UMESH Vs. STATE OF MADHYA PRADESH

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This appeal is directed against the judgment dated 1-10-1991 of the Additional Sessions Judge, Jaspur Nagar, Raigarh, in Sessions Trial No.30 of 1990, arising out of Crime No10/90 of Police Station Jaspur Nagar, Raigarh. The appellant was convicted for having committed an offence under Section 394 read with Section 397 for committing robbery by use of dangerous weapon. He was sentenced to rigorous imprisonment for 7 years.

(2.) The learned trial Court found it established against the accused that he, on 19-1-90, in the house of Vinod Kumar Jain, P. W. 1, had looted gold ornaments from the person of Smt. Sanjana Jain, wife of Vinod Kumar Jain, in her own room at point of knife, threatening to kill her.

(3.) Brief facts of the case are that the accused had illegally entered the house and had entered the room of Smt. Sanjana Jain. The time was about 6.25 p.m. Sanjana Jain, her mother-in-law and sister-in-law were watching TV in a room on the ground floor, while her husband Vinod Kumar Jain and father-in-law Hanuman Prasad Jain were in their shop. Sanjana Jain went upstairs to switch off the light of the bath-room. When she entered the room upstairs, she noticed the presence of a stranger in her room. He was the present appellant. He asked Smt. Sanjana Jain to sit down on the bed, at the point of knife, and demanded key of the safe. When Smt. Sanjana Jain disclosed that she did not have the key, the accused, at the point of knife, asked her to remove all the ornaments on her body and hand them over to him, else she will be killed. The accused-appellant had shut the doors of the room. Smt. Sanjana Jain then took off her gold necklace, weighing 1 1/2 tolas from her neck, 2 gold rings weighing 1 1/2 tolas from her fingers, 4 gold bangles, weighing 3 tolas from her wrists and one Titan wrist-watch from her wrist and handed over to the accused. The accused took them and went out. The door of the room was left open. Smt. Sanjana Jain raised the cries 'CHOR CHOR'. Her husband and father-in-law went upstairs and they saw this appellant running from the house and he had jumped over the wall. Vinod Kumar Jain and Hanuman Prasad Jain know the accused from before. On their cries, the people of the locality also gathered and chased the accused. There was a hotel adjoining the house of Hanuman Prasad. In fact the said hotel is in a building which belongs to Hanuman Prasad Jain. At that time, Halwais and other workers of the hotel were also present there. The accused-appellant had come there and parked a lady's bicycle in front of the hotel and this had been noticed by the workers of the hotel. After some time, they saw the accused in a perplexed condition and they heard the cries of 'CHOR CHOR' from Hanuman Prasad and Vinod Kumar Jain. The accused-appellant then suddenly ran from the hotel also. He was chased by some persons, but the appellant could not be caught and subsequently escaped. Hanuman Prasad and others then lodged a report with police, within an hour of the theft, naming this accused as the culprit. The police searched for the accused and kept a watch for him. Two days later, he was found moving in the area of Tikaitganj. Some policemen chased him and with the help of some boys, who were playing cricket in a ground, the accused was surrounded and over-powered. That was on 13-1-1990. One gold nacklace, 2 gold rings and 2 bangles of gold were recovered from him. The accused was then sent to jail on judicial remand. On 21st January, 1990, in an identification parade, in the jail before the Tehsildar (the ExecutiveMagistrate), Shri B. S. Bais, P.W. 10, vide proceedings Ex. P-8, Smt. Sanjana Jain identified this accused. Smt. Sanjana Jain did not know this ground from before. Identification parade in respect of the recovered ornaments was conducted in the presence of one Suresh, P.W. 11, and Lata Devi P.W. 12. In this identification parade, Smt. Sanjana Jain and Vinod Kumar Jain had correctly identified their ornaments, as those, which were looted from Smt. Sanjana Jain by the accused. Memorandum in respect of this identification is Ex. P-12. This identification was conducted on 14-1-90.