PREM KUMAR Vs. STATE

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This appeal has been brought against judgment datedMarch 26, 19S7, of an Additional Session Judge, New Delhi, convicting theappellant of an offence punishable under Section 304, Part I, read withSection 34 of the Indian Penal Code (for short 1PC') and a subsequentorder of the same date sentencing the appellant to undergo rigorousimprisonment for ten years and to pay a fine of Rs. 500.00 and in default, toundergo further rigorous imprisonment for three months.

(2.) Facts, in brief, are that on 13/03/1980, some unknown personhad given a message to Police Control Room which was recorded in DailyDiary No. 91 at 3.14 P.M. to the effect that some persons in a taxi hadthrown out a person on Road No. 53, Near Ayurvedic Hospital PunjabiBagh and that person appeared to be dead. The Control Room conveyedthis message to Police Station Punjabi Bagh where it was recorded at serialNo. 17A in Daily Diary at 3.25 P.M. and SI Sukhbir Singh, who waspresent in the area in connection with holding some inquiry in Daily DiaryNo.l7A at East Avenue Road, was sent a copy of the Daily Diary reportthrough Constable Suraj Bhan along with police vehicle No.DHD312. SISukhbir Singh had reached the spot accompanied by Constable Bhopal Singhand Constable Suraj Bhan in the said vehicle being driven by Head Constable Amar Singh and he found that Police Control Room Van. which wasunder the charge of Head Constable Ram Parkash (PW 13) had alreadyarrived and he made query from the injured person lying there, whose namewas disclosed by him as Kishan Lal. At that time, PW2 Subedar Sher Singhwas also present and the injured Kishan Lal was stated to have made thestatement which was recorded in Urdu and was reproduced in his own wordsin the Rukka Ex.PW12/A which was signed by Head Constable RamParkash, witness Sher Singh and duly attested by SI Sukhbir Singh. Thefree translation of the said dying declaration is to the following effect :

(3.) It was recorded in the endorsement made by SI Sukhbir Singh inthis dying declaration that Kishan Lal was in awful pain and was keeping hiseyes closed and thus, be was not in a position to sign the said statement. Hetook steps to send the injured Kishan Lal in the PCR Van and Kishan Lalwas admitted in the hospital as per MLC Ex.PW28/A with the history of havling been stabbed and beaten by somebody. He was admitted in the hospitaat 4.10 P.M. and at that time he was conscious but was smelling of alcohol.However, he succumbed to his injuries at 4.25 P.M. as per death summaryEx. PW31/A due to cardio-respiratory arrest. Earlier to that Rukka was sentthrough Constable Bhopal Singh for registration of the case. A case underSection 307 read with Section 34 Indian Penal Code came to be registered at Police Station130Panjabi Bagh as per copy of the FIR Ex PW42/C at 4.05 P.M. vide DailyDiary No. 20A. SI Sukhbir Singh also reached the hospital and learnt aboutthe death of the injured Kishan Lal and converted the case from Section 307IPC to Section 302 IPG and was met by PW23 Kanhaiya Lal and PW36Suraj Parkash, who ar e residents of the same place as decased and bad eemeto the hospital on learning about deceased having been taken to the hospitaland they accompanied the police in search of Prem Kumar and at about7 P-M- on the same day Prem Kumar was arrested his personal search resulted in seizure of one ration card belonging to .the deceased and one electricitybill Ex. PE also in the name of the deceased, which were taken into possession vide memo Ex. PW23/B. Blood stained shrit Ex. PI, which was worn bythe appellant at that time, was also taken into possession and converterinto sealed parcel. This memo was also signed by the said two witnesses.On the following day, in the presence of the same witnesses the appellant wasinterrogated and he is stated to have made a disclosure statement which wasreduced into writing Ex. PW36/C and in pursuance of the said disclosurestatement, relevant portion of which was that he had concealed the dagger,which was used in the occurrence, in the garbage can placed near the latrinesat Guru Ravidas Road, Lane No. 4 Dev Nagar and he could point out thesame and get it recovered and thereafter he got recovered the dagger fromthat place of which Sketch Ex. PW36/B was prepard. The upper smallportion of the blade of the dagger stood broken. The same also was foundto be blood stained and was converted into sealed parcel and taken intopossession vide recovery memo Ex PW36/A. The appellant had also diclosed about the place of occurrence where the deceased was subjected to stabbing and beating and had led the police party and pointed out the place inthe said hillock near Railway Line close to Bhutan Embassy from whichplace certain broken pieces of bottles of rum and wine some pieces ofcigarette, & some blood were found and which were taken into possessionvide memo Ex PW15A. This memo is signed by SI Ram Chander and ASIRam Saran. At that time, it appeared that public witnesses were not joinedFrom the place where the injured was found lying in Punjabi Bagh, bloodstained earth, one blood stained paper and control earth were also taken intoposssesion and converted into sealed parcel vide memo Ex. PF. SI Sukhbirsingh also held the inquest proceedings and had taken into possession thesealed parcel containing the Pajama of the deceased vide memo Ex. PW14/A.The postmortem was perfomed by Dr. Bharat Singh (PW2) who noticed thefollowing injuries: