1971 Supreme(Raj) 5
MEHTA
State of Rajasthan – Appellant
Versus
Mathura Lal – Respondent
Advocates Appeared:
R.P. Goyal, for State; Ganpat Singh, for Respondent
Judgement Key Points
Certainly. Here are the key points from the legal document:
- The case involves an appeal by the State of Rajasthan against a conviction for causing simple hurt under section 323 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) (!) .
- The incident occurred on February 19, 1968, where the accused, armed with an axe, attacked Gokul, resulting in injuries including a grievous wound caused by a sharp-edged weapon (!) (!) .
- The medical evidence initially suggested the injury was grievous, but the trial court found the injuries to be simple based on the absence of the attending medical officer, who had died before the trial (!) (!) .
- A medical certificate (Ex. P. 6) was produced, purportedly signed by the deceased doctor, but since the doctor was unavailable for examination, the certificate was not considered substantive evidence by the trial court (!) (!) .
- The prosecution relied on the testimony of a compounder, who stated that the injury report was prepared and signed by the deceased doctor, making the report relevant and admissible under section 32(2) of the Evidence Act, which allows statements made by a person in the ordinary course of business or professional duty when the person is unavailable (!) (!) (!) (!) (!) (!) (!) (!) (!) .
- The court clarified that when the medical officer is dead or unavailable
MEHTA, J.—The respondent Mathura Lal has been convicted under sec.323 I.P.C. and sentenced to pay a fine of Rs.125 by the Munsif Magistrate Chhoti Sadari. The State of Rajasthan has filed this appeal against that judgment. The brief facts of this case are that on February 19, 1968, at 8 P.M., Narain P.W. 1 was sitting in the house of Gokul. The accused Mathura Lal came there. He was armed with an axe. He took Gokul with him under the pretext that he would like to discuss something with him. Narayan and Mangilal P.W. 3, followed Gokul was asked to go up to the village temple and when he was climbing the steps, the accused Mathura Lal gave an axe blow on the back side of his head. The victim fell down. Mangilal and Narayan rushed to the place where Gokul was lying. They lifted him up. They saw on his head, an injury, which was bleeding. Gokul was taken to the Government dispensary, Chhoti Sadari, to which he was admitted. Later on Narayan went to the police station, Chhoti Sadari and submitted first information report. The Police registered a case under sec. 326, I.P.C., and after investigation put up a challan in the Court of learned Munsif Magistrate, Chhoti Sadari. Before the tria
Click Here to Read the rest of this document
Back
