KALINGA @ KUSHAL Vs. STATE OF KARNATAKA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Master Hrithik, aged 2.5 years, lost his life on the fateful day of 3/11/2002 in Hubli, Karnataka. PW-1, his father and complainant in this case, filed a complaint and the allegation was levelled against the appellant/accused, who is the younger brother of PW-1. After a full-fledged trial, Trial Court acquitted the appellant from the chargeslevelled upon him. The High Court reversed the order of acquittal and convicted the appellant. The mystery of Hrithik's death continues as the matter has landed before this Court in the form of the present appeal, which assails the order dtd. 28/3/2011 passed by the High Court of Karnataka (Circuit Bench at Dharwad) in Criminal Appeal No. 130/2005.

(2.) At the outset, we consider it apposite to note that there is considerable divergence between the parties (as well as between the decisions rendered by the Trial Court and the High Court) as regards the sequence of events and timelines involved in this case. To avoid any confusion or presumption, the facts delineated herein represent the version of the prosecution for the purpose of understanding the story. On 3/11/2002, at around 11 A.M., the son of PW-1 had gone out for playing and went missing. PW-1 and other family members of the child searched for him in and around the locality. Upon finding no trace of the child till evening, a missing complaint was lodged at around 10 P.M. by PW-1 at PS Vidyanagar, Hubli, Karnataka. The complaint came to be registered as Crime No. 215/2002.

(3.) Fast forward to 14/11/2002, the appellant (also the brother of PW-1) appeared at the house of PW-1 in a drunken state and started blabbering about the missing incident of Hrithik and about mishappening with the child. The encounter on 14/11/2002 happened late at night and PW-1 did not pursue the same at that point of time. On the morning of 15/11/2002, PW-1 went to his shop and returned around 12:30 P.M. At this point, PW-1, his mother and wife enquired about the child from the appellant and the appellant stated that he had murdered Hrithik and thrown his body in the well. Thereafter, PW-1 took the appellant to PS Vidyanagar for filing the complaint which led to the registration of the First Information Report (FIR) in this case.