence in village Khajapur on 19.10.1971 at about 11.00 a.m. in the presence of his mother Kamaraji (PW 7), sister's husband Ram Niranjan Misra (PW 8) and labourer Jiyalal (PW 9). After his arrest Ram Dhiraj was brought to police station Kure Bhar at about 4.00 p.m. on the same day and handed over to A1. PW 8 and Ram Baran Dubey (PW 10) are stated to have followed him to the police station. It is alleged that soon charge of A1, he was given a severe beating with lathi and dandas by A1 and two constables, whose identity is not established, with a view to extracting a confessional statement from him. When PW 8 and PW 10 tried to intervene., A1 demanded a sum of Rs.2000 from them to refrain from ill-treating Ram Dhiraj. Thereupon PW 8 went to Village Pure Neelkanth three miles away to fetch Bindeshwari Prasad Shukla (PW 5) the husband of Ram Dhiraj's eider sister. On the arrival of PW 5 at the police station, A1 is alleged to have repeated his demand of Rs.2000. Since the bribe was not paid A1 and his two compan- ions renewed the torture with vengeance which lasted till about 9 or 10 p.m. As a result of the merciless beating Ram Dhiraj was badly injured. It is alleged that the fact that he was apprehended from his village and was brought to the police station on 19.10.1971 was not entered in the general diary register but a false entry was posted in the said general diary register regarding his arrest on the next day i.e. 20.10.1971, at about 6.00 a.m. from near a culvert in village Hanna-Harora by A2 and his two chowkidars. The defence version was that as he tried to resist arrest A2 and his two companions beat him up as a result of which he sustained the injuries in question. Another entry was made in the same general diary on the same day purporting to transfer Ram Dhiraj to police station Sadar for admission to the District Jail. General Diary Entry No. 14 was made to show that Ram Dhiraj was sent from Sardar police station at about 12.15 noon for admission to the District Jail as he had sustained injuries. It, however, transpired later that Ram Dhiraj died at about 4.00 p.m. on the same day while he was being taken to the residence of one of the Magistrates at Sultanput for remand. On his demise his dead body was taken to Kotwali Sultanpur where an entry No. 30 regarding his death was made in the general diary at about 4.20 p.m. On 21.10.1971 an inquest was made on the dead body and thereafter the dead body was sent for post mortem examination. PW 1 Dr. Mitra performed the autopsy and found as many as 28 ante-mortem injuries on the body of the deceased.

The prosecution case against A1 was that he was respon- sible for having beaten the suspect Ram Dhiraj in the compa- ny of two others which resulted in as many as 28 injuries to which he ultimately succumbed. It was also alleged that he had demanded a bribe of Rs.2000 to desist from meting out third degree punishment to the suspect. He was, therefore, charged under Section 304, 330, 201, 218/ 34, I.P.C., while his companion A3 was charged under Section 201 and 218, I.P.C. All the three accused persons denied the charges levelled against them and claimed to be tried. They however did not deny the fact that Ram Dhiraj died in police custo- dy. The case set up by A 1 was that he was away from the police station between 5.00 p.m. and 7.30 p.m., on 19.10.1971 and, therefore, the allegation that he had tor- tured Ram Dhiraj is fabricated and wholly false. A2 admitted the fact that Ram Dhiraj was arrested outside his village house at Khajapur on 19.10.1971 and was brought to the police station Kure Bhar on the same day at about 4.00 p.m. He, however, denied having caused any injury to him during arrest. A3 denied the prosecution allegation that he had deliberately and wilfully posted false entries in the Gener- al Diary to help A 1.

That brings us to the question whether the alibi set up by A1 can come to his rescue. In this connection reliance is placed on the evidence of DW 1, Jaswant Singh, Station Officer, Machlishahr Police Station. He claims to have come to Kure Bhar on 19.10.1971 for investigation of an offence under Section 363/366 I.P.C. of his police station. He wants us to believe that he was at the Kure Bhar police station from 5.00 p.m. to 9.30 p.m. According to him A1 was not at the police station till about 7.30 p.m. Reliance is placed on the general diary entry dated 19.10.1971 to show that A 1 had left the police station at about 10.30 a.m. for Tikar and had returned to the police station at 7.30 a.m. This entry is proved through DW 2. Now according to DW 1 even though he had come to Kure Bhar for investigation, he him- self remained at the police station throughout and sent his men with A.S.I. (II) of Kure Bhar to Dilawar-Ka-Purwa for investigation. He wants us to believe that he came from his police station to investigate a crime but kept sitting at Kure Bhar police station throughout from 5.00 p.m. to 9.30 p.m. Is this natural conduct? The obvious reason for so stating is to discredit PW 5, PW 8 and PW 10 who have in unmistaka- ble terms stated that A1 was at the police station and had beaten the deceased. DW 1 stand belied by the general diary entry made at his police station on 20.10.1971 to the effect that on reaching Kure Bhar he took A.S.I. (II) of that police station and went to village Dilawar-ka-Purwa for investigation and returned to his police station at 4.00 p.m. According to the said entry from Dilawar-ka-Purwa he went to Sultanpur where he passed the night, left for Ram- nager next morning and returned to his police station via Durgaganj. The learned trial judge dealt with this part of the defence evidence thus:

This line of reasoning does not commend to us. We fail to understand how the learned judge could persuade himself to accept the evidence of DW 1 on the specious plea that if he did not tell the truth he ran the risk of losing his job. The leaned trial judge gave sound reasons for disbelieving the evidence of DW 1 that he did not stir out of Kure Bhar police station from 5.00 p.m. to 9.30 p.m. The High Court failed to appreciate that on realising that the condition of the deceased had deteriorated, a false entry was made by A3 at the behest of A1 to show that (i) the deceased was not arrested on 19.10.1971 nor was he brought to the police station Kure Bhar by about 4.00 p.m. and (ii) that he was actually arrested by A2 from near the culvert of village Hanna-Harora on 20.10.71 and was given a beating before actual arrest, a fact which is denied by A2 in his statement under Section 313 of the Code. Thus the foundation for absolving himself from the responsibility of having ill- treated the deceased was laid. The trail court rightly holds that there is no guarantee that entry 17 is accurate when entries 15 and 21 are found to be false. The entry in the case diary regarding crime No. 28 of Machlishahr recorded by A.S.I. Bankey Bihari who had accompanied DW 1 clearly men- tions that when they reached Kure Bhar they met the Thana Adhiyakshakh (i.e. A 1) at about 5.00 p.m. which negatives the theory that A1 had left the police station at 10.30 a.m. and had not returned till 7.30 p.m. of 19.10. 1971. Without coming to grips with the circumstances pointed out by the trial court for disbelieving DW 1, the High Court surpris- ingly accepted his evidence as gospel truth only because he ran the risk of losing his job. The High Court should have realised that cases are not unknown where police officer have given inaccurate accounts to secure a conviction or to help out a colleague from a tight situation of his creation. The High Court should also have realised that it is general- ly difficult in cases of deaths in police custody to secure evidence against the policemen responsible for resorting to third degree methods since they are in charge of police station records which they do not find difficult to manipu- late as in this case. It is only in a few cases, such as the present one, that some direct evidence is available. In our view the reasons assigned by the High Court are too weak to stand judicial scrutiny.