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1976 Supreme(J&K) 12
IN THE HIGH COURT OF JAMMU AND KASHMIR AT JAMMU
Jaswant Singh,A.S. Anand, JJ.
Mazahar Ali & Anr. - Appellant
Versus
State - Respondent
Cr. Ist Appeal No. 18/1975
Decided On : 20 January, 1976
Advocate For Appellant: I.K. Kotwal
Advocate For Respondent: Amar Chand Vaid
The sufficiency of circumstantial evidence to establish guilt beyond a shadow of doubt.
Headnote:
Criminal Law - Murder - Section 302 R.P.C., Section 201 R.P.C. - The judgment discusses the circumstantial evidence relied upon by the prosecution to prove the guilt of the accused, including motive, evidence of last seen together, disclosure statements and recoveries, medical evidence, extra judicial confession, confessional statement of Jasimuddin, and conduct of the accused. The court found the circumstantial evidence to be shaky, suspicious, and fragile, failing to establish guilt beyond a shadow of doubt. The court applied the test for basing conviction on circumstantial evidence and concluded that the circumstances were not of a determinative tendency unerringly pointing towards the guilt of the accused. The conviction and sentences of the appellants for the offences under section 302 R.P.C. and 201 R.P.C. were set aside, and they were acquitted of both charges.
Fact of the Case:
The convicts were sentenced to death for an offence under section 302 R.P.C. and to three years rigorous imprisonment for an offence under section 201 R.P.C. for the murder of one Raj Singh. The case relied solely on circumstantial evidence, including motive, evidence of last seen together, disclosure statements and recoveries, medical evidence, extra judicial confession, confessional statement of Jasimuddin, and conduct of the accused.
Finding of the Court:
The court found the circumstantial evidence to be shaky, suspicious, and fragile, failing to establish guilt beyond a shadow of doubt. The test for basing conviction on circumstantial evidence was applied, and the court concluded that the circumstances were not of a determinative tendency unerringly pointing towards the guilt of the accused. The conviction and sentences of the appellants for the offences under section 302 R.P.C. and 201 R.P.C. were set aside, and they were acquitted of both charges.
Issues: The main issue was the sufficiency of the circumstantial evidence to establish the guilt of the accused beyond a shadow of doubt.
Ratio Decidendi: The court applied the test for basing conviction on circumstantial evidence, which required the circumstances to be fully established by unimpeachable evidence beyond a shadow of doubt, of a determinative tendency unerringly pointing towards the guilt of the accused, and incapable of explanation on any reasonable hypothesis save that of the guilt sought to be proved against him. The court found that the circumstantial evidence did not satisfy these conditions.
Final Decision: The conviction and sentences of the appellants for the offences under section 302 R.P.C. and 201 R.P.C. were set aside, and they were acquitted of both charges.
1. Mazahar Ali and Jasimuddin have been sentenced by the learned Additional Sessions Judge, Jammu, to death for an offence under section 302 R.P.C. and to three years rigorous imprisonment each for an offence under section 201 R.P.C. by the learned Additional Sessions Judge, Jammu, Vide judgment and order dated 30-1-1975 for the murder of one Raj Singh. The convicts have filed a joint appeal against their convictions and sentences and the learned additional sessions Judge has also made a reference to this court for the confirmation of the sentence of death imposed on the said two convicts.
2. A birds eye view of the prosecution case may first be noticed. On November 25, 1971, P. W. Gurcharan Singh telephoned the officer incharge of the police post Gandhi Nagar, Jammu, and informed him that he had been told by Mst. Debo, P. W., a sweepress, about the presence of a gunny bag on the road opposite his house having some bloodstains, Shri Piara Lal Mattu Station House Officer, Police Station Saddar Jammu, thereupon got the first information report lodged at the police station and proceeded to the spot. The gunny bag was found opposite the house of S. Gurcharan Singh in Block B, Sector B, Gandhi Nagar, Jammu, and it bore bloodstains on it. The gunny bag was opened and on opening it was found to contain the head of the deceased whose nose and lips had been chopped off. The fore-arms and legs of the deceased were also in the same bag. The photographs of various parts recovered from the gunny bag, exhibit P 1 to exhibit P 14 were taken on the spot. The S. H. O. sent the various parts of the body to the hospital and himself also went there. At about 6 P. M. P. Ws. Dayal Singh and Kartar Singh, brother oil the deceased, identified the dead body in the hospital. The various limbs of the body were put together and post-mortem was performed by Dr. M. L. Gupta, Shri Mattu, the S. H. O. received information at the hospital that the convicts were the culprits and so A. S. "I. Roshan Lal P. W. was deputed to arrest them. On 26th November, 1971, at about 4 A. M. while the convicts were alighting from a taxi driven by Sajjan Singh P. W. they were arrested by the police who was guarding their house. Subsequently, they were taken to the police station and were interrogated by S. H. O. Piara Lal Mattu in the presence of Gurcharan Singh, Brij Mohan and Kartar Singh P. Ws. made a disclosure statement exhibit PB to the effect that he had concealed the remaining parts of the body in the plinth of a house under construction in Gandhi Nagar Jammu, and led the police party to the place of concealment and got recovered a gunny bag covered by a chaddar containing the various parts of the body of the deceased. The seizure memo exhibit PC was prepared with respect to this recovery at the spot.
3. Jasimuddin convict was also interrogated by Shri Mattu and he also made a disclosure statement exhibit PD in the presence of Brij Mohan, Mohan Singh and Kartar Singh PWs. As a consequent of that disclosure statement a coat and a bloodstained knife as well as some other clothes were seized by the police vide seizure memos exhibits PE and PF. The police also seized one bloodstained "Wooden Peeri" from the house occupied by the convicts and a bunch of bloodstained hair from the drain of the same house. Two photographs exhibits P 35 and P 36 showing the deceased with one Mst. Asma Bi in intimate caresses were also recovered from an attache case belonging to Mazahar Ali convict by the police. A wrist watch of the deceased and two letters exhibits P 58 and P 59 written by the aforesaid Mst. Asma Bi to the deceased were taken into possession by the police from P. W. Nazir Ahmad (to whom the same had been given by the convict in the presence of Gouri Shanker and Roop Lal P. Ws.). The convicts also made an extra judicial confession before Ghulam Mohd P. W. on 25-1-1971, at Talab Khatikan, Jammu, at about 5 P. M. The convicts were remanded to Judicial custody du
