SUNDER LAL Vs. STATE OF HARYANA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) IN Sessions case No. 5 of 1995, Sunder Lal aged 31 years and Jai Pal aged 26 years, sons of Suraj Bhan resident of village Kharkhara were tried by the learned Additional Sessions Judge, Rewari for the offence punishable under Section 302 read with Section 34 IPC, in case FIR No. 255 registered on 4.11.1994 at P.S. Dharuhera for committing the murder of Smt. Birmati, wife of Sunder Lal. They were convicted for the said offences and were sentenced to undergo imprisonment for life and to pay a fine of Rs. 10,000/ - each and in default of payment of fine, each of the accused was to undergo further R.I. for a period of six months. Sunder Lal and Jai Pal have challenged their conviction and sentence by filing the instant criminal appeal.

(2.) THE brief facts of the case are that on 4.11.1994, Sultan Singh, PW -5 lodged a report that he is resident of village Chhawa and is an agriculturist. He had two daughters and two sons. One of the daughters was Smt. Birmati and was married with Sunder Lal accused resident of village Kharkhara. The marriage was performed in the month of May, 1987. From this wed -lock no child was born and as such she was issueless. She was getting treatment. Sunder Lal was working in the Army. About three years back, Sunder Lal was having doubt on the character of Birmati and as such he left Birmati at his (Sultan Singh's) house. Thereafter she lived there for about one and half years with them. Sultan Singh then convened a village Panchayat consisting of Jaswant Singh, Sarpanch of Kosli, Dharam Singh, Raghbir Singh Panch, Bharat Singh Panch of village Chhawa and went to village Kharkhara and met Nihal Singh, Lal Singh Sarpanch and other respectables of the village. In that very village before the Panchayat, Sunder Lal, accused refused to take Birmati but when he was satisfied about the character of Birmati, he agreed in the panchayat to take Birmati with him. On the next day, Sunder Lal visited the house of Sultan Singh and took Birmati to his village of Kharkhara and since then Birmati was living in village Kharkhara. On 4.11.1994 when Sultan Singh was present in his house in the morning, his sister Mewa Devi who was married in village Kharkhara with Chuni Lal came to him and informed that Sunder Lal and Jai Pal residents of village Kharkhara have committed the murder of Birmati by putting her on fire. Mewa Devi PW -6, also disclosed that they also tried to cremate the dead body but none from the village was ready to go with them. On this information, Sultan Singh accompanied by Raghbir Singh Panch, Bharat Singh and his sister Mewa Devi reached village Kharkhara and after satisfying themselves, went to the Police Station and reported the matter to the Police. Statement Exhibit PA was recorded by S.I. Sube Singh, PW -8. After recording First Information Report, Sube Singh, PW -8, accompanied the complainant to the spot and prepared the inquest report Exhibit PF in respect of the dead body of Birmati. He also prepared rough site plan Exhibit PI. The dead body was despatched for post mortem examination. The post mortem was conducted by Dr. Vinod Kumar Yadav, Medical Officer, PW -4. The post mortem report is Exhibit PE. During the course of inspection of the place of occurrence, some burnt articles (phoos and ash, one Hawai Chappal of left foot and one nip of kerosene oil) were taken into possession vide recovery memo Exhibit PH. Ornaments on the dead body were also taken in possession vide recovery memo Exhibit PJ after turning the same into a sealed parcel. Dr. M.K. Goyal, S.O., Forensic Science Laboratory, Madhuban, came to Sube Singh, Sub Inspector, PW -8 and inspected the spot when burnt articles and some material appearing to be skin was removed from the wall and was taken into possession by sealing them into a sealed parcel vide recovery memo Exhibit PK. Statements of the witnesses were recorded. On return to the Police Station the articles recovered were sent to the Director, FSL Madhuban for analysis. The report Exhibit PL was received which indicated that kerosene oil was detected in some of the articles recovered from the spot. The accused were arrested on 9.11.1994. After completion of usual investigation, final report under Section 173 Cr. P.C. was submitted in the Court of Illaqa Magistrate who committed the case to the Court of Session directing the accused to face trial.

