IMPORTANT POINT
In a case based on circumstantial evidence the Court is expected to be more careful while analyzing the evidence and convicting the accused.

JUDGMENT :

N.V. Ramana, J.

This appeal by special leave arises out of judgment dated 14th March, 2016 passed by the High Court of judicature at Allahabad in Criminal Appeal No. 2894 of 2014 whereby the High Court, while dismissing the criminal appeal filed by the accused- appellant, upheld the conviction and sentence awarded by the trial Court on 22nd July, 2014 for the offences under Section 302/34 IPC in Sessions Trial No. 105 of 1997.

2. The facts of the case, as culled out from the prosecution case, are that the complainant-Shashi Bhushan Tiwari (PW5) lodged a complaint (Annexure P-2) on 30-09-1995 with Karchhana Police Station, District Allahabad, which was registered as Crime Case No. 177 of 1995, stating that his brother Brij Bhushan Tiwari (deceased) went to his in-laws house on 28-09-1995 to see the well being of his children, and to his belief his brother was killed by his wife and in-laws. The wife of the deceased has also given a complaint to the police. The Station Officer-Ram Niwas Pandey (PW7) held the inquest of the dead body, prepared panchayatnama (Ext. P2) and sent the body for postmortem. Dr. Ashok Kumar Gupta (PW6) conducted postmortem on 1st October, 1995 and the postmortem report is marked as Ex.P1. The Doctor opined that the cause of death was asphyxia due to strangulation of throat.

3. The Investigating Officer (PW 8)-Veer Bahadur Singh after making necessary entries in the general diary, visited the spot and prepared site plan (Ext. P5), recorded statements of witnesses and filed charge sheet (Ext. P6) against the accused. The Chief Judicial Magistrate, First Class, Allahabad took cognizance of the offence and committed the case to the Sessions Court for trial. Learned Additional Sessions Judge framed charges under Section 302/34, IPC against the accused Santosh Devi (wife of the deceased) and Dev Kanya Tiwari (mother-in-law of the accused and appellant herein). They denied to have committed the crime and requested for trial. They took the defence that the deceased had committed suicide by consuming poisonous tablets and they were falsely implicated in the case by the complainant as he wanted to usurp the whole property. However, during the pendency of trial, accused Santosh Devi-wife of the deceased had passed away.

4. At the trial, the prosecution in support of its case examined as many as eight witnesses. The trial Court came to the conclusion that the explanation given by the accused for the death of the deceased was false. Having satisfied that the prosecution could prove the guilt of the accused beyond reasonable doubt, the trial Court convicted the accused-appellant under Section 302/34 IPC and sentenced to suffer life imprisonment and to pay a fine of Rs. 10,000/- failing which to further suffer rigorous imprisonment of six months.

5. Dissatisfied with the order of conviction and sentence passed by the trial Court, the accused-appellant went in appeal before the High Court. By the judgment impugned herein, the High Court affirmed the order passed by the trial Court and dismissed the appeal of the accused-appellant. Aggrieved by the decision of Courts below, the appellant preferred this appeal before us.

6. We have heard learned counsel appearing for the appellant as well as the learned senior counsel for the State.

7. The specific contention of the learned counsel for the appellant is that the order of conviction and sentence awarded by the Courts below suffers from severe infirmities. Undue importance has been given to the postmortem certificate which indicated that the deceased died of strangulation and a ligature mark was found on the body. The organs of the deceased were got congested and on the whole body blisters were found and nails turned bluish, which clearly portray that it was a case of poisoning and as a matter of fact the deceased committed suicide by consuming poison. With a view to falsely implicate the appellant, the factum of deceased committing suicide by consuming poison has been si