SHANKARLAL Vs. STATE OF RAJASTHAN

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Appellant has been convicted by the Additional Sessions Judge, Ramsinghnagar for an offence punishable under Section 302, IPC and was sentenced to undergo imprisonment for life and a fine of Rs. 100. Said conviction and sentence came to be confirmed by the High Court of Judicature for Rajasthan at Jodhpur. It is against the said conviction and sentence imposed by the two Courts below that the appellant is before us in this appeal.

(2.) Briefly stated the prosecution case is that appellant and one Om Prakash deceased in this case were working as labourers with one Pokar Ram in the year 1980. They were employed to water fields wherein some wheat and gram were sown. On 4-4-1980 one Ram Rakh son of said Pokar Ram wanted the field to be watered therefore in the early morning at about 4 a.m. he sent the appellant and the deceased to irrigate the land. At about 9 a.m. that morning said Ram Rakh took food for the said two persons who were working in the field. At that time it is stated the appellant complained to said Ram Rakh that deceased Om Prakash is not doing his work properly and to advise him properly. It is stated said Ram Rakh settled the misunderstanding between the appellant and the deceased and went to his other fields. It is the prosecution case that one Sohan Singh PW-6 who is also a resident of the same village as Ram Rakh had entered into an agreement with the latter for the sale of Gowar about 10 days before the date of incident. Since PW-6 had a buyer for the said Gowar and the same had to be weighed on the date of incident he wanted to meet PW-2 and went to his house but he was told that Ram Rakh was in his field therefore PW-6 started going towards the field of Ram Rakh which was about 4-5 miles away from the village by foot. It is during this journey of PW-6 it is alleged at about 1.30 p.m. he heard a noise of quarrel from the corner of a field and when he moved towards the said place he saw one person hitting another with an axe. It is the prosecution case that this witness later identified appellant as the person who was assaulting the other person. PW-6 further states that when he reached near the place of attack he saw 2 axe injuries on the victim and he also saw the appellant fleeing from the place of incident. Having gone near the place of attack and witnessed the attack this witness stated that he got frightened and thinking that he may also be attacked he returned to the village by taking another route. By the time he returned to the village it was about 4 or 4.15 p.m. He then went to the house of Ram Rakh and his brother Khyali Ram but he could not meet them therefore he came to the square of the village near the Hanuman Mandir and he saw PW-2 Khyali Ram coming. That is when he mentioned to Khyali Ram about the incident in question. It is the case of the prosecution thereafter PW-2 and 5 to 7 people went to the place of incident and saw the deceased lying dead, thereafter PW-2 went to the village Sarpanch and accompanied by him went to the Police Station at Suratgarh and lodged a complaint at about 3.15 a.m. on 5-4-1980, Police Station being about 30 miles away from the place of incident. On a statement recorded therein the I. O. registered a case and came to the place of incident and having completed the investigation thereafter filed a chargesheet and based on the evidence produced by the prosecution in the trial the appellant was convicted as stated above which conviction came to be confirmed by the High Court.

(3.) In this appeal Mr. V. S. Chauhan, learned advocate appearing for the appellant contended that the only eye witness to the incident in question being PW-6 who is a chance witness his evidence ought to have been considered more carefully than has been done by the 2 Courts below. He contended that the possibility of this witness being present at that time of the day at that place is next to impossible and from the contradicitions in his evidence it is clear that he is really not an eye witness but a set up witness. He also pointed out though the incident in question according to the prosecution had occurred at about 1.30 p.m. a complaint in this regard was lodged only at 3.15 a.m. on the next day. The Police Station even though about 30 miles away in the normal course it would not have taken so much time for anybody to commute and reach the Police Station because of the availability of the tractor in the village. Learned counsel also pointed out that a perusal of the complaint gives an impression that it is a document prepared after considerable deliberation and most likely having noticed a blind murder by suspicion appellant was blamed as an accused. He also pointed out that the alleged motive is too trivial and on the facts of this case hardly any ground for committing the murder.