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2003 Supreme(HP) 221
High Court Of Himachal Pradesh
ARUN KUMAR GOEL,M.R.VERMA
PARKASH CHAND - Appellant
Versus
STATE OF H.P. - Respondent
Cr. Appeal No. 643 of 2001
Decided On : 08/19/2003
Sh. Nareshwar Chandel and Rakesh Jaswaljor the Appellant; Mr. D.C. Pathik, Additional A.G. with Sh. D.S. Nainta, Dy. A.G., for the Respondents.
The main legal point established in the judgment is that the accused's act of causing death did not fall within Exception 4 of Section 300 IPC, as it was not a sudden fight and was committed with premeditation and in a cruel manner.
Headnote:
FIR - Criminal Procedure - [Section 154, Indian Penal Code] - The court discussed the definition and purpose of FIR and held that the information given to the police should not be vague or indefinite. The court also emphasized that not every vague or cryptic information can be treated as the First Information Report. The court referred to previous case law to support its decision.
Fact of the Case:
The deceased and the accused, who were brothers, had a quarrel over the accused's goat entering the deceased's cowshed. The accused beat the deceased, leading to his death. The accused claimed self-defense, stating that the deceased, his wife, and son had beaten him first.
Finding of the Court:
The court found the accused guilty of causing the death of the deceased and causing injuries to the deceased's wife. The court rejected the accused's claim of self-defense and held that the accused had chased the deceased and caused fatal injuries with premeditation and in a cruel manner.
Issues: The issues included the validity of the FIR, reliability of witness statements, explanation of injuries on the accused, and the applicability of self-defense in the case.
Ratio Decidendi: The court emphasized that the information given to the police should not be vague or indefinite to be treated as the First Information Report. The court also held that the accused's act of causing death did not fall within Exception 4 of Section 300 IPC, as it was not a sudden fight and was committed with premeditation and in a cruel manner.
Final Decision: The court dismissed the appeal and upheld the accused's conviction and sentence under Sections 302 and 323 of the Indian Penal Code.
M.R. Verma, J.—This appeal is directed against the judgment dated 4.9.2001 passed by learned Sessions Judge, Bilaspur, whereby the appellant-accused (hereafter referred to as the accused) has been convicted under Sections 302 and 323 of the Indian Penal Code and has been sentenced to life imprisonment and fine of Rs. 5,000 and in default of payment of fine to undergo rigorous imprisonment for one year under Section 302 IPC and fine of Rs. 500 and in default of payment thereof to undergo rigorous imprisonment for six months under Section 323 IPC.
2. The case of the prosecution against the accused is that Mast Ram deceased and the accused related as brothers were residing separately in village Liungari, Barmana. On 11.7.2000 at about 5.00 p.m. Bimla Devi, wife of deceased, (PW-1) and her son Sonu (PW-2) had gone to the fields for cutting grass and the deceased was grazing Oxen near his house. At about 6.00 p.m. deceased called PW-1 from the fields intimating that accused was beating him and she should immediately come to the house. PW-1 and PW-2 came to their house and were informed by the deceased that goat of accused had entered his cow shed and when he objected to it the accused gave him fist and kick blows and ran away, while hurling stones and danda towards him. When the deceased was so narrating the incident, the accused appeared on the scene. On seeing the accused, the deceased tried to run away but the accused gave a danda blow on his leg, whereby the deceased fell-down. Thereafter accused gave danda blows on the head of the deceased. When PW-1 intervened to rescue her husband accused gave danda blows to her also. When PW-1 and PW-2 raised cries for help the accused bolted away. On hearing the cries, Balak Ram (PW-3) came on the spot from a nearby house. When PW-3 wanted to carry the deceased, it was noticed that he was dead. Immediately, thereafter many villagers gathered on the spot. Ram Lai (PW-4), Ward member of the Panchayat informed the police telephonically about the incident. On such information, Inspector Devi Ram (PW-12) went to the spot where he reached at about 1.00 a.m., on the night intervening ll-12th July, 2000. He recorded statement of Bimla Devi under Section 154 Cr.P.C. (hereafter referred to as the Code) Ext. PA. On the basis of which, FIR Ext. PQ was recorded at Police Station Barmana and the investigation followed.
3. Police prepared inquest reports Ext. PB, Ext. PC, and the site plan Ext. PS, and took into possession a stone, a danda and one chappal from the place of occurrence vide memo Ext. PE.
4. Post-mortem of the dead body of the deceased was conducted in District Hospital Bilaspur by Dr. N.K. Sankhyan (PW-5) and Dr. R.K. Gupta. The post-morterm report regarding such examination is Ext. PJ, vide which following antemortem injuries were found on the dead body of the deceased—
1. There was evidence of reddish coloured glazed abrasion on lateral side of lower medial quadrant of right side of chest in area of 2.5 cm. x 0.5 cm.
2. There was subconjuctival haemorrhage in left eye in upper temporal region.
3. There was reddish coloured abrasion in area of 0.2 cm. x 0.5 cm. (tear abrasion) on left side of noze.
4. There was evidence of reddish coloured abrasion in area of 5 cm. x 0.8 cm. over bluish green coloured contusion of size 2.5 cm. x 1 cm. on lateral side of left clavicle.
5. Reddish coloured grazed abrasion in area of 3 cm. x 2 cm. over extensor compartment of right forearm in its upper one third portion.
6. There was evidence of reddish coloured abrasion over extensor compartment of left forearm on ulnar side in area of 2.5 cm. x 1. cm. in the middle one third portion of said forearm.
7. There was evidence of reddish coloured glazed abrasion on front of right knee, in area of 2 cm. x 0.4 cm.
8. There was swelling over occipital region in area of 6 cms. x 5 cms. On dissection and after reflecting the scalp there was gross contusion over inner surface of scalp in occipital and extending to tempo
