DALIP KUMAR Vs. STATE OF DELHI

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The appellants Dalip Kumar, Ram Parvesh and Shambhu Dass (who shall be referred to, hereinafter, for the sake of felicity, as "Dalip", "Ram" and "Shambhu" respectively) are in appeal, before us, against common judgment, dated 26th November, 2001 and order on sentence, dated 14th December, 2001, passed by the learned Additional Sessions Judge (hereinafter referred to as "the learned ASJ"), whereby each of them has been convicted, under Section 302, read with Section 34 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 (IPC), for having committed the murder of Barun Singh (referred to, hereinafter, as "Barun"), and, consequently, sentenced to suffer rigorous imprisonment for life.

(2.) The case set up by the prosecution, as accepted by the learned ASJ, is as follows. On 13th March, 1998, Umesh Singh (PW-8) visited the deceased Barun, at his residence, on the occasion of Holi. He found an altercation, taking place, between Barun and Shambhu, resulting from a markedly trivial request, by Barun, to Shambhu, to lower the volume of the tape-recorder being played by him. Shambhu brought, with him, Dalip and Ram, the other two appellants before us. The fight, between Shambhu, Dalip and Ram on the one part, and Barun, on the other, intensified. Shambhu went to his room and returned with a knife. Ram held Barun, while Shambhu stabbed him, resulting in Barun losing consciousness. Umesh tried to intercede, but was also beaten up by the appellants. Umesh, thereafter, raised an alarm, resulting in the arrival, at the spot, of the neighbours. Shambhu dropped the knife and fled from the spot, whereas Dalip and Ram were apprehended by the neighbours. Barun was taken to the Sanjay Gandhi Hospital (hereinafter referred to as "the Hospital"), where he was declared brought dead. Thus, as found by the learned ASJ, Dalip, Ram and Shambhu had, in concert, committed the murder of Barun, with the fatal stab wound having been administered by Shambhu.

(3.) The witnesses, on whom the prosecution chiefly relied, before the learned ASJ, were Umesh Singh (PW-8) and Anil Kumar (PW-12). The prosecution sought to contend that both these witnesses were eye-witnesses to the incident. While holding that the presence of Anil Kumar (PW-12), at the spot at the time of occurrence was not conclusively proved, the learned ASJ has found Umesh Singh (PW-8) to be a credible eyewitness, whose deposition, which - as the learned ASJ finds - had remained consistent, in the investigation as well as during trial, successfully withstood cross-examination. On the basis of the deposition of Umesh Singh (PW-8), seen in juxtaposition with the evidence of Dr. K. L. Sharma (PW-2) - who had conducted the post-mortem on Barun - to the effect that Barun had suffered an abdominal stab injury, from which blood was oozing out even at the time of conducting of his post-mortem, and which was sufficient in the ordinary course of nature to cause death, and that the knife, seized from the spot of occurrence and produced before him, was capable of causing the said injury, the learned ASJ held that the twin facts, of the death of Barun having been homicidal in nature, and having been caused by the appellants Dalip, Ram and Shambhu, with Shambhu administering the fatal stab wound, stood conclusively proved.