SATBIR SINGH Vs. STATE OF HARYANA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The present appeal has been preferred by the appellant-Satbir Singh against the judgment dtd. 4/11/2011 passed by learned Sessions Judge, Faridabad wherein he has been convicted under Sec. 302 of Indian Penal Code (for short 'IPC') and sentenced to undergo imprisonment for life with a fine of Rs.10,000.00 vide order dtd. 8/11/2011.

(2.) Succinctly, the case of the prosecution is that on 16/5/2010, complainant Smt. Seema Devi presented an application Ex.PF before ASI Krishan Kumar mentioning therein that her marriage was performed 10-12 years ago with Satbir (appellant) and she has two children namely, Abhishek and Radhika from that marriage. The complainant had alleged that she was being tortured by husband Satbir Singh repeatedly on provocation by her father-in-law Om Parkash, brothers-in-law, Mukesh and Vikas and phupha Bhola Ram. There are allegations of beating the complainant on their part as well. She had further alleged that time and again she was turned out of the matrimonial home and it is on the intervention of the Panchayat and by the assurance given by the husband, she was brought back to the matrimonial home. It was alleged that on 15/5/2010, she was given beating by her husband and she disclosed the same to her cousin Jitender son of Jagdish when he had come to take her along for the marriage of her cousin. She had deposed that her cousin Jitender and husband after consuming beer, slept on Deewan in the room and at about 04:00 am, she noticed that her husband was trying to leave the house by snatching her purse. She resisted the same and called upon her cousin Jitender. She was surprised to see that Jitender was lying dead on his bed. She noticed that ligature marks were there on his neck. On this, she telephonically informed her mother and other family members. On their arrival, Jitender was taken to Sarvodaya Hospital, Sector-8, Faridabad wherein he was declared brought dead by the doctors. ASI Krishan Kumar made his endorsement Ex.PD/2 on the application Ex.PF moved by the complainant Seema Devi and on the basis of the same, the formal FIR Ex.PD was recorded by SI Mahinder Singh. Thereafter, the police carried out further proceedings and inquest report Ex.PG was prepared. The site plan Ex.P1 was also prepared. On 27/5/2010, accused namely, Satbir Singh was arrested and during interrogation, he suffered disclosure statement Ex. PJ. On his disclosure, the police made the recovery of a rope which is Ex.P1. On conclusion of the investigation, report under Sec. 173 Cr.P.C. was prepared and presented in the Court. The accused was charge-sheeted for the offence punishable under Sec. 302 IPC to which he pleaded not guilty and claimed trial.

(3.) The prosecution in order to prove the charges besides the documentary evidences, examined 11 witnesses before the trial Court. Among the prominent witnesses, PW1 Dr. Ajender Kumar Yadav was examined, who proved the postmortem examination of the dead body. He tendered in evidence his affidavit Ex.PW1/A and has proved the postmortem report Ex.PA and his opinion Ex.PB. PW2 Dr. Narinder Kaur was examined, who tendered in her evidence her affidavit Ex.PW2/A and proved MLR Ex.PC which pertained to the medico legal examination of the complainant Seema Devi. The complainant PW-7 Seema Devi appeared before the Court and supported the prosecution case in toto. Further, the uncle of Smt. Seema Devi, Sh. Nandvir appeared as PW-9 and supported the prosecution version. Besides this, PW10 Inspector Dalbir Singh who partly investigated the case, appeared for prosecution. On conclusion of the evidence of prosecution, the complete evidence were put to the appellant and his statement under Sec. 313 Cr.P.C. was recorded. The appellant pleaded false implication. Though he was granted opportunities to lead the evidence in his defence but he produced no defence evidence. On the conclusion of the trial, learned trial Court after examining the oral as well as documentary evidence came to the conclusion that the prosecution remained successful in proving its case beyond reasonable doubt and thus, convicted the appellant for the charge under Sec. 302 IPC and as a result, sentenced him to undergo life imprisonment.