Krishan Kumar Jha vs State of Haryana - 2023 Supreme(P&H) 2260

Judicial Analysis Court Copy Headnote Facts Arguments Court observation

2023 Supreme(P&H) 2260

IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH
SURESHWAR THAKUR, KULDEEP TIWARI, JJ.
Krishan Kumar Jha – Appellant
Versus
State of Haryana – Respondent
CRA-D-1034-DB of 2010 (O&M)
Decided On : 19-01-2023

Advocates Appeared:
For the Appellant :Ms. Monika Thakur, Advocate Legal Aid Counsel.
For the Respondent: Mr. Anmol Malik, DAG, Haryana.

Headnote:(A) Indian Penal Code, 1860 - Sections 201 and 302 - Appeal against conviction - Verdict dated 04.06.2010 set aside - Prosecution failed to establish identity of deceased, motive for murder, and genuineness of extra judicial confession - Conviction based on circumstantial evidence was not sustainable. (Paras 25-26)

(B) Burden of Proof - The prosecution must prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt, and any suspicion alone cannot substitute for evidence. (Paras 24-25)

(C) Witness Testimony - Material witnesses unexamined and contradictions in statements weaken the prosecution's case. (Paras 22-23)

Facts of the case:
Appellant convicted for murdering his wife and concealing her body. After appeal, the court found insufficient evidence to affirm conviction based on circumstantial evidence and lack of motive.

Findings of Court:
The court found the prosecution's case unproven beyond reasonable doubt and lacking material witnesses, resulting in insufficient basis for conviction.

Issues: Main issues included the identity of the deceased, the applicability of circumstantial evidence, the validity of the extra judicial confession, and the prosecution's burden of proof.

Ratio Decidendi: The court determined that the prosecution failed to establish a concrete link between the accused and the crime, with the absence of corroborative evidence to support claims of guilt, leading to the conclusion that the charges were not sustained.

Result: Appeal allowed, conviction set aside, appellant acquitted.

Table of Content
1. prosecution investigation and evidence collection. (Para 2 , 3 , 4 , 5)
2. defense claims of false accusations and lack of evidence. (Para 8 , 9)
3. medical evidence identifying cause of death. (Para 11 , 12 , 13 , 14)
4. reliability of extra judicial confession and its implications. (Para 15 , 16)
5. circumstantial evidence and its credibility. (Para 17 , 18 , 19)
6. motive analysis and witness credibility. (Para 20 , 21 , 22 , 23)
7. conclusion on acquittal and implications for the trial court's judgment. (Para 24 , 25 , 26)

JUDGMENT

Kuldeep Tiwari, J.

The present appeal has been directed at the instance of appellant/accused, against the verdict of conviction dated 04.06.2010, and, order of sentence dated 07.06.2010, rendered by the learned Additional Sessions Judge, Ambala, in case FIR No.27 dated 01.02.2009, registered under Sections 201 /302 of IPC, at Police Station Baldev Nagar, District Ambala, whereby he has been convicted for the offence punishable under Sections 201 and 302 of IPC, and, has been awarded sentence as under:-

Offence under Section	Period (R.I.)	Fine	In Default
201 of IPC	R.I. for 5 years	Rs.10,000/-	R.I. for 1 year
302 of IPC	R.I. for life	Rs.25,000/-	R.I. for 2 years

Prosecution Story

2. The prosecution agency was set into motion upon receipt of a telephonic message in the police station on 01.02.2009, at about 03:40 p.m., to the effect that a bundle of cloth is lying under the culvert of dirty drain, behind Motor Market, whereupon, SHO Suraj Bhan along with his co-officials reached at the spot. The bundle of cloth was taken out from the culvert and upon checking the same, a decomposed female dead body was found wrapped in it. One Surjit Singh Bhangu (PW6), who passed the above information, was found present at the spot and he got recorded his statement, Ex.P7, the contents of which reads as under:-

"I am resident of aforementioned address and I do agriculture work. I am Dy. Chairman of Human Rights, District Ambala. Today, at about 3:30 p.m., I was going towards my Kothi from Motor Market. When I reached near the culvert of Ganda Nala, then 5/6 children were standing on the culvert and were looking underneath the culvert. I asked the children about what they were looking at, who told that one bundle of cloth is lying in the water of drainage underneath the culvert. I thought that it may be possible that someone after stealing clothes, placed the said bundle underneath the culvert and the bundle may have fallen down in the water. I gave information in this regard to Police Station and Police Post Baldev Nagar. On receipt of information, you came at the spot and after taking out the bundle from water, underneath the culvert, you opened it and found a dead body of an unknown woman, aged about 26/28 years, who was wearing petticoat of red colour, underwear of red colour, one white blouse with small bunches of flowers, artificial earrings, artificial nose pin, red colour rubber bangles, and, because of remained lying in the water, her body was leaving skin being rotten and casting blackishness on the face, because of swelling. It appears that some unknown person(s), after killing this unknown women somewhere else, wrapped her body in a bundle of cloth and threw this bundle in the dirty water, underneath the culvert of Ganda Nala, to conceal the crime."

On the basis of above statement, Ex.P7, the present FIR was registered against unknown person.

Police Investigation

3. The Scene of Crime Team was called at the spot. Photographs of the dead body were clicked from different angles. The Scene of Crime Team collected sample of water, in a bottle, from the culvert of dirty drain, where dead body was recovered. The bottle containing sample of water and the bed sheet, in which dead body was wrapped, were converted into parcels, which became sealed with seal bearing impression 'SB' and these parcels were taken into possession vide recovery memo, Ex.P8. Thereafter, the inques