IMPORTANT POINT
In case of circumstantial evidence, unless the chain of circumstances is complete pointing to the guilt of the accused and none else, conviction cannot be ordered.

JUDGMENT :

HEMANT GUPTA, J.

1. The appellant Sunita stands convicted for the murder of Sushila, wife of Shish Pal, by the learned Additional Sessions Judge, Karnal on January 13, 2006. The appeal against the said judgment was dismissed on March 25, 2008.

2. Shish Pal is son of Dharma and resident of Village Dadola, District Panipat. Shish Pal and Sushila had two children, one son Sagar aged about 3½ years and one daughter Shivani aged about 1½ years. The accused Sunita is daughter of Roshan, cousin of father of Shish Pal, who was also a resident of Village Dadola. Roshan had three daughters, the other two being Santosh and Geeta.

3. Pirthi Singh (PW-5) is resident of Village Kailash, which is 55 kms. from Village Dadola on way to Village Sangatehra (UP), the paternal village of Sushila, the deceased. Pirthi Singh’s eldest son Baburam was married with Shiksha Devi. She died about 18-20 years back. Baburam had a son Neeraj and a daughter Nirjesh Kumari from his first wife. Sunita is alleged to have married Baburam after death of his first wife. The said fact is disputed by Pirthi Singh (PW-5) though he admits that accused Sunita was living with his son Baburam and had given birth to a son. It is admitted by learned counsel for the appellant that Sangatehra, a village in Uttar Pradesh, is about 100 kms. from Dadola and Village Kailash is about 55 kms. from Dadola on way of Sangatehra.

4. The prosecution case is that one Munshi Ram, son of Ram Diwaya, resident of Village Kailash, lodged a report (Ex.P/24) at 8:30 am on January 4, 2004. He stated that he is a tenant on payment of 1/3rd batai over the land of Baburam, son of Pirthi Singh (PW-5). At about 6 am, he was going towards his field and on his way, Ram Lubhaya, another co-villager, told him that someone has set his ‘Bitora’ (conical storage of cow dung cakes) on fire. He saw many persons standing there. He found that a foul smell was coming from the fire and noticed the burning of a dead body. On the basis of his statement, the Police went to the place of occurrence. The inquest report (Ex.P/25) reflected burning of a dead human body. SI Shamsher Singh (PW-14) went to the place of occurrence and made request for postmortem of the remains of the body to Senior Medical Officer, Civil Hospital, Karnal. However, the Medical Officer sent the flesh and bones to PGIMS, Rohtak vide (Ex.P/8) for opinion by the Board of doctors. On January 5, 2004, the postmortem was conducted. The report is Ex.P/26. It was found to be a dead body of a female. It was on February 4, 2004, the blood samples of Isham Singh (PW-3) (father of Sushila) and Kanti (mother of Sushila) were taken and sent for DNA test. Report of such DNA test is Ex. P/35 dated June 1, 2004 which shows that bones and tissues match with DNA profile of Kanti and Isham Singh (PW-3). On the basis of report, a formal FIR (Ex.P/10) was lodged on June 15, 2004 by Isham Singh.

5. On January 9, 2004, Shish Pal, husband of the deceased Sushila informed Isham Singh (PW-3) that he had seen the photographs of his missing children, Sagar and Shivani, in a newspaper, said to be with Manav Sewa Sangh, Panipat. Shish Pal also informed that Sushila was not with the children in Panipat. Isham Singh reached Village Dadola but, in the meantime, Shish Pal got the children back from Panipat.

6. Isham Singh has appeared as PW-3 and deposed that, on January 16, 2004, he came to know that one lady was burnt in ‘Bitora’ at Village Kailash. He went to Village Kailash along with his brother-in-law Kashmir Singh (PW-12) and came to know that aforesaid incident has taken place during the intervening night of 3rd/4th January, 2004. The accused was the suspect.

7. The investigations were conducted by SI Shamsher Singh (PW-14), SI Ramesh Chand (PW-19) and Inspector Baljinder Singh (PW-20). After completion of the investigations, the appellant was made to stand trial. On an application filed by the prosecution, one Ashok Kumar and Seth Pal were made to stand tria