SURENDRA PAL SHIVBALAKPAL Vs. STATE OF GUJARAT

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The appellant was found guilty by the Sessions Court for the offences punishable under Secs. 363, 376 and 302 I.P.C. For the offence of murder he was sentenced to death. The appellant preferred an appeal before the High Court and there was also the reference case regarding confirmation of death sentence. The appeal and reference were heard together and the Division Bench of the High Court of Gujarat confirmed the conviction of the appellant on all the counts and the death penalty imposed on the appellant for the offence under Sec. 302 I.P.C. was confirmed. Aggrieved by the conviction and sentence this appeal was preferred.

(2.) The appellant-Surendrapal Shivabalakpal was staying in one of the rooms of a building owned by complainant Kavalpati, a widow having three children. On 11-9-2002 at about 10 p.m., the appellant came to P.W. 2 Kavalpati and offered Rs. 150 and sought for sexual favours. P.W. 2 got angry and she asked him to go away, but the appellant declined to leave the place. P.W. 2 told her brother Rajaram and her son Manoj that the appellant had been harassing her. They came and scolded the appellant and he left the place. During the night, P.W. 2 along with her two minor daughters was sleeping on a cot lying outside the room. At about midnight, she felt cold and went inside and at 1-00 O'clock she came back and then she saw that one of her daughters, namely, Savitri @ Sanju was missing. She immediately called her brother Rajaram and her son Manoj who were sleeping in another portion of the same house. They searched for Sanju at nearby places and as they had suspicion on the appellant-Surendrapal, they went in search of him to his house but the appellant was not found in his room. They made enquiry with P.W. 7-Rambaran. He stated that he had seen appellant Surendrapal going away with a girl on his shoulder, but he thought that the girl must be the daughter of Fulchand, a relative of the appellant. The people in the locality collected and at about 4 O'clock in the morning they saw the appellant coming from a nearby road. P.W. 2 and others took him to the Police Station. It seems that he made certain revelations and P.W. 2 gave F.I. statement and on the basis of the F.I. statement a case was registered and investigation was started.

(3.) The dead body of Savitri @ Sanju was recovered from a pond near G.I.D.C. building. The body was found floating on the water and it was identified by relatives. An inquest was held on the dead body and on post-mortem examination it was found that there were a series of injuries on the body of deceased Sanju. The clothes were stained with blood and some mud particles. There was lacerated wound on the private parts of the deceased, hymen was completely ruptured. The doctor opined that the victim must have died due to asphyxia.