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U. P. Singh, for the respondent (in Cr. A. No. 141 of 1965).

The Judgment of the Court was delivered by Bhargava, J. These three appeals all arise out of a trial held by the Additional Sessions Judge of Patna in respect of a charge of murder of an old lady Rohini Kuer, wife of Munshi Chaudhary, residing in village Lohra, Police Station Bakhtiarpur, District Patna. The prosecution case was that, on the night between 17th and 18th June, 1961, Rohini Kuer, who was aged about 60 years, was sleeping on a cot in the courtyard of her house and, nearby, on a smaller cot was sleeping her niece, Manti, who was about 11 years of age. Munshi Chaudhary himself, his sons and daughter-in-law were at Ranchi where one of his sons had been posted as a Block Development Officer. During the night, Rohini Kuer had closed all the doors and had put a lock from inside on the connecting door between the female apartment and the male apartment of the house. Some time during the night, three miscreants entered the female apartment by cutting a hole in the wall on the western side of the connecting door and began to ransack different rooms of the house. Rohini Kuer woke up on hearing the sounds, while the miscreants were breaking open the boxes and removing the articles. She got up from her bed, accosted the thieves and also called out to Manti. Two of those persons rushed at her, threw her down on the verandah and inflicted several injuries on her body. One of them brought out a sword which was kept in the southern room adjacent to the verandah and cut her neck in the light of the electric torch which had been lighted by the third person. Thereafter, they took away cash, clothes and ornaments having broken open several boxes. They also took away an iron safe. Manti pretended to be asleep and did not cry out due to fear. At one stage, one of the thieves suggested that she should also be killed, but another one intervened and suggested that it was unnecessary to commit her murder. Manti continued lying on her cot till dawn when she came out of the house through the hole which had been cut by the thieves and started weeping While she was in the Baithak of Munshi Chaudhary, one Bhagwat Prasad, who was passing by, enquired what the matter was. She told him that Daiya had been cut. 'Daiya' was the term by which she used to address Rohini Kuer who was her father's sister. Bhagwat Prasad then entered the female apartment through the same hole and found the dead body of Rohini Kuer lying in the verandah. As he came out after seeing the dead body, Ramkishan Chaukidar also arrived. Both of them then went to Harnaut Police outpost four miles away where Bhagwat Prasad lodged a First Information Report which was recorded by Assistant Sub-Inspector Jagdish Singh at about 8 a.m., the date being 18th June, 1961. He sent a copy of the Report to Bakhtiarpur Police Station for institution of a case and himself proceeded to the scene of occurrence at 10.30 a.m. It is said that, in the meantime, Manti's mother had arrived and she told Manti not to disclose the names of the offenders lest she should also be killed. Jagdish Singh, A.S.I., inspected the place of occurrence, noticed the hole that had been cut in the wall and actually went inside through the same opening. He found the dead body lying in the verandah and also notice some- footprints on the floor near the dead body. A blood-stained sword kept in a sheath was also found by him in a room adjacent to the verandah where he also found another foot print in blood stains. He prepared the inquest report and sent the dead body of Rohini Kuer for postmortem examination. The investigation was then taken over by Inspector of Police, Lakshmi Narain Pathak, who took statements of various witnesses, According to him, though he was able to record a detailed statement of Manti covering about two pages. Manti refused to disclose the names of the culprits and started weeping when she was asked to give out the names. He sent a requisition to Patna for a police dog and a photographer. Three days later, on 21st June, the police dog and the photographer arrived in village Lohra, and the Investigating Officer, Pathak, on reaching the spot let loose the dog. The dog went to the house of Ramujagar appellant and entered a room from which one Dasuti Chadar and one quilt stained with blood were seized by the Investigating Officer Pathak-. Thereafter. the dog went to the house of Kapil Singh who, in the meantime, had left his house on seeing the police arriving. He was, however, arrested by the Dafadar. Subsequently, the dog led the police to the house of Deo Singh and his brother Singheshwar where, on a search having been made, a pair of gold ear-tops were recovered from a niche situated in a room facing east. The ear-tops were kept in a cardboard case which bore the inscription "Malti Singh, Women's College Ranchi, P.N.U.N.C.H.2". In the inner cover of the case "M. Singh"

Subsequently, on 28th June, 1961, Manti and her mother were both produced before a Magistrate who recorded their state- ments under section 164, Criminal Procedure Code. Manti was allowed to go home after this statement of hers had been recorded by the Magistrate. Samples of the footprints of the three suspects were compared with the footprints in blood found at the scene of occurrence by the police Expert on, Footprints and evidence was sought to be given by him to prove that one of the footprints tallied with the footprint of Deo Singh.

