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IN THE HIGH COURT OF DELHI AT NEW DELHI
S. MURALIDHAR, VINOD GOEL, JJ.
Kasif – Petitioner
Versus
State NCT of Delhi – Respondent
Crl. Appeal No. 506 of 2018 and Crl. M. (Bail) No. 711 of 2018
Decided On : 10-07-2018
DNA Report - Criminal Conspiracy - Section 302 IPC - Section 120-B IPC
Fact of the Case:
The deceased was found murdered and the accused was convicted for the offence under Section 302 IPC based on the DNA report which matched the blood stains found in the accused's car to the deceased. The trial Court relied on the testimony of a witness who claimed to have seen the deceased in the company of the accused. However, the investigation was marred by serious lapses and the evidence of the witness was not entirely reliable.
Finding of the Court:
The Court found that the DNA report and the testimony of the witness were not sufficient to prove the guilt of the accused beyond reasonable doubt. The investigation was deemed to be casual and the evidence was compromised, leading to the benefit of doubt being given to the accused.
Issues: The issues revolved around the reliability of the DNA report, the witness testimony, and the integrity of the investigation.
Ratio Decidendi: The Court held that in cases of circumstantial evidence, each link in the chain of circumstances must be proved beyond reasonable doubt. The motive for the crime and the integrity of the evidence were crucial in establishing guilt.
Final Decision: The Appellant was acquitted of the offence under Section 302 IPC due to the prosecution's failure to prove his guilt beyond all reasonable doubt.
S. MURALIDHAR, J.
1. This appeal is directed against the judgment dated 24th April 2018 passed by the learned Additional Sessions Judge (Central), Delhi and the order on sentence of the same day in Sessions Case No. 09/2015 arising out of FIR No. 145/2010 registered at Police Station (PS) Civil Lines convicting the Appellant for the offence punishable under Section 302 Indian Penal Code (IPC) and sentencing him to imprisonment for life with a fine of Rs. 100/- and in default of payment of fine to undergo simple imprisonment (SI) for one week.
Charge
2. The charges against the Appellant were that:
(i) he along with the two co-accused, that is, Asif S/o Rahmat Ali (A-1) and Javed @ Munna S/o Fahimuddin (A-3) entered into a criminal conspiracy on or before 29th July 2010 to murder Danish S/o Islamuddin (the deceased) thereby committing an offence punishable under Section 120-B IPC.
(ii) on the intervening night of 29th/30th July 2010 three of them pursuant to the above criminal conspiracy murdered the deceased thereby committing the offence punishable under Section 302 IPC.
3. At the outset, it requires to be noted that by the impugned judgment, the trial Court has acquitted all three accused of the charge under Section 120B IPC and A1 and A3 of the offence under Section 302 IPC. The Appellant (A-2) alone was convicted for the offence under Section 302 IPC.
The crime scene
4. At around 7:15 a.m. on 30th July 2010 information was received at PS Civil Lines, Delhi which was noted as DD No. 10A that the dead body of an unknown person was lying outside Sant Parmanand Hospital on the main road near the taxi stand. The Station House Officer (SHO) of PS Civil Lines Anil Kapoor (PW-10) on receiving the said information went to the spot where he found that SI Bhupinder (PW-3) along with Constable (Ct.) Anil were already at the spot. The dead body was of a male of approximately 25 years of age. There was a deep cut injury on the neck and one coloured plastic rope was also found encircled around the neck. A bloodstained knife was found near the body of the deceased.
5. A personal search of the dead body was carried out by PW-3 who found a SIM card of Vodafone company from the left pocket of the jeans of the deceased. This was taken into possession as was the knife. The blood found at the spot was also taken along with the earth control and separately preserved. A site plan (Ex.PW10/A) was also prepared.
6. PW-10 inserted the SIM card into his mobile phone and found that its validity had already expired. He recharged the SIM card and found that it was having mobile No. 7838802782. He then contacted the service provider and found that the said SIM card had been issued at the address A-11, Hathi Khana Park, Bara Hindu Rao. In the meanwhile, the FIR was registered on the rukka drawn up by PW-3.
Post mortem
7. The body of the deceased was sent to the mortuary. Dr. S. Lal (PW-7) conducted the post mortem and found “multiple incised cut throat injury intermingling with each other to form a large wound of size 11 x 7cm paravertebral deep over middle front of neck. The wound was horizontally placed with multiple tailing of wound present on right side. The wound cut the underline structure of neck like muscles, trachea and neck vessels on both sides. The cut fracture was also seen over third cervical vertebrae. Total depth of the wound was approximate 5 cm.”
8. PW-7 opined that the death was due to shock and haemorrhagic shock due to ante mortem cut throat injury which was produced by a sharp edged weapon. There were two other abrasions on the neck itself. The post mortem was conducted on 31st July 2010 and the time of death was held to be about 36 hours prior to the examination. PW-10 visited the address at which the SIM card was issued with a photograph of the dead body. One Rizwan identified the dead body to be that of Danish @ Moin Akhtar. The relatives of the deceased were called at the police post (PP) Ahata Kidara. Islamuddin and Nawabuddin (PW-5
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