DRIGPAL SINGH Vs. STATE OF U.P.

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This is a criminal appeal preferred by the appellant from Jail directed against judgment and order dated 07.07.2005 passed by learned Additional District and Sessions Judge, Court No.5, Hardoi in Sessions Trial No. 619/2004. By that judgment, the appellant, charged under Section 302 IPC for committing murder of his wife Geeta at about 3.00 a.m. in the night between 21 and 22nd March, 2004, has been convicted for the said offence and punished with life imprisonment as well as a fine of Rs. 10,000/-. For default in payment of fine, he has been ordered to undergo further rigorous imprisonment for one year.

(2.) The earliest version of the alleged occurrence is contained in the written report (Ext. Ka. 01) dated 22.03.2004 lodged by informant Ashish Kumar (P.W.1) before the Officer Incharge Kotwali, Town Hardoi. The allegations are to the effect that informant's sister Smt. Geeta, aged about 36 years, was married with the appellant Drigpal Singh about 14-16 years earlier. The appellant worked with a contractor at Delhi for about 8-10 years. About 10 days earlier, the appellant came from Delhi to informant's place along with his children. He was to go to his native village Nasa under Panchdeora Police Station, Hardoi. In the night between 21/22nd March, 2004, the appellant and deceased Geeta slept on a cot in a room where their children Suraj, 13 years (P.W.2), Saurabh, 10 years (D.W.1) and Gaurish, 5 years also slept on another cot. At about 3.00 a.m. in the night, the appellant strangulated Geeta with the Saree which she was wearing. On hearing the cries of children, the informant and his elder brother Sushil Kumar and mother Sushila Devi went running and saw the appellant strangulating Geeta with her Saree. On being challenged, the appellant ran away from the room. On going near Geeta, they found that she was dead. Her dead body remained lying in the room. The appellant used to allege that Geeta was characterless and for this reason there used to be frequent quarrels between the two.

(3.) The formal F.I.R. (Ext. Ka.7) was recorded at the Police Station situated at a distance of two kilometers from the place of occurrence, house of the informant on 22nd March, 2004 at 9.05 a.m. on the basis of written report of the informant, indicated above. After investigating the offence recorded as Crime No. 71/04, police submitted Charge Sheet No. 207/04 under Section 302 IPC against the appellant. The case was committed to the Court of Sessions on 29.06.2004 by Chief Judicial Magistrate, Hardoi. Charge was framed against the sole accused-appellant under Section 302 IPC. The appellant pleaded not guilty to the charge and hence he was put on trial. The defence of the appellant is that he and the deceased were having differences and the deceased had filed a case against him under Section 498-A and some other Sections of IPC in the year 1995, hence they had separated. According to defence version, the appellant never went to live with the deceased and was not present with her on the date of occurrence. He had been falsely implicated for ulterior reasons and, in fact, nobody had seen the occurrence which took place in dark hours of night. It is further defence of the appellant that the informant took time, planned a false case and approached the police belatedly at about 9.00 a.m. when the Police Station was situated only at a distance of two kilometers.