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2017 Supreme(Raj) 1635
IN THE HIGH COURT OF RAJASTHAN AT JODHPUR
Gopal Krishan Vyas, Manoj Kumar Garg, JJ.
Satya Narain & Ors. – Appellants
Vs.
The State of Rajasthan – Respondent
D.B Criminal Appeal No. 215 of 1991
Decided On : 01-11-2017
For the Appellants : Mr. Mridul Jain
For the Respondent: Mr. C.S. Ojha, PP.
In the absence of evidence of intention or motive and where the injury inflicted is not dangerous to life, a conviction under Section 302 IPC may be altered to Section 304 Part-I IPC.
Headnote:
CRIMINAL APPEAL - SECTION 302 IPC - SECTION 304 PART-I IPC - SECTION 302/34 IPC - SECTION 324 IPC - SECTION 325 IPC - SECTION 148 IPC - SECTION 149 IPC - ALTERATION OF CONVICTION - REDUCTION OF SENTENCE - COMPENSATION - FACTUAL MATRIX AND LEGAL PROVISIONS ANALYZED.
Fact of the Case:
The appellant, Satya Narain, was convicted under Section 302 IPC for causing the death of the deceased, Homa, by inflicting a single lathi blow to his head. The incident occurred in 1987, and the appellant remained in custody from 24.06.1987 to 11.11.1991. During the pendency of the appeal, the co-accused, Laxman, died, and his appeal was dismissed as abated.
Finding of the Court:
The court found that the prosecution failed to prove the intention or motive for the appellant's act and that the injury inflicted by the appellant was not dangerous to life. The court also noted that the appellant had already served a substantial portion of his sentence and that the incident had occurred a long time ago.
Issues: 1. Whether the appellant's conviction under Section 302 IPC was sustainable in law given the absence of evidence of intention or motive and the nature of the injury inflicted? 2. Whether the appellant's sentence should be reduced considering the time he had already spent in custody and the passage of time since the incident?
Ratio Decidendi: 1. The court held that the appellant's conviction under Section 302 IPC was not sustainable in law as there was no evidence of intention or motive and the injury inflicted was not dangerous to life. The court relied on the opinion of the doctor who conducted the postmortem examination, who stated that the injury was grievous but not dangerous to life. 2. The court held that it was appropriate to reduce the appellant's sentence considering the time he had already spent in custody and the passage of time since the incident.
Final Decision: The court altered the appellant's conviction from Section 302 IPC to Section 304 Part-I IPC and reduced his sentence to the period already undergone. The court also ordered the appellant to pay compensation of Rs. 75,000/- to the wife/legal heirs of the deceased within two months from the date of receipt of the certified copy of the order.
GOPAL KRISHAN VYAS, J.
The instant criminal appeal has been filed by the two accused-appellants namely Satya Narain and Laxman under Section 374 Cr.P.C against the judgment and order dated 19.06.1991 passed by the learned Addl. Sessions Judge No. 2, Udaipur in Sessions Case No. 70/87 whereby the appellant No. 1 Satya Narain was convicted under Section 302 IPC and the appellant No. 2 Laxman was convicted under Section 302 read with Section 34 IPC and sentence of life imprisonment along with fine of Rs. 100/- was imposed against them. In default of payment of fine to further undergo one month rigorous imprisonment.
2. At the commencement of arguments, the learned counsel for the appellant submitted a photo-stat copy of death certificate of appellant No. 2 Laxman S/o Natha Ram, who died on 25.06.2015 The said death certificate has been issued by Directorate of Economics and Statistics, Government of Rajasthan. Hence, the appeal qua the accused-appellant Laxman is hereby dismissed as abated.
3. As per the facts of the case on 26.05.1987 at about 7 PM in the evening the complainant Shankar Meena (PW-1) submitted a verbal report at Police Station Rishabhdev alleging therein that yesterday he was working at his tailoring shop situated at Kagdar bus-stand and after closing the shop at about 5-5:30 PM when he reached at his house, his mother and sister-in-law Laxmi were in the agricultural field where Laxman, Satya Narain, Ramchandra, Kishna @ Nathu, Dhulki and Sita were throwing stones upon them and upon inquiring, his mother informed that your father has been killed. The complainant immediately went near layer ¼D;kajh½ where his father was lying in injured conditions. The complainant gave water to his father and his father told him that today when he along with Narayan and his son-in-law were going on the way, at that time Laxman and Satya Narain came there and gave lathi blow. It is specifically informed that Laxman inflicted lathi blow upon his neck and Satya Narain inflicted lathi blow upon his head and due to those injuries he fell down, thereafter upon insisting by Ramchandra and Kishna both the accused-appellants inflicted more injuries upon his body. As per the complainant Shanker Meena after giving the aforesaid information, his father died.
4. Therefore a request was made to take action against them.
5. The SHO, Police Station Rishabhdev registered the FIR No. 61/1987 for offence under Sections 147, 148, 149, 302 IPC and commenced the investigation. After investigation the Police filed charge-sheet against six accused persons in the court of Muncif & Judicial Magistrate, Kherwara from where the case was committed to the Session Court Udaipur for trial. Later on the case was transferred to the Court of Additional Sessions Judge No. 2, Udaipur for trial. The learned trial court after framing charges under Section 148, 302 or 302/149 IPC proceeded to record prosecution evidence. From prosecution side, statements of 13 witnesses were recorded and thereafter statements of accused-appellants were recorded under Section 313 Cr.P.C but they denied all the allegations levelled by the prosecution witnesses and stated that only to grab their land this false case has been registered against them. In defence one witness Ashok Kumar (DW-1) was produced by the accused-appellants.
6. The learned Trial Court after hearing both the parties finally decided the Sessions Case No. 70/87 vide judgment and order dated 19.06.1991 and acquitted the accused Natha Ram @ Kishna, Ramchandra, Smt. Dhulki @ Kamla & Smt. Sita from the charges levelled against them under Sections 148, 302 or 302/149 IPC so also acquitted the accused-appellants Satya Narain and Laxman from the charges levelled under Sections 148 & 149 IPC but convicted them for offence under Section 302, 302/34 IPC and passed the sentence mentioned above.
7. As mentioned above, during the pendency of the appeal the accused-appellant Laxman died, therefore, his appeal has been dismissed as ab
