The main legal point established in the judgment is the necessity of proving guilt beyond reasonable doubt, the unreliability of extra-judicial confessions without corroboration, and the requirement for a complete and conclusive chain of circumstantial evidence.

JUDGMENT :

1. The instant appeal has been filed under Section 372 of Cr.P.C. against the judgment of acquittal dated 16.01.2020 passed by learned Additional Sessions Judge, Suratgarh, District Sri Ganganagar in Sessions Case No. 08/2017 whereby the accused-respondents were acquitted for the offences under Sections 302 and 201 read with Section 34 of I.P.C.

2. Briefly stated, the facts of the case are that the dismembered body of the deceased was found on the railway track around 1.5 kms away from Rajpura. A Marg report No. 01/17 (Exhibit P-1) came to be registered wherein an enquiry regarding cause of death was made by the police under Section 174 of Cr.P.C and the body was sent for Post-Mortem. Jaikishan, the brother of the deceased, submitted a written report wherein it was stated that when the deceased was sleeping at night, he received multiple calls. At around 11 p.m., the deceased told his wife that he would be back in a while and left home. Subsequent to this, his dead body was found at the railway track. An F.I.R. (Exhibit P-14) came to be registered and investigation commenced in the matter. During investigation, Rameshwar Lal and Pooja were found to have allegedly committed the crime of murder of the deceased and they were made accused. Both the accused were charge-sheeted for the offences under Sections 302 and 201 r/w 34 of IPC. As the offences were triable by Court of Sessions, the case was committed to Additional District & Sessions Judge, Suratgarh on 27.03.2017 and the trial was set into motion.

3. As many as 17 witnesses have been examined in the trial and 46 documents have been tendered into evidence by the prosecution. Thereafter, when the accused were questioned under Section 313 of Cr.P.C., they expressed their wish to present evidence in their defence but no evidence was produced to this effect. Subsequently, after hearing learned counsel for the accused and the public prosecutor and examining the testimonies of the witnesses and other documentary evidence produced before the court in detail, the learned trial court acquitted both the accused persons as the case of the prosecution was not found proved beyond reasonable doubt. Aggrieved by the said judgment, the present appeal was filed by the wife of the deceased, being victim of the case, under the proviso of Section 372 of CrPC.

4. Mr. Suryadeep Bishnoi, learned counsel appearing for the appellant, submits that the acquittal by the lower court was based on surmises and conjectures. The trial court has failed to appreciate the evidence produced by the prosecution. The testimony of witness PW-7 Laxminarayan reveals that the accused Rameshwar had confessed his crime to him but the trial court has failed to appreciate the same. The recovery of mobile phone of the deceased from the house of accused Rameshwar and the factum of extra judicial confession made by the accused have been duly proved and thus, there is ample evidence to convict the accused.

5. Per contra, learned public prosecutor has submitted that the judgment of acquittal passed by the learned trial court is error free and does not warrant any interference by this Hon’ble Court. The extra judicial confession cannot be taken into account so as to form the basis of conviction in the present case as the same is not trust worthy and the testimony of PW-7 Laxminarayan cannot be relied upon.

6. Heard learned counsel for the parties and perused the material available on record.

7. It is undisputed that there is no eye-witness account of the incident; thus, the case of the prosecution is based on circumstantial evidence. It is well-entrenched in criminal law that in order to base a conviction on circumstantial evidence, each of the circumstances should form a chain so complete that no other possible conclusion is derivable other than the guilt of the accused. The links of the chain should be connected to each other in such a manner that there seems no room for doubt or suspicion.

8. We begin with the testimony o