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2008(1) Supreme 62
Supreme Court of india
(From Uttaranchal High Court)
C.K. Thakker & D.K. Jain, JJ.
Puran Singh — Appellant
versus
State of Uttaranchal — Respondent
Appeal (crl.) 437 of 2006
Decided on : 10-01-2008
Facts of the case:
1.One Pushu had two sons: (i) Bhawan Singh and (ii) Bhag Chand. Bhawan Singh had no issue and he died leaving behind him his widow Smt. Rukmani Devi. Bhag Chand also died leaving behind him four sons; (i) Shivraj Singh, (ii) Indra Singh, (iii) Rajpal Singh (deceased) and (iv) Puran Singh (accused).
2.There were frequent quarrels between accused Puran Singh on the one hand and other three brothers on the other hand in connection with the property owned and possessed by Rukmani Devi which she had gifted to accused Puran Singh by a registered gift-deed.
3.On August 3, 1979 at about 4 p.m., a scuffle occurred among the brothers and Puran Singh brought out his licensed gun and fired shots. Shivraj Singh luckily escaped unhurt.
4.The other two brothers of Shivraj Singh, PW2-Indra Singh and Rajpal Singh (deceased), who came out to inquire as to what had happened were chased by the accused. The accused fired and the gun shot hit Rajpal Singh upon which he fell down. Rajpal Singh became unconscious and remained as such till he was declared dead.
5.The trial Court observed that except minor contradictions, there was no inherent improbability in their evidence. The trial Court also observed that the accused stated that Rajpal Singh (deceased) was injured by a shot fired from the gun carried by a co-villager (Bachan Singh) when the deceased had gone for hunting with his brother Indra Singh and Bachan Singh (co-villager). According to the trial Court, it might or might not be so but in view of suspicious circumstances, it could not be said that the prosecution had succeeded in establishing the guilt of the accused ‘to the hilt and beyond all reasonable doubts.’ In that view of the matter, the trial Court acquitted the accused.
6.The High Court re-appreciated the evidence of witnesses and held that the order of acquittal recorded by the trial Court was wholly unsustainable and totally unwarranted.
Accordingly, the High Court set aside the order of acquittal and convicted the accused-appellant herein for an offence punishable under Section 302, IPC and ordered him to undergo rigorous imprisonment for life.
Findings of the Court:
The killer shot not having been fired from gun of the accused, he is entitled to benefit of doubt.
Result : Appeal allowed.
judgment
C.K. Thakker, J. —
1.The present appeal is filed by the appellant-accused against the order of conviction and sentence recorded by the High Court of Uttaranchal on October 25, 2005 in Government Appeal No. 1006 of 2001. By the said order, the High Court set aside the order of acquittal recorded by Sessions Judge, Chamoli on February 6, 1981 in Sessions Trial No. 15 of 1979, convicted the accused for an offence punishable under Section 302, Indian Penal Code (IPC) and ordered him to undergo imprisonment for life.
2.Shortly stated the prosecution case was that one Pushu had two sons (i) Bhawan Singh and (ii) Bhag Chand. Bhawan Singh had no issue and he died leaving behind him his widow Smt. Rukmani Devi. Bhag Chand also died leaving behind him four sons; (i) Shivraj Singh, (ii) Indra Singh, (iii) Rajpal Singh (deceased) and (iv) Puran Singh (accused). All the four brothers (sons of Bhag Chand) were residing in a jungle at a distance of about two kilometers from village Akhori, Patwari Circle Barab, Tehsil Ukhimath, District Chamoli. There were frequent quarrels between accused Puran Singh on the one hand and other three brothers on the other hand in connection with the property owned and possessed by Rukmani Devi. According to the prosecution, Rukmani Devi had gifted her property by a registered gift-deed to accused Puran Singh depriving other three brothers from her share. On August 3, 1979 at about 4 p.m., PW5Smt. Ramdei, daughter of PW4Shivraj Singh who had come to her parental house at village Akhori was grinding paddy with her deaf and dumb mother Smt. Swanri Devi near her house. At that time, accused Puran Singh came towards the cattle shed of Shivraj Singh and started beating she-buffalo of Shivraj Singh. Smt. Ramdei and her mother raised an objection. Accused got enraged and caught the wife of Shivraj Singh by her hair in order to beat her. Shivraj Singh happened to reach there and cautioned the accused. The accused went inside the room, brought his licensed gun and fired a shot towards Shivraj Singh who luckily escaped unhurt. On hearing the noise, other two brothers of Shivraj Singh, PW2Indra Singh and Rajpal Singh (deceased), came out to inquire as to what had happened. The accused started showing his anger towards them also. Both of them, therefore, decided to retreat from there. They were, however, chased by the accused who was carrying his gun. PW2Indra Singh asked Rajpal Singh (deceased) to run fast so that they may be saved. Rajpal Singh, unfortunately, turned his face backward to see as to how far away was the accused from him. The accused fired and the gun shot hit Rajpal Singh on his face and head. Rajpal Singh fell down on the ground. In the meanwhile, PW3 Smt. Bardei, wife of Indra Singh and PW6Bimala, minor daughter of Rajpal Singh along with other children and family members reached near the place of incident. They could thus see the incident. Indra Singh was threatened by the accused and he went inside his house and got himself saved. Rajpal Singh became unconscious and remained as such till he was declared dead.
3.Initially, a case was registered against the appellant-accused in the First Information Report (FIR) for an offence punishable under Section 307, IPC as also for an offence punishable under Sections 25 and 27 of the Arms Act, 1959. After the death of Rajpal Singh, however, the charge was framed for committing an offence punishable under Section 302, IPC. The case was committed to the Court of Sessions, Chamoli. A plea of the accused was recorded wherein he denied to have committed any offence, and claimed to be tried.
4.In order to establish the case against the accused, the prosecution examined eight witnesses. Out of them four witnesses were eye-witnesses, viz., PW2Indra Singh, PW3-Smt. Bardei, PW5Smt. Ramdei and PW6Kumari Bimala. It also examined PW1Pratap Singh- Pradhan of the village, PW7Dr. D.C. Awasthi and PW8Mitra Nand-Patwari.
5.So far as death of the deceased Rajpal Singh is concer
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