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GUJARAT HIGH COURT
(D.B.)
D.C. Gheewala and J.P. Desai, JJ.
Thakorbhai Virjibhai Vasava and others - Appellants
versus
The State of Gujarat - Respondent
Criminal Appeal No. 552 of 1985
Decided on 7-4-1986

Advocates:
Vivak M. Barot for S.I. Nanavati, Advocate - For the Appellants.
K.J. Vaidya, Advocate - For the Respondent.

IMPORTANT POINT
When the person was done to death his own premises then the only witness present there, even married daughter of deceased cannot in any way be considered to be an interested witness.

Headnote:(a) Indian Penal Code, 1860 - Section - 304 Part I r/w s. 34 - Appellants convicted under - Appeal against -Appellant No. 1 having some quarrel with his father/deceased regarding ancestral lands - Appellants are alleged to have assaulted deceased in his house - Deceased's married daughter witnessed the occurrence - FIR lodged by the other son of deceased on the information gathered from his sister - Names of appellants 2 and 3 not mentioned in F.I.R - Appellants 2 and 3 named for the first time in a statement before police-Whether appellants 2 and 3 have been rightly convicted ?-(No) (Paras 3 & 4)-Whether testimony of daughter of the deceased to be discarded as a testimony of an interested witness-(No) (Para 2)

       (b) Indian Penal Code, 1860 - When the person was done to death in his own premises then the only witness would be the witness present there-the said witnesses cannot in any way be considered to be an interested witness. (Para 2)

       (c) Indian Penal Code, 1860 - In criminal trials even a slightest doubt, raised in favour of the accused would ordinarily entitle the accused to get acquittal. (Para 3)

       Result:

       Appeals of Appellants 2 and 3 Allowed.

       

ORDER

Gheewala, J.- The present appeal is directed against the order of conviction recorded by the learned Addl. Sessions Judge, Broach in Sessions Case No. 14 of 1985. It was prosecution case that appellant No. 1, Thakorbhai Virjibhai Vasava had some quarrel with his father regarding ancestral lands. Appellants Nos. 2 and 3 happened to be the brothers-in-law of appellant No. 1. It is further alleged that on 18th November, 1984 at about 5.30 p.m. at village Chiklota. District Broach, the Appellants have assaulted the deceased. At the relevant time appellants Nos. 1 and 2 were armed with axes, appellant No. 3 was unarmed. When the deceased was administered blow, the daughter of the deceased and sister of appellant No. 1, namely Kasturi was in the dues. She had temporarily come from her matrimonial house to her father's house. She is the only eye-witness to the incident. After the accused had made good their escape, her other brother Govind came and she informed him about the incident. Govind went to the Police Station and lodged a complaint. Surprisingly in that particular complaint we do not find the names of appellants Nos. 2 and 3. All blows have been attributed to appellant No. 1. The learned Trial Judge on recording the evidence carne to the conclusion that the evidence of Kasturi is acceptable and he, therefore, reached the conclusion that the appellants, should be held guilty of the offence punishable under section 304 Part-I read with section 34 of the Indian Penal Code. Having reached that conclusion he proceeded to convict the appellants and sentenced them in accordance with law. Appellant Nos. 1 and 2 were sentenced to suffer seven years' R.I. and also to pay a fine of Rs. 500/- in default to suffer further R.I. for one month. Appellant No. 3 for the same offence was imposed sentence of R.I. for three years and was directed to pay a fine of Rs. 250/- in default to suffer further R.I. for 15 days The said order is being challenged before us in the present appeal.

2. Mr. V.M. Barot, the learned Advocate appearing for the appellants though he vehemently tried he could not point out any circumstance which might favour appellant No. 1, and which might produce to hold that appellant No.1, has been falsely implicated. Mr. Barot, however, was treading on surer ground when he urged that appellants Nos. 2 and 3 have been wrongly convicted. It may be noted that the only eye-witness to the incident was Kasturi and on Kasturi's information Govind had lodged F.I.R. In the said F.I.R. exh. 18 names of appellants Nos. 2 and 3 did not appear and 20 hours after the incident, for the first time in a statement before the police, Kasturi narrated that appellants Nos. 2 and 3 had also participated in the offence. This seems to be a clear after-thought for implicating the brothers in law of appel1ant No. 1. -A. Mr. Vaidya, the learned Public Prosecutor on behalf of the State of Gujarat tried to argue that Kasturi at the relevant time was under a great mental shock and hence she might not have been in a position to give the names of appellants Nos. 2 and 3 or the overt acts committed by them. If Kasturi was conscious enough to name appellant No. 1 and to narrate to Govind the role played by him and appellant No. 1, who was no other than her full brother, then it would pass comprehension as to how she missed to narrate to Govind the role played by appellant Nos. 2 and 3. Govind who has been examined as P.W. 2 has clearly admitted that he had gathered all information from his sister Kasturi who has been examined as P.W. 4, and if Govind after gathering information from Kasturi had not narrated the names of appellants Nos. 2 and 3 in F.I.R. Ex. 18, then clear inference would be that appellants Nos. 2 and 3 were no where in the picture at the time when the incident took place and their names have been subsequently incorporated in Kasturi's statement on account of either over zealousness of the police or with a view to settle old scores with the

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