The Additional Sessions Judge accepted as true the evidence of Manti. He further held that there was corroboration of her evidence at least against two of the persons Ramujagar Singh and Deo Singh. His finding was that the quilt and the chadar, which were proved stained with human blood, having been recovered from the house of Ramujagar Singh, provided very good corroboration of the case against him. of participation in this murder. Similarly, the Additional Sessions Judge held that the recovery of the eartops with the cardboard box containing on it the name of the daughter- in-law of Rohini Kuer as well as the circumstance that the blood-stained footprint found on the spot tallied with that of Deo Singh appellant furnished very good corroboration of the case against Deo Singh. These circumstances indicated that Manti had given truthful evidence and, consequently, he convicted all the three persons for the offence under s. 302, I.P.C., read with s. 34, I.P.C. All the three persons were sentenced to imprisonment for life for this offence. Kapildeo was, in addition, found guilty of the substantive offence under s. 302, I.P.C. for committing the murder of Rohini Kuer and he was sentenced to imprisonment for life for that offence. Deo Singh was further found guilty of an offence punishable under s. 41 1, I.P.C., and sentenced to undergo rigorous imprisonment for one year. All the sentences were directed to run concurrently. Singheshwar, the brother of Deo Singh. who was also tried with the other three persons, was acquitted of all the charges. The three convicted persons, Kapil Singh, Ramujagar Singh and Deo Singh appealed to the High Court at Patna. The appeal came up before a Division Bench. Both the learned, Judges constituting the Bench held that it was not safe to base any conviction on the solitary testimony of Manti and, consequently, they gave Kapil Singh the benefit of doubt, set aside his conviction and sentences, and acquitted him. On the learned Judges was of the opinion that the conviction of the other two persons Ramujagar Singh and Deo Singh should be upheld on the basis of the evidence of Manti as corroborated by recoveries, in the case of Ramujagar Singh, of the bloodstained chadar and quilt, and, in the case of Deo Singh, of the eartops and the cardboard box. Reliance was also placed on the circumstance that the footprint of Deo Singh in blood was found close to the scene of occurrence. The other learned Judge was, however, of the opinion that, in the circumstances of this case, it was not safe to rely on the evidence of Manti at all against any of the persons charged with the offence and, consequently, he expressed the opinion that Ramujagar Singh and Deo Singh should also be given the benefit of doubt and acquitted. Thereupon, the appeal of these two appellants was referred to a third Judge who agreed with the former and held that the conviction and sentences of these two persons must be upheld. As a result, the appeal of 'Ramujagar Singh and Deo Singh was dismissed. Criminal Appeal No. 141 of 1965 has been brought by special leave by the State of Bihar against the acquittal of Kapil Singh, while Criminal Appeal No. 142/1965, also by special leave, has been brought up by Ramujagar Singh against the, judgment of the High Court upholding his conviction. In addition, Deo Singh has also come up to this Court by special leave. Special leave to him was granted at the time of hearing of the two Criminal Appeals Nos. 141 and 142 of 1965. All the three appeals are, therefore, being dealt with together in this one judgment.

The only other circumstance, which has been relied upon by the prosecution, is the identity of the blood-stained footprint with that of the sample footprint of Deo Singh appellant. We do not think that it is necessary to discuss it in detail, because that evidence is, in its very nature, a very weak type of evidence and, in fact, in the High Court even the third Judge, to whom the case was referred on difference of opinion, held that it would not be safe to rely on this evidence and discarded it.