SHRI NIWAS Vs. STATE

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THIS Criminal Appeal, preferred under Section 374 of Code of Criminal Pro­cedure, 1973, is directed against judg­ment and order dated 16.08.1995, passed by learned Sessions Judge, Dehradun, whereby appellant Shri Niwas has been convicted and sentenced to lice imprisonment and a fine of Rs. 2,000/-.

(2.) IN brief, the prosecution story is that appellant was habitual drunkard who used to beat his wife almost daily under the influence of alcohol. Every­day people used to hear noise from his house and it was so frequent that the neighbours stopped taking notice of it. On 17.10.1990 at about 21-30 Hrs, there was noise of marpeet coming out from the house of the appellant. Though the appellant's wife was crying for help but nobody took it seriously and thought it to be as usual. Next day, on 18.10.1990, at about 6:00 a.m., Smt. Savitri Devi- PW.4 (neighbour) was told by Chhota (PW.8), S/o Shri Niwas (Appellant) that his father has killed his mother by. khukhri- [pointed double edged knife] (Exh.l). On this the news spread and Mugan Chand (PW.1) and the neighbours went inside the house of appellant and found that in the western corner of the room, Smt. Sunita (W/o appellant) was lying dead in the pool of blood. There were signs of incised wounds over her head and face. Mugan Chand (PW1) who is also Up-Pradhan and the resident of Nayi Basti, Balmiki Colony, lodged the First Information Report (Exh. A-1) on 18.10.1990 at about 7:30 a.m. with out-post Patel Nagar of Police Station Kotwali, Dehradun. A Check Report (Exh. A-17) was prepared by Head Constable, Satyapal Singh who also made the entry at S.No. 9 on the same day in the General Diary (Extract Exh. A-18) regarding recording of the FI.R. A Crime No. 195 (re-numbered as 1874 with Police Station ) of 1990 was registered against the appellant (Shri Niwas) under Section 302 I.PC. Sub Inspector Shri Dharam Veer Singh (PW.9), the Investigating Officer after the crime was registered, proceeded to the scene of occurrence and took dead body of the deceased in possession and prepared the inquest report (Exh. A-2) on the same day i.e. 18.10.1990. He also took the blood stained articles from the place of the incident and pre­pared Recovery Memo (Exh. A-3). On the very day weapon used in crime i.e. Kukhri (Exh. A-1) was recovered and a Recovery Memo (Exh. A-3) was also prepared. The Investigating Officer also prepared on 18.10.1990 itself a site plan (Exh. A-5) from the place where the dead body was found.

(3.) THE Investigating Officer after recording the statements of witnesses, submitted charge-sheet against the ap­pellant ( Shri Niwas) in the court of concerned Magistrate. The Magistrate after giving necessary copies to the ac­cused, committed the case to the Court of Sessions Judge. Learned Sessions Judge after hearing, framed charge under Section 302 I.PC. against Shri Niwas (appellant) who denied the charge and pleaded not guilty. The prosecution got examined PW.1 Mugan Chand (informant), PW.2 Mahendra (neighbour), PW3 Shyam Singh, PW4 Savitri Devi (neighbour), PW.5 Dile Ram (father of the deceased), PW.6 Pyare Lal (neighbour), PW.7 Anand (neighbour), PW.8 Chhota (S/o the ap­pellant Shri Niwas), PW.9 Sub-Inspec­tor Dharam Veer Singh (Investigating Officer) and P.W.10 Dr. Rakesh Shamsheri (Medical Officer). The docu­mentary and oral evidence were put to the accused under Section 313 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973, who alleged the evidence to be false and stated that on the date of the inci­dent, he was not at home and had gone to Kanwali Road. However, he stated that he was arrested from his house in Patel Nagar in the morning but he alleges that he reached there from Kanwali Road at that time. No evidence in defence was given. Learned Sessions Judge on the basis of evidence on record and after hearing the parties found the accused guilty of the charge and convicted him under Section 302 I.PC., 1860, and sen­tenced him to the life imprisonment and fine of Rs. 2,000. Aggrieved by said judgment and order, this appeal is preferred.