Revisional court cannot reappreciate evidence absent perversity; concurrent findings on negligent driving causing child's death by veering to kachha road portion upheld; maximum deterrent sentence justified.

JUDGMENT :

RAKESH KAINTHLA, J.

1. The petitioner has filed the present revision petition against the judgment dated 15.09.2012, passed by learned Sessions Judge, Kinnaur, Sessions Division at Rampur Bushahr, Camp at Reckong Peo (learned Appellate Court) vide which the judgment of conviction and order of sentence dated 20.12.2007 passed by learned Chief Judicial Magistrate, Kinnaur at Reckong Peo, H.P. (learned Trial Court) were upheld. (Parties shall hereinafter be referred to in the same manner as they were arrayed before the learned Trial Court for convenience.)

2. Briefly stated, the facts giving rise to the present revision are that the police presented a challan before the learned Trial Court against the accused for the commission of offences punishable under Sections 279 and 304-A of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and Sections 184 and 187 of the Motor Vehicles Act (M.V. Act). It has been asserted that the informant Mohan Kumari (PW11) was running a grocery shop at Reckong Peo near the Regional Hospital. She had her residence beneath the shop. Her husband also used to assist her in running the shop. He had gone to his village, Barang, on 23.11.2005. The informant opened her shop on 24.11.2005 at about 6:00 A.M. The informant and her younger daughter, aged 04 years, were basking in the sun outside the shop. At about 11:30 A.M., her younger daughter, Kumari Tuni, slept. The informant went to her room to put her daughter on the bed. She returned after 4-5 minutes. She saw a Mahindra pickup coming from Kalpa at high speed. The sleepers were loaded into the vehicle. She also saw blood outside her shop. Her younger daughter was missing. She went inside the shop and saw that her daughter was lying covered with a gunny sack. Blood was coming out of her nose and ear. She was hit by the vehicle transporting the sleepers. She read the words “RPC’ on the body of the vehicle. The registration number of the vehicle was HP63-0706. The driver of the vehicle had absconded from the spot after the accident. She picked up her daughter and went to the hospital. The doctor declared the girl as brought dead. The matter was reported to the police, and an entry No.11 (Ex. PW12/A) was recorded in the police station. Vijay Sen (PW12) went to the hospital for verification. He recorded the informant’s statement (Ex. PW11/A), which was sent to the police station where F.I.R. (Ex.PW12/B) was registered. Vijay Sen conducted the investigation. He prepared the site plan (Ex. PW12/D). The photographs of the spot (Ex. P1 to P5 and Ex. PW8/1 to Ex.PW8/5), whose negatives are Ex. P6 to Ex. P10 and Ex.PW8/6 to Ex. PW8/10, were taken. He seized the blood-stained gunny sack vide seizure memo (Ex. PW3/A). The gunny sack was put in a parcel, and the parcel was sealed with seal “H”. An application (Ex. PD) was filed for conducting the post-mortem examination of the girl. An inquest was conducted on the dead body, and