Important point
Delay in examination of prosecution witnesses by police during investigation ipso facto may not be a ground to create doubt but if other circumstances created doubt in veracity of prosecution case then delay could not be ignored.

Headnote:Indian Penal Code, 1860—Sections 147, 148, 302/149 and 307—Five accused including appellant were tried on the charge under and trial Court acquitted all accused—In State appeal High Court maintained acquittal of three and convicted appellant and another—Appeal—Incident occurred in about mid night where three persons were killed in side the house of victim and three PW4, 5 and 6 were injured—Defence plea was that incident was a dacoity by unknown persons and accused were named only out of old grudge—Cross-examination on some of witnesses none of whom was declared hostile revealed that possibility of dacoity by unknown persons could not be ruled out—Delay in examination of injured witnesses during investigation—Though delay may not be a ground to create doubt regarding veracity of prosecution case, but veracity became highly doubtful when possibility of dacoity by unknown persons could not be ruled out—Conviction could not be sustained against appellant—Since prosecution case was doubtful, benefit should be given to other accused also who did not prefer appeal.
Held : It is well settled that delay in examination of prosecution witnesses by the police during the course of investigation, ipso facto, may not be a ground to create doubt regarding veracity of the prosecution case. But in the facts and circumstances of the present case, veracity of the prosecution case becomes highly doubtful as in view of the evidence of prosecution witnesses, namely, PWs 1, 2 and 6, the possibility of dacoity in the house of Ram Singh and receiving injuries by the members of the prosecution party during the course of dacoity cannot be ruled out more so when there is no evidence whatsoever to show that any of the accused persons much less the appellant assaulted the three deceased persons in view of the fact that none of the injured witnesses, namely, PWs 4, 5 and 6 stated that the accused persons assaulted any of the three deceased persons. For the foregoing reasons, we are of the view that the prosecution has failed to prove its case beyond reasonable doubt and the High Court was not justified in reversing the order of acquittal recorded by the trial court as the same was not perverse in any manner. As we have doubted veracity of the prosecution case in relation to all the accused persons, it would be just and expedient to extend same benefit to accused Paramjeet Singh as well in spite of the fact that his conviction recorded by the High Court has attained finality as he did not move this Court. (Para 10)

Judgment

B.N. Agrawal, J.—Sohan Singh, the sole appellant in Criminal Appeal No. 805 of 2004 (hereinafter referred to as ‘the appellant’) along with accused Paramjeet Singh, Mohit Raza, Pradeep and Ashwani Kumar Mittal was tried and by judgment rendered by the trial court, they were acquitted of all the charges. Against the order of acquittal, State of Uttaranchal preferred an appeal before the High Court whereas Mahendra Pratap Singh Gill (PW 5), one of the injured, filed a revision application challenging the acquittal. The High Court upheld the order of acquittal in relation to accused Mohit Raza, Pradeep and Ashwani Kumar Mittal but reversed the same with regard to the appellant and accused Paramjeet Singh who have been convicted under Sections 147, 148, 302/149 and 307 of the Penal Code and sentenced to undergo imprisonment for life. Paramjeet Singh did not move this Court whereas appellant Sohan Singh challenged his conviction which by special leave gave rise to Criminal Appeal No. 805 of 2004. The order of High Court granting acquittal to the aforesaid three accused persons has been challenged by PW 5 giving rise to Criminal Appeal No. 613 of 2005.

2. The short facts are that one Bholu (PW 1) servant of Ram Singh, lodged a written report on 8th October, 2002 at about 8.30 a.m. at the Jwalapur Police Station within the district of Haridwar stating therein that on that day in the morning at about 7.45 a.m. when he went to the residence of Ram Singh to resume his work, found that Ram Singh, his wife Bhajan Kaur and another servant lying dead there on their cots and three of the family members of Ram Singh, namely, his daughter Gurdeep Kaur (PW 4), sons Mahendra Pratap Singh Gill (PW 5) and Shamsher Singh Gill (PW 6) were lying there unconscious in injured condition. It was stated in the first information report that the aforesaid persons were murdered and injured by some unknown person.

3. The police after registering the case inspected the place of occurrence, sent the three injured persons to the hospital and held inquest on the dead bodies of three deceased persons. During the course of investigation, the police recorded statements of injured witnesses from which it transpired that the aforesaid five accused persons including the appellant had complicity with the crime as they are said to have assaulted the injured witnesses. Later on the case was investigated by crime branch, Criminal Investigation Department. Thereafter, upon completion of investigation, charge sheet was submitted against all the accused persons, on receipt whereof, the learned Magistrate took cognizance and committed them to the court of sessions to face trial.

4. Defence of the accused persons, in short, was that they were innocent, no occurrence much less the occurrence alleged had taken place, the members of the prosecution party might have received injuries in the dead of night at the instance of some unknown persons while committing dacoity in the house of Ram Singh on the fateful night and nobody had seen the occurrence but the accused persons have been falsely roped in to feed fat the old grudge.

5. During trial, the prosecution examined twelve witnesses in all, out of whom, Bholu (PW 1) was the informant, Gurdeep Kaur (PW 4), Mahendra Pratap Singh (PW 5) and Shamsher Singh Gill (PW 6) claimed to be injured eyewitnesses and stated that the accused persons assaulted them. Dr. S.S. Lal (PW 8) held postmortem examination on the dead bodies of three deceased persons and Dr. K.K. Karoli (PW 7) examined the injuries of PWs 4, 5 and 6. Vijay Singh (PW 10) was the first investigating officer and Nanke Singh (PW 11) was the investigating officer of C.B., C.I.D. whereas other witnesses were formal ones. Upon the conclusion of trial, all the accused persons were acquitted by the trial court but on appeal and revision being preferred on behalf of the State and PW 5 respectively, the High Court upheld the acquittal of accused Mohit Raza, Pradeep and Ashwani Kum

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2005 Supreme(SC) 1426

Important pointDelay in examination of prosecution witnesses by police during investigation ipso facto may not be a ground to create doubt but if other circumstances created doubt in veracity of prosecution case then delay could not be ignored.

Important point
Delay in examination of prosecution witnesses by police during investigation ipso facto may not be a ground to create doubt but if other circumstances created doubt in veracity of prosecution case then delay could not be ignored.