PAKALA NARAYANA SWAMI Vs. EMPEROR

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THIS is an appeal by special leave from a judgment of the High Court of Patna who affirmed the decision of the Sessions Judge at Berhampur who had convicted the appellant of the murder of one Kuree Nukaraju and sentenced him to death. The accused, his wife, his wife's brother, and his clerk living at his house were charged with the murder before the Sub-divisional Magistrate, Chatrapur, in May and June, 1937. After hearing the evidence the examining Magistrate discharged all the accused holding that there was no sufficient evidence to support the charge. Thereupon the Sessions Judge, Berhampur, exercising his powers under the Code of Criminal Procedure, called upon the accused to show cause why they should not be committed for trial, and in July, 1937, ordered the present accused and his wife to be committed to the Court of Session to stand their trial for offences under sections of the Indian Penal Code 120b (conspiring to murder) 302 (murder) and 201 (causing evidence of an offence to disappear ). At the trial the Sessions Judge acquitted the appellant's wife of all the charges but convicted the appellant of murder and sentenced him to death. The appeal is based upon the admission of certain evidence said to be made inadmissible by provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure and the Indian Evidence Act; and is further maintained upon the contention that whether the disputed evidence be admitted or not, and certainly if it ought to have been rejected, there is no evidence sufficient to support this conviction.

(2.) ON Tuesday, March 23, 1937, at about noon the body of the deceased man was found in a steel trunk in a third class compartment at Puri, the terminus of a branch line on the Bengal Nagpur Railway, where the trunk had been left unclaimed. The body had been cut into seven portions, and the medical evidence left no doubt that the man had been murdered. A few days elapsed before identification, but eventually the body of the deceased was identified by his widow. He was a man of about forty and had been married about twenty-two years. He had been a peon in the service of the Dewan of Pithapur one of whose daughters was the wife of the accused. It was suggested by the prosecution that before her marriage and about nineteen years before the events in question the wife of the accused, then a girl of about thirteen, had had an intrigue with the deceased. Four letters were produced by the deceased's widow purporting to be signed by the girl bearing date 1918 supporting this suggestion. The Judge was not satisfied with the evidence of handwriting; there was no other evidence worth considering in support; and this suggested motive must be definitely rejected. The fact however remains that the deceased was in possession of these four documents purporting to be signed by the wife of the accused. About 1919 the accused and his wife were married. They went to live at Berhampur about two hundred and fifty miles from Pithapur. About 1933 they returned to Pithapur where they appear to have stayed with her father. They seem at that time to have been in need of money ; and during 1936 the accused's wife borrowed from the deceased man at various times and in relatively small sums an amount of Rs. 3,000 at interest at the rate of eighteen per cent, per annum. About fifty letters and notes proving these transactions signed: by the accused's wife were found in the deceased man's house at Pithapur after his death. ON Saturday, March 20, 1937, the deceased man received a letter the contents of which were not accurately proved, but it was reasonably clear that it invited him to come that day or next day to Berhampur. It was unsigned. The widow said that on that day her husband showed her a letter and said that he was going to Berhampur as the appellant's wife had written to him and told him to go and receive payment of his due. This evidence was objected to; it was admitted as falling under the provisions of Section 32 (1) of the Indian Evidence Act. The admission of this evidence is one of the grounds of the appeal, and will be discussed later. The deceased left his house on Sunday, March 21, in time to catch the train for Berhampur. ON Tuesday, March 23, his body was found in the train at Puri as already stated.

(3.) A variety of questions has been mooted in the Indian Courts as to the effect of this section. It has been suggested that the statement must be made after the transaction has taken place, that the person making it must be at any rate near death, and that the "circumstances" can only include the acts done when and where the death was caused. Their Lordships are of opinion that the natural meaning of the words used does not convey any of these limitations. The statement may be made before the cause of death has arisen, or before the deceased has any reason to anticipate being killed. The circumstances must be circumstances of the transaction : general expressions indicating fear or suspicion whether of a particular individual or otherwise and not directly related to the occasion of the death will not be admissible. But statements made by the deceased that he was proceeding to the spot where he was in fact killed, or as to his reasons for so proceeding, or that he was going to meet a particular person, or that he had been invited by such person to meet him would each of them be circumstances of the transaction, and would be so whether the person was unknown, or was not the person accused. Such a statement might indeed be exculpatory of the person accused. "circumstances of the transaction" is a phrase, no doubt, that conveys some limitations. It is not as broad as the analogous use in "circumstantial evidence" which includes evidence of all relevant; facts. It is on the other hand narrower than "res gest". Circumstances must have some proximate relation to the actual occurrence : though as for instance in a case of prolonged poisoning they may be related to dates at a considerable distance from the date of the actual fatal dose.