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2017 Supreme(Kar) 1519
IN THE HIGH COURT OF KARNATAKA AT KALABURAGI BENCH
Aravind Kumar, B.A. Patil, JJ.
Mohd. Shukur S/o Shaik Mehboob – Appellant
Vs.
The State of Karnataka – Respondent
Criminal Appeal No.3513 of 2012
Decided On : 23-03-2017
For the Appellant :Sri. S.K. Venkata Reddy, Advocate
For the Respondent: Sri. Prakash Yeli, Addl. SPP
Headnote:INDIAN EVIDENCE ACT, 1872 - Section 8 - Motive - Accused allegedly murdering his sister due to her alleged illicit relationship - Informant not supporting prosecution as regards alleged motive - Prosecution not examining paramour of deceased - Failure of prosecution to establish scuffle between accused and deceased - Held, No motive established.
INDIAN EVIDENCE ACT, 1872 - Section 27 - Discovery of facts - Accused allegedly surrendering voluntarily before police along with incriminating dagger - Assistant Superintendent of Police allegedly seizing dagger in presence of two seizure witnesses - Seizure witnesses not supporting factum of such seizure - Contradictions also found in statements of police officials regarding factum of seizure of dagger - Alleged seizure of dagger at the instance of accused, held, not proved.
INDIAN EVIDENCE ACT, 1872 - Section 27 - Discovery of facts - Recovery of blood stained clothes of accused - Spot of recovery of clothes, found to be easily accessible by any person - Assistant Superintendent of Police immediately visiting spot of occurrence, but not finding any incriminating material - Subsequent discovery of clothes of accused from easily accessible place, doubtful - No link established by prosecution between factum of discovery of clothes of accused and commission of offence - Held, Recovery of clothes not helpful to prosecute case.
INDIAN EVIDENCE ACT, 1872 - Section 45 - Expert opinion - FSL report - Parameters for packaging and transmitting material objects for examination of experts as prescribed in Police Manual, not followed by police officials - No explanation given by police officers for not sending material objects for FSL examination for 2 days after their seizure - Seal found on cover of seized articles not ensured to be intact when forwarded for FSL examination - FSL report on alleged incriminating weapon, held, not reliable to convict accused.
INDIAN PENAL CODE, 1860 - Sections 300, 302 - Murder - Accused stabbing his sister using dagger due to her alleged illicit relationship, resulting in her death - Accused need not explain injuries sustained by deceased, as death of deceased did not take place inside their house - Prosecution could not establish that scuffle taking place between accused and deceased provided motive for murder - Very presence of accused at scene of occurrence, was not proved - Alleged seizure of dagger at instance of accused, held not proved due to discrepancies in evidence - No link was established by prosecution between factum of discovery of clothes worn by accused and commission of offence - Parameters for packaging and transmitting material objects for examination of experts, was not followed - Evidence on record not establishing link to prove guilt of accused - Conviction of accused was set aside.
1. Appellant herein challenges his conviction for the offence under Section 302 of the Indian Penal Code (hereinafter called 'IPC' for short) by the trial Court.
2. The gist of the prosecution case is as under: Complainant is Smt. Mehaboob Bee a resident of Yakbal Colony, Gulbarga is residing with accused and her daughter Ms.Rizwana. Ms.Rizwana was a practicing Advocate and accused is her son and Ms.Rizwana was said to be having illicit relationship with one Shiraj Pasha and same was not approved by the complainant and the accused; there was quarrel in the family over the said relationship between Ms.Rizwana, complainant and the accused in that regard and accused is said to have warned his sister Ms. Rizwana to cut off her illicit relationship with Siraj Pasha and enraged by this deceased was threatening her mother and accused and had demanded them to vacate the house; Fifteen days prior to the incident Ms.Rizwana had given a threat to the complainant and the accused, that she would take away their life by showing a dagger and on 22.03.2010 at 8.00 a.m. when mother Mehaboob Bee was proceeding to attend nature's call with the assistance of her son-accused, Ms.Rizwana again threatened the complainant and accused by showing dagger and demanded them to vacate the house as otherwise she would not let them alive and in the said quarrel she tried to hit accused with a dagger and same was avoided by him and at that point of time accused had caught hold of her hair and pulled her down and forcibly snatched the dagger from deceased and stabbed on her stomach and thigh and also on her back by using the dagger which caused bleeding injuries to her; accused had taken the body of Ms.Rizwana outside the gate onto the road and informed his mother that he would surrender before the police along with dagger. It is the further case of the prosecution that, on hearing about the incident PW-14 - PSI went to the place of incident and recorded the statement of complainant.
3. Based on the said complaint the PSI of Raghavendra Nagar Town Police Station registered a case in Crime No.29/2010 under Section 302 of IPC at 9.45 a.m. against accused and submitted the FIR (Ex.P- 24) to the jurisdictional Court through the constable PW-27. Thereafter, PSI is said to have proceeded to the place of incident and carried out inquest mahazar in the presence of Jayunisa Begum - PW-2 and Mohammad Ibrahim - PW-3 and after drawing the inquest panchanama Ex.P-12 dead body of Ms. Rizwana was sent for post mortem examination. Dr. Irfan Ali PW-8 conducted the postmortem examination of deceased Ms.Rizwana as per Ex.P-20 and the I.O. PW-18 took up the investigation of the case.
4. The I.O. PW-18 is said to have recovered the dagger M.O.-1 used to commit the offence as per mahazar Ex.P-13 and prepared the spot panchanama as per Ex.P-15 after visiting the spot. The I.O. is said to have seized blood stained rubber band, blood stained mud M.O.-7 and plain mud M.O.-8 from the place of incident and is said to have interrogated the accused. Accused is said to have admitted that he had committed the murder of his sister and had voluntarily surrendered to the police. The voluntary statement of the accused is said to have been recorded by the I.O. PW-18 was marked as Ex.P-32 and on the basis of said voluntary statement I.O. is said to have visited the house of the accused and recovered the pyjama and banian M.O.-11 and M.O.-10 respectively and the place of incident was photographed as per Ex.P-26 to P-31 and the photographs of the deceased was marked as Ex.P-2 to P-10. The I.O. PW-18 is said to have recorded the statement of witnesses and also has drawn the cloth seizure panchanama Ex.P-16 namely the clothes of deceased Ms.Rizwana and had handed over the further investigation to PW-15 on 23.03.2010. The said I.O. PW-15 is said to have requested the PWD authorities to prepare the sketch of the place of incident and had received the same on 24.06.2010 as per Ex.P-21 and had forw
