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IN THE HIGH COURT OF UTTARAKHAND AT NAINITAL
RITU BAHRI, C.J., RAKESH THAPLIYAL, J.
State of Uttarakhand – Appellant
Versus
Sangeeta Devi – Respondent
Special Leave to Appeal No. 113 of 2024, Government Appeal No. 62 of 2024
Decided On : 29-04-2024
Acquittal - Murder - IPC Section 302 - The court discussed the principles of circumstantial evidence, emphasizing the necessity for a complete chain of evidence to establish guilt beyond reasonable doubt, leading to the acquittal of the accused.
Fact of the Case:
The prosecution alleged that Sangeeta Devi killed her husband during a fight, but evidence was inconsistent, and the accused was not arrested immediately despite being present at the scene.
Finding of the Court:
The court found that the prosecution failed to establish a complete chain of circumstantial evidence and that the alleged confession was not corroborated by credible witnesses.
Issues: Whether the prosecution proved the guilt of the accused beyond reasonable doubt under Section 302 IPC.
Ratio Decidendi: The court reiterated that in cases based on circumstantial evidence, all links must be established beyond reasonable doubt, and suspicion alone cannot lead to conviction.
Result: The appeal was dismissed, and the acquittal of the accused was upheld.
JUDGMENT :
RITU BAHRI, C.J.
1. The State has come up in appeal against the judgment and order dated 20.10.2023 passed by Learned District and Sessions Judge, Chamoli (Gopeshwar), in Sessions Trial No. 13/2021 whereby the respondent Sangeeta Devi has been acquitted of facing charges under section 302 of the Indian Penal Code (hereinafter referred to as ‘I.P.C.’).
2. The case set up by the prosecution was that a complaint was given to the Police Station in charge, Joshimath, District Chamoli by Satish Chandra Dimri with the allegations that Ramu Rishidev @ Lalu and his wife Sangeeta were living as tenants in the house of Mr. Bhagwati Prasad Dimri adjacent to his house, for the last one month. On 29.01.2021, at around 09:00 p.m., they were having a fight and upon hearing the noise, the complainant came out and found Ramu Rishidev lying outside the above-mentioned house in a comatose state and he was bleeding from his head. The accused Sangeeta Devi was standing there. When the complainant asked about what happened, the accused said that the deceased had a fight with her and she hit him with a ‘silbatta’. The complainant informed the police and also called the ambulance. Ramu Rishidev (deceased) was taken to the hospital where doctors declared him dead.
3. A charge sheet was filed on 27.04.2021 and on 10.08.2021, accused Mrs. Sangeeta Devi was charged for offence under section 302 of I.P.C.
4. The prosecution has examined the following witnesses:
5. In the documentary evidence, the written report (Tehrir) as Exhibit A-1, General Diary as Exhibit A-2, Chik First Information Report as Exhibit A-3, General Diary as Exhibit A-4 up to Exhibit A-16, Post-Mortem report as Exhibit P-17, spot map of the place of incident as Exhibit P-18, arrest memo of the accused as Exhibit P-19, Information Memo as Exhibit P-20, one stone slab seized by the police as Exhibit P21, blood soaked soil and plain soil seized by police as Exhibit P-22, charge-sheet as Exhibit P-23, report of Forensic Science Laboratory, Dehradun as Exhibit P-24, Panchnama of the deceased as Exhibit P-25, photo of the dead body as Exhibit P-26, Police Form-13 as Exhibit P-27, Sample Stamp as Exhibit P-28, photo copy of the identity card of the deceased as Exhibit P-29, and letter written to the Medical Officer regarding post-mortem as Exhibit P-30. The prosecution presented stone slab as Exhibit-1 and white cloth as Exhibit 2.
6. The statement of the accused was recorded under Section 313 of Cr.P.C, wherein she stated all the facts to be false. Accused Smt. Sangeeta Devi stated that there was no fight between her and her husband (deceased). Some people had brought her husband and he was covered in blood. When she asked them as to what happened, they ran away. Thereafter some people took her husband to the hospital.She also stated that she has not killed her husband and is not aware of the prosecution forms and she further stated that PW-9 Sub-Inspector Hemant Semwal has given false statements.
7. PW-1-Satish Chandra Dimri (complainant), while identifying the accused Sangeeta Devi before the court, stated in his examination-in-chief that she is the same woman who has committed the incident on 29.01.2021. He further stated that on 29.01.2021 at 09:00 p.m. when he heard the noise around his house, he went outside and reached the house of Bhagwati Prasad Dimri, where he saw that the accused’s husband was lying unconscious on the ground and the accused was also present there. The deceased was soaked in blood and a stone was lying next to him which had blood on it.The complainant immediately called the police and also called the ambulance, which reached the spot at 09:15 p.m. and took away the
In criminal cases based on circumstantial evidence, the prosecution must establish a complete and unbroken chain of evidence to prove guilt beyond reasonable doubt.
The judgment establishes that a conviction based solely on circumstantial evidence requires a clear and conclusive chain of evidence, and that extra-judicial confessions must be corroborated by relia....
Extra-judicial confessions require corroborative evidence to ensure reliability; circumstantial evidence must present a complete chain connecting the accused to the crime without reasonable doubt.
Circumstantial evidence must establish a complete chain of guilt beyond reasonable doubt; failure to do so warrants acquittal.
The prosecution must establish a complete chain of circumstantial evidence to prove guilt beyond reasonable doubt, which was not achieved in this case.
In order to sustain conviction must be complete and incapable of explanation of any other hypothesis than that of the guilt of the accused and such evidence should not only be consistent with the gui....
The prosecution must prove guilt beyond reasonable doubt; reliance on circumstantial evidence requires an unbroken chain linking the accused to the crime.
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