KALU KHAN Vs. STATE OF RAJASTHAN

JUDGEMENT

(1.) These appeals are directed against the judgment and order passed by the High Court of Judicature for Rajasthan at Jodhpur in D.B. Criminal Murder Reference No. 02 of 2013 and D.B. Criminal Jail Appeal No. 293 of 2013, dated 09.04.2014. By the impugned judgment and order, the High Court has confirmed the judgment of conviction and order of sentence passed by the learned Special Judge, Scheduled Caste/Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act Cases, Sriganganagar in Original Sessions Case No. 53 of 2012, dated 07.03.2013, whereby the learned Special Judge has convicted the Appellant-accused for of fence Under Sections 363, 364, 376(2)(f), 302 and 201 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 (for short "the Indian Penal Code") and awarded death sentence.

(2.) On the basis of the said written report, a case was registered as FIR No. 86 of 2012 against the Appellant-accused and Jumman Khan for the of fence punishable Under Sections 363, 364, 376(2)(f), 302, 201 and 34 of the Indian Penal Code and Sections 3(2)(v) and 3(2)(vi) of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989 (for short, "the Act"). Thereafter, the investigating agency prepared an inquest report and recovered certain articles from the spot. The dead body of the deceased was sent for post-mortem. The post-mortem report disclosed the cause of death as extensive injuries at neck and other vital parts of the body and recorded medical conditions of having been raped before death. During the course of investigation, the Appellant-accused and Jumman Khan were arrested. The investigating agency recovered the weapon of offence an iron spade, blood stained shirt of the Appellant-accused, blood stained clothes of the deceased and other articles at the instance of the Appellant-accused. The said articles were sealed and thereafter, sent to the Forensic Science Laboratory (for short, "FSL") for their serological and chemical examination. The FSL Report recorded that the blood stains on the clothes of the deceased, the weapon of offence and the clothes of the Appellant-accused matched the deceased's blood samples.

(3.) After completion of the investigation, a police report was filed before the competent court and the case was committed to the Court of learned Special Judge, Scheduled Caste/Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act Cases, Sriganganagar. The Trial Court had framed charges against the Appellant-accused and Jumman Khan for commission of the of fence punishable Under Sections 363, 364, 376(2)(f), 302 and 201 of the Indian Penal Code and Sections 3(2)(v) and 3(2)(vi) of the Act. The Appellant-accused and Jumman Khan had denied the aforesaid charges and thus, the case was committed to trial.