CHAMAN LAL Vs. STATE DELHI ADMN

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The appellant has been convicted under Section 302/324 of the Indian Penal Code for causing the murder of Almina as also injuries on the person of her husband Chunan Khan @ Ali Hassan. The appellant, by virtue of the Order on Sentence dated 27/11/1996 has been ordered to undergo rigorous imprisonment for life in respect of the offence under Section 302 IPC and also to pay a fine of Rs 5,000.00 and in default of payment to further undergo rigorous imprisonment for one month. The appellant was also sentenced in respect of the offence under Section 324 IPC and was ordered to undergo rigorous imprisonment for one month and to pay a fine of Rs 100/- and in default of payment of such fine to further undergo rigorous imprisonment for a period of 15 days. The sentences were to run concurrently.

(2.) The case of the prosecution is that on 05.10.1991, at about 10.45 pm, the appellant, who was residing in the same locality as that of the deceased and the injured, started abusing Almina. It is also the case of the prosecution that the appellant stabbed Almina in her abdomen several times and on her raising an alarm, her husband Chunan Khan @ Ali Hassan also came out of the house and when he tried to rescue his wife from the appellant, he was also stabbed by the appellant in his abdomen and, thereafter, the appellant ran away from the spot while abusing him. Subsequently, the deceased Almina and her husband Chunan Khan @ Ali Hassan were taken to JPN hospital. Almina was unfit to make a statement. Chunan Khan @ Ali Hassan was also admitted and he was also declared to be unfit to make a statement.

(3.) The prosecution examined as many as 15 witnesses, of which, the most material witnesses were the three alleged eye-witnesses PW-5 Noor Jahan, PW-6 Haseena and the injured witness PW-7 Chunan Khan @ Ali Hassan. The Investigating Officer, Inspector V.K. Gupta, was examined as PW-15. As per the prosecution, the ruqqa was prepared on the basis of the statement of PW-6 Haseena, who is said to have been residing in the same locality and who is said to have witnessed the entire incident. Her statement has been recorded as Ex.PW-2/A and at the end bears her thumb impression. On the basis of the statement, the ruqqa, Ex.PW-2/B was prepared and was sent to the Police Station through Constable Narender for registration of the case. Thereafter, the FIR No.580/1991 was registered initially under Section 307, and after the death of Almina, Section 302 was added. As per the prosecution, the weapon of offence, which was said to be a knife (churi) was recovered at the instance of the appellant. The said knife was bloodstained and the CFSL reports Ex.PW-15/1 and PW-15/2 indicated that blood was detected on the knife of the alleged weapon of offence as also on the clothes which were worn by the appellant at the time of his arrest. As per the CFSL report, human blood was detected in the above items and the blood group in each case was B`.