The main legal point established in the judgment is the admissibility and evidentiary value of circumstantial evidence, including motive, dying declaration, and extra judicial confession, in establishing the guilt of the accused.

GITA MITTAL, J.

1. The appellant assails the judgment dated 25.08.2015 whereby he has been found guilty for commission of an offence under Section 302 IPC in the case arising out of FIR No. 388/2012 registered at Police Station New Ashok Nagar as well as the order of sentencing dated 15.09.2015 whereby he was sentenced to life imprisonment and a fine of Rs. 25,000/-.

2. The case of the prosecution before the trial court related to an incident which occurred on 05.12.2012 in which the deceased Vinod Kumar was alleged to have been stabbed by the appellant Bharat, who was his co-brother-in-law, that is to say, that late Sh. Vinod Kumar and the appellant were married to two sisters.

3. The prosecution relied on circumstantial evidence to establish its case. The trial court held that the prosecution has established motive for the crime on the part of the appellant; and considered the dying declaration made by the deceased to his son, Praveen Kumar (PW-2) while he was placed inside the police PCR van (ROM-72, East Zone) after the occurrence and overheard by ASI Satyawan Singh (PW-5) which also forms part of the Rukka. The prosecution also placed reliance on an extra judicial confession made by the appellant to his friend Baljeet @ Ballan (PW-6) on 06.12.2012 which the prosecution also proved during the trial. After his arrest on 09.12.2012, the appellant made a disclosure statement (Ex. PW6/C) to the police. The prosecution led evidence that pursuant thereto, on 09.12.2012, the appellant led the police to the recovery of the blood stained jersey (Ex. P2) about 100 metres from the scene of occurrence as well as blood stained knife (Ex. P3) from the appellant’s tenanted premises in Dallupura. To connect the recovery to the offence, the prosecution led evidence of the scientific examination by way of forensic reports (Ex. PA & PB) which had reported the existence of human blood on both the recovered articles.

4. The prosecution examined a total of 36 witnesses in support of its case. The trial court also recorded a detailed statement of the appellant under Section 313 of the Cr. PC. The appellant led no evidence in his defence.

5. After consideration of the entire material on record by the impugned judgment dated 25.08.2015, the appellant was found guilty of the commission of the offence under Section 302 and by the judgment dated 15.09.2015 was sentenced to life imprisonment and fine of Rs. 25,000/-.

6. By way of this appeal, the appellant has assailed the judgment of the trial court primarily on the ground that the evidence led by the prosecution was not worthy of any credence and deserves to be disbelieved.

7. To facilitate consideration, we propose to examine the evidence in the order of the circumstances which have been considered by the learned trial judge.

MOTIVE

8. So far as the motive for the offence is concerned, we find that the prosecution has examined (PW-13) Smt. Mamta, wife of the appellant who stepped into the witness box and unequivocally declared that the appellant had suspected her of having developed illicit relations with the deceased Vinod Kumar, who was the husband of her real sister. Mamta (PW-13), the wife of the appellant narrated about wayward ways of the appellant after her marriage in 1994. She stated that the appellant had abandoned her and the children sometime in 2008; used to beat her and the children for no plausible reason: left her to fend for herself making her work as a maid to run the household: returned in February, 2011 but only to indulge in further violent conduct. The testimony of this witness could not be shaken by the appellant in her cross-examination.

9. The testimony of this witness is supported by the evidence of (PW-7) Bhupender Kumar Bhardwaj, an advocate by profession, who disclosed that the deceased Vinod Kumar was his friend, who after 22.11.2011 had contacted him for consultation of the case regarding assault by the appellant on his wife in which the appellant had given a sharp in