Back
2002 Supreme(Pat) 1128
PATNA HIGH COURT
Manohar Lal Visa and Bal Krishna Jha JJ.
Shiva Prakash Suman @ Suman Kumar Singh
Versus
State Of Bihar
Criminal Appeal No. 180 of 1998 ;
Decided On : OCTOBER 23, 2002
The main legal point established in the judgment is the reliance on credible evidence, including eyewitness testimonies and medical reports, to establish guilt beyond reasonable doubt in a murder case.
Headnote:
Section 302 - Murder - Indian Penal Code, Section 27 - Arms Act - [302, 27] - The court discussed the charges under Section 302 of the Indian Penal Code and Section 27 of the Arms Act. The judgment confirmed the conviction and sentencing of the appellant under these sections.
Fact of the Case:
The appellant was convicted for murder under Section 302 of the Indian Penal Code and for possessing arms under Section 27 of the Arms Act. The prosecution's case was based on the appellant taking the victim to play cards and then shooting him, leading to his death. The appellant denied the allegations and claimed false implication.
Finding of the Court:
The court found the prosecution's evidence, including eyewitness testimonies and medical reports, to be credible and established the guilt of the appellant beyond reasonable doubt. The court dismissed the appeal and confirmed the conviction and sentencing of the appellant.
Issues: The key issues revolved around the appellant's involvement in the murder and possession of arms, the credibility of eyewitness testimonies, and the alleged false implication.
Ratio Decidendi: The court relied on the credibility of eyewitness testimonies, medical evidence, and the overall prosecution's case to establish the guilt of the appellant beyond reasonable doubt.
Final Decision: The appeal was dismissed, and the judgment and order of the Court below convicting and sentencing the appellant were confirmed. The appellant was directed to surrender for serving the remainder of the sentence.
MANOHAR LAL VISA, J.
1. This appeal by the sole appellant Shiva Prakash Suman @ Suman Kumar Singh is directed against the judgment and order dated 3.3.1998 passed by 5th Additional Sessions Judge, Samastipur, in Sessions Trial No. 270 of 1993/4 of 1997 convicting and sentencing the appellant to undergo RI for life under Section 302 of the Indian Penal Code and RI for a period of five years under Section 27 of Arms Act. Both the sentences have, however, been ordered to run concurrently.
2. The case of prosecution as disclosed in the fardbeyan of informant Devendra Singh (PW 12), in short, is that on 9.3.1999 at about 1 p.m. appellant went to the house of informant and took Shradha Nand Singh, son of informant, with him to his house on the pretext of playing cards. When Shradha Nand Singh did not return for about quarter to one hour, Chaturbhuj Singh (PW 8), younger brother of informant went to the house of appellant and found that at the dariwaja of appellant villagers namely, Mahesh Singh (PW 1), Dip Narayan Singh (PW 3), Amir Prasad Singh (not examined), Chhathu Singh (not examined), were sitting on a mat on which playing cards were placed and Shradha Nand Singh was also sitting there and was nervous and appellant was pointing out a pistol at him and was shouting that he would kill him. When Chaturbhuj Singh went forward to save Shradha Nand Singh, appellant fired from pistol hitting Shradha Nand Singh on the left side of his upper lip and shot came out from back portion of his head and he died at the spot. Thereafter, the villagers who were playing cards collected the cards and fled away. Occurrence was witnessed by Ranjeet (not examined), Ram Binod Singh (not examined), Bhola Singh (PW 15) and others. Villager Hare Krishna Bihari Singh collected the blood stained soil from the place of occurrence. When informant at about 3 p.m. came to his house he was told about the occurrence by his wife Shall Devi (not examined) and brother Chaturbhuj Singh. About the motive of occurrence informant in his fardbeyan has stated that his deceased son Shradha Nand Singh used to run a coaching school at the house of Hare Krishna Singh but owing to some difficulty he shifted that school to his own house and for this reason the appellant and his family members were unhappy with his deceased son. Fardbeyan of informant was recorded by ASI K.K. Chaudhary (not examined) at about 4 p.m. in his village. On the basis of fardbeyan of informant a case under Section 302/201/34, IPC and 27 of Arms Act was registered against the appellant and Hare Krishna Singh by drawing FIR (Ext. 2). The police after investigation submitted charge-sheet against the appellant only. After taking cognizance the case was committed to the Court of Session where charges under Sections 302, IPC and 27 of Arms Act were framed against the appellant and because he denied the charges against him he was put on trial and after trial he was found guilty and was convicted and sentenced as indicated above.
3. No witness on behalf of appellant was examined before the Court below but from the trend of cross examination of prosecution witnesses the case of appellant appears to be complete denial of allegation against him and his false implication in this case.
4. Altogether 16 witnesses have been examined on behalf of the prosecution. Devendra Singh (PW 12) is informant. Ram Narayan Singh (PW 14) is a doctor who had conducted autopsy on the dead body of deceased. Shankar Thakur (PW 13) is the I.O. Ram Sagar Singh (PW 4), Bhangwan Kanth (PW 10) and Shobha Kant Jha (PW11) are formal witnesses who have proved fardbeyan (Ext. 1), formal FIR (Ext. 2) and endorsement (Ext. 3) of ASI Shankar Thakur on the fardbeyan. Dip Narayan Singh (PW 3) had seen the villagers playing cards at the darwaja of the appellant and had heard sound of firing when he was in his own house and when came out from his house he saw appellant running away carrying a revolver and dead body of deceased at the place o
