2017 Supreme(Guj) 528

IN THE HIGH COURT OF GUJARAT AT AHMEDABAD
Akil Abdul Hamid Kureshi and Biren Vaishnav, JJ.
Deviben Ahir and Ors. – Appellant
Vs.
State of Gujarat – Respondent
Criminal Appeal No. 548 of 2012
Decided On : 08-03-2017

Headnote:

Indian Penal Code -Sections 302,201,120B,114 - Appeal is filed by the original accused to challenge the judgment of the learned Additional Sessions Judge, in Sessions Case No. 72 of 2012. Briefly stated, the prosecution version was that accused No. 1- was residing with her husband She had illicit relations with accused No. 2- . The two accused therefore planned the murder, pursuant to which, in the night, accused No. 1 gave sleeping pills supplied to her by accused No. 2- to her husband and then called accused No. 2 to her house. was carried in such condition to a nearby well, where first he was subjected to electric shock and then thrown in the well. Both the accused were therefore charged with offences punishable .Trial Court convicted both of them for such offences and sentenced them to life imprisonment. Fines were also imposed. The accused have therefore filed this appeal challenging the judgment of the learned Sessions Judge.We may record the gist of the evidence. Initially, when the dead-body was found from the well, information was lodged with the police about accidental death - brother of the deceased. A copy of this communication was produced at Exh. 41. In such communication, it was stated that his brother had gone to the well for starting the electric motor, but had not returned for long. A search was therefore made. From the well, his dead-body was pulled out. He thought that his brother had slipped in the well and therefore died. However, a day later, the FIR was lodged by the mother of the deceased, PW-7, Exh. 26. She deposed that she lived with her husband and with her son i.e. the deceased. lived with his wife and children. The family agricultural land was partitioned. The old couple had retained a small portion. The rest was distributed between the three sons. cultivating his own share as well as that of the parents. On the date of the incident, early morning at about 5O clock, she woke up and called who stayed in the next room. Since the door of her room was locked from outside, wife replied that he had gone to irrigate the field. She looked towards the field and saw that water had not come. She therefore called her other son by shouting, upon which, came and opened the latches from her room and room. then went searching for to the field of since the water in her field was fetched from the well of footwear were lying next to the well. The family members then pulled out the dead-body of from the well. She stated that wife had love affair with of their village who would visit the lady about which, everyone in the village knew. In the cross-examination, she agreed that in her police statement, she had not stated that she had seen coming to their field or that the entire village knew about their relations -Held In the result, in our opinion, the Trial Court committed a serious error in convicting the two accused. The judgment of the Trial Court is therefore reversed. Both the accused are therefore acquitted of all charges and would be released forthwith if not required in any other criminal case. Appeal is allowed and disposed of in above terms. Something that was never proved. In fact, the evidence on record would suggest that theory of death by electric shock was disproved. As noted, the doctor carrying out the postmortem, did not notice any signs of injuries relatable to electric shock being given. The cause of death was not electric shock but suffocation. The query raised by the investigating agency whether the cable wires recovered could transmit electric shock with sufficient voltage to cause death, remained unanswered. We must therefore discard from consideration, the confessional statement of the accused No. 1. To summarize, the motive for commission of the offence was not established. The cause of death projected by the prosecution was at variance with the medical evidence. The confessional statement does not inspire confidence. The recovery of the strip of tablets of Valium-5 also is of no consequence since the investigating agency brought no evidence on record to suggest that such medicines were administered to the deceased before his death -Appeal is Allowed.