Sone Lal vs State Of U. P. - 1978 Supreme(SC) 132

Judicial Analysis Court Copy Headnote Facts Arguments Court observation

1978 Supreme(SC) 132

SUPREME COURT OF INDIA
S. MURTAZA FAZAL ALI AND P.N. SHINGHAL, JJ.
Sone Lal and others, Appellants
Versus
The State of U.P., Respondent.
Criminal Appeal No. 40 of 1972
Decided on 6-4-1978.
Advocates appeared
M/s. R. K. Garg, V. J. Francis, A. Gupta and S. C. Agrawal, Advocates, for Appellants: Mr. D. P. Uniyal, Sr. Advocate (Mr. O. P. Rana Advocate with him), for Respondent.

Headnote:
Indian Penal Code – Section 147, 148,323/149, 324/149, 307/149, 364/149 and 201 - Criminal Procedure Code 1973 – Section 313 – Injuries - Various terms of imprisonment – Offence of murder - Medical and the ocular evidence - First information report - On an alarm being raised a number of persons from the neighboring village arrived at the scene of occurrence but so desperate were the accused that they kept those persons at bay and did not allow them to interfere with the nefarious act perpetrated by the accused - It was only after the accused left with the corpses and in a bullock cart that the villagers organized search parties in order to find out the place where dead bodies had been kept or was confined. It was also alleged by the prosecution that at the time of the occurrence a lantern was burning in the house of and the villagers also had electric torches which they were flashing off and on and it was in the light of these objects that the witnesses of prosecution had identified the appellants. One of the accused Raj Kumar was absconding so his trial was segregated and is still pending – Held, assault committed by the accused and the injuries inflicted by them on the deceased and the other persons are clearly corroborated by the medical evidence of the doctor examined by the prosecution. P.W. 1 Dr. Mittal found two punctured wounds and two contusions and one abrasion on the person of the informant Jeet. The doctor has deposed that injuries 2 and 3. namely, the punctured wound could be caused by a sharp edged weapon. These injuries were caused by Sone Lal who was armed with a ballam which was undoubtedly a sharp edged weapon. Similarly, Sheo Devi has one punctured wound which could be caused by a sharp edged weapon and was naturally caused by one of the accused who were armed with sharp pointed weapon. Dr. Srivastava who performed the post-mortem examination on Rampal found as many as 8 incised wounds on various parts of the body of they deceased Rampal and according to the doctor these injuries could be caused by sharp edged weapons with which the accused were undoubtedly armed. It was however argued by Mr. Garg that if the deceased would have been assaulted by the banka or the ballam then we should have expected punctured rather than incised wounds. Normally a sharp pointed weapon would cause a punctured wound but the weapon like banka or ballam can cause incised wounds provided instead of the pointed end the surface of the weapon is used. In the melee that followed it would have been difficult for the witnesses to say with exactitude that ininjuries were caused by the surface or by the pointed end. The injurise found on the deceased persons would, therefore, be sufficient evidence of the nature of the assault. In these circumstances, we are unable to find any real inconsistency between the medical and the ocular evidence and the learned Sessions Judge was not at all justified in rejecting the prosecution case on this ground - On a careful consideration therefore of the circumstances and the evidence on record we are satisfied that the judgment of the Sessions Judge contained gross errors of record and was against the weight of the evidence adduced by the prosecution. The reasons given by the Sessions Judge were speculative, perverse and totally unsound - Appeal dismissed

JUDGMENT

FAZAL ALI, J.:— This is an appeal under the provisions of the SC. (Enlargement of Criminal Jurisdiction) Act and S.379 of the code of Criminal Procedure, 1973. The appellants Sone Lal, Ram Swaroop Chamar, ram Swarup Ahir, Sheo Ram and Dularey have been convicted under Sec. 302/149 Indian Penal Code and sentenced to life imprisonment and to various terms of imprisonment under Ss. 147, 148,323/149, 324/149, 307/149, 364/149 and 201, I. P. C. The conviction and sentences imposed on the appellants are detailed in the judgment of the High Court and need not be repeated here.

2. This unfortunate case in which two innocent persons have lost their lives and one was abducted for being murdered appears to be an outcome of a serious and long standing enmity between the appellants and the deceased and P. W. Jeet. A detailed narrative of the prosecution case is contained in the judgment of the courts below ant it is not necessary for us to repeat the same all over again.

3. Suffice it to say, that on the night between 15/16th November, 1966 the appellants variously armed with Banka, Ballam, Gun and lathi raided the house of P. W. 9 Jeet of Lachchi Khera, assaulted him and killed two of his sons, namely. Rampal and Babu. They also abducted Debi Sahai and carried Debi Sahai along with the corpses of the deceased Babu and Rampal in a bullock cart with a view to dispose of the dead bodies and obliterate all traces of the murders. On an alarm being raised a number of persons from the neighbouring village arrived at the scene of occurrence but so desperate were the accused that they kept those persons at bay and did not allow them to interfere with the nefarious act perpetrated by the accused. It was only after the accused left with the corpses and Debi Sahai in a bullock cart that the villagers organised search parties in order to find out the place where the dead bodies had been kept or Debi Sahai was confined. It was also alleged by the prosecution that at the time of the occurrence a lantern was burning in the house of Jeet and the villagers also had electric torches which they were flashing off and on and it was in the light of these objects that the witnesses of the prosecution had identified the appellants. One of the accused Raj Kumar was absconding so his trial was segregated and is still pending.

4. The accused pleaded innocence and averred that they had been falsely implicated due to the previous enmity particularly because Jeet had attempted to get some of the accused involved in a murder case, but they had been acquitted. Not content with this the appellants decided to wreak vengeance by killing the deceased and injuring Jeet and others. The Sessions Judge after recording the evidence in the case and considering the same was of the opinion that the prosecution case was extremely doubtful and was, therefore, not proved. He accordingly acquitted all the accused. Thereafter the State filed an appeal before the High Court which differed from the view taken by the Sessions Judge as it was of the opinion that the Judgment of the Sessions Judge was perverse and unreasonable and the inferences drawn by the Sessions Judge were not legally sustainable. The High Court accordingly reversed the acquittal and convicted and sentenced the appellants as indicated above. Hence this appeal before this Court.

5. Mr. R. K. Garg appearing for the appellants has raised a number of points is support of his argument that this was not a case in which the High Court should have reversed the order of acquittal passed by the Sessions Judge. The learned counsel has submitted that the Sessions Judge had given cogent reasons for holding that the F. I. R. was belated and fabricated long after the occurrence and was in fact dictated by the Investigating Officer B. P. Tewari. Learned counsel has further argued that there was no clear motive for the accused to have committed the gruesome murders as alleged by the prosecution. On the other hand, the enmity alleged

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