(3.) IN order to bring home the charge to the guilty persons, prosecution examined as many as 10 witnesses. PW 1 is, constable Gurdial Singh. He took the Special Report at about 1.30 p.m. on 4.11.1994 and handed over the same to the Illaqa Magistrate at 3.30 p.m. at Rewari which is at a distance of 18 kilometers from Dharuhera. It may be mentioned here that village Kharkhara where the occurrence took place is at a distance of 3 kilometers from the Police Station Dharuhera. PW 2 is Pardeep Kumar, photographer. He, on the asking of the Police, took five snaps of the place of occurrence and proved negatives Exhibit P1 to Exhibits P5 and their positives Exhibit P6 to Exhibit P 10. PW 3 is Ram Avtar Yadav, Draftsman. He prepared the scaled site plan Exhibit PD of the place of occurrence on the pointing of Sultan Singh PW 8. PW 4 Dr. Vinod Yadav, Medical Officer, General Hospital, Rewari conducted the post mortem examination on the dead body of Birmati, aged 21 years on 5.11.1994 at 10.15 a.m. He noticed rigor mortis present on all the four limbs. Limbs fixed, arms fixed, finger hooked like claws assumed pugististic posture. There were cracks and fissures at places. The body was burnt 100% from superficial to deep burns. Brick red extravasation of blood from the peeled off skin from the sole of feet and palms. No ligature mark around neck was present. There was no other injury mark on the body. Kanta was in left nostril, chutki in toes and watch in left wrist. He further found that head and skull were healthy and congested. Thoracic wall was healthy except superficial to deep burnts. Trachea -bronchi, bronchols and Aloeli contains sooty, carbon particles, congested brick red coloured and contained frothy mucous. The pleura congested. Both the lungs were congested. Both the chambers of heart were filled with blood. All other organs were healthy. Both the kidneys were healthy and congested. The urinary bladder was empty and congested. General organs were healthy, uterus, non gradida, external genetalia burnt. In the opinion of the Doctor, the cause of death was due to shock and suffocation caused by 100% burns. The burns were ante -mortem in nature and were sufficient to cause death in the ordinary course of nature. The duration between death and postmortem examination was in between 6 to 36 hours. He proved the post mortem report Exhibit PE. In his cross -examination, he clarified that there being 100% burns, the sketches showing the burns on the dead body was not prepared. PW 5 Sultan Singh is the first informant. He has reiterated the circumstances narrated before the police at the time of lodging the First Information Report. PW 6 Smt. Mewa Devi is the sister of Sultan Singh, PW -5 who was married in village Kharkhara to Chuni Lai. She stated that when she got up in the morning from some ladies of the village, she came to know that Sunder Lal had murdered Birmati. Then she went to his home and noticed that both the accused were taking water in the bucket and dead body of Birmati was lying in burnt condition. Sunder Lal and Jai Pal accused were washing the floor. The accused tried to cremate the body of Birmati but the villagers did not cooperate with them. She made enquiries from the accused but they gave no response and then she went to village Chhawa to inform her brother Sultan Singh. PW -7 is Bharat Singh. He accompanied Sultan Singh to village Kharkhara on receipt of information from Mewa Devi. PW -8 Sube Singh, SI deposed to the manner in which investigation of the case was conducted by him. After completion of the usual investigation, final report under Section 173 Cr. P.C. was prepared by Sube Singh, SI of P.S. Dharuhera. PW -9 is Constable Ram Diya No. 325. He took the dead body of Smt. Birmati to the General Hospital for post mortem examination. PW 10 is Constable Hardwari Lal No. 419. He is a witness to the articles collected from the scene of occurrence by SI Sube Singh in the presence of Dr. M.K. Goel. Report Ex. PK of FSL was tendered in evidence. Yashwant Sinha, Dharam Chand, Udai Singh Inspector were given up being unnecessary and the prosecution evidence was closed.