SURENDER KUMAR Vs. STATE OF H.P.

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The present appeal is directed against the judgment and order dtd. 30/6/2021 passed by learned Additional Sessions Judge, Sirmour at Nahan (learned Trial Court) vide which, the appellant (accused before learned Trial Court) was convicted of the commission of offence punishable under Sec. 302 of the Indian Penal Code (in short 'IPC') and was sentenced to undergo imprisonment for life and to pay fine of Rs.20,000.00 and in default of payment of fine to further undergo rigorous imprisonment for six months. (Parties shall hereinafter be referred to in the same manner as they were arrayed before the learned Trial Court for convenience).

(2.) Briefly stated, the facts giving rise to the present appeal are that the prosecution filed a charge sheet against the accused for the commission of an offence punishable under Sec. 302 of the IPC. It was asserted that the police received information on 28/5/2017, at about 6.40 AM, from Tanuj (PW-1) that one person was stabbed at Tokiyon, near the cowshed. The information was reduced to writing and an entry (Ex.PW8/A) was recorded in the Police Station. SI Beeru Ahmad (PW-20), HC Surender Singh and HHC Kamal Kant (PW-16) proceeded to verify the correctness of the information. Geeta Ram, the informant, made a statement to the police that he was employed in the Gokul Dhaam cowshed to take care of the cows. He had gone to his home on 28/5/2017 at around 6.30 AM to take a bath when he heard some noise from the road near the cowshed. Informant Geeta Ram went to the spot and saw the accused Surender Singh abusing his brother-in-law Balbir Singh (since deceased) and attacking him with a knife on his neck and belly. Geeta Ram asked the accused not to stab the deceased but he continued stabbing the deceased. The deceased fell on the road and succumbed to his injuries. Many people gathered on the spot. The statement (EX.PW13/A) was reduced into writing and was sent to the Police Station where FIR (Ex.PW18/A) was registered. SI Beeru Ahmad (PW-20) conducted the investigation. He prepared the inquest report (EX.PW20/A) and sent the dead body to the hospital for postmortem examination. Dr Kamal Pasha (PW-14), Dr Sudhir Gupta and Dr Rajiv Chauhan (PW-17) conducted the postmortem examination of the deceased and found stab injuries which would have been caused by a knife. The postmortem report (Ex.PW14/B) was issued. SI Beeru Ahmad prepared the spot map (Ex.PW-20/C). He picked up a piece of brick stained with blood (Ex. P1), put it in a parcel and sealed the parcel with three impressions of seal 'H'. The parcel was seized vide memo (Ex.PW10/A). He picked a controlled brick piece (Ex.P-2), put it in a parcel and sealed the parcel with three impressions of seal 'H'. The parcel was seized vide memo (Ex.PW10/B). He lifted the blood-stained soil (Ex.P3) from the spot where the dead body was lying. It was wrapped in paper and sealed in a parcel with three impressions of seal 'H'. The soil was seized vide memo (EX.PW10/C). He picked up the controlled soil sample (Ex. P4), wrapped it in paper and sealed it in a parcel with three impressions of seal 'H'. The parcel was taken into possession vide memo (Ex.PW10/D). He also seized a pair of slippers (Ex.P5) and a belt (Ex.P6) lying on the spot. He put them in a parcel and sealed the parcel with three impressions of seal 'H'. The parcel was seized vide memo (Ex.PW10/E). He scraped the blood-stained concrete (Ex.P7) from the road and wrapped it in a newspaper. He sealed the newspaper in a parcel with three seal impressions of seal 'H' and seized the parcel vide memo (Ex.PW10/F). He obtained the sample seals 'H' on separate pieces of cloth (Ex.PW-10/G-1 to Ex.PW-10/G-6) and handed over the seal to witness Gurnam Singh after the use. HC Virender Singh (PW9) deposited the parcels in Malkhana. The photographs of the spot (Ex.PW15/A1 to EX.PW15/A24) were taken by Rajnish Kumar (PW-15). The Medical Officer also handed over the parcels to HHC Kamal Kant, who deposited them with HC Virender Singh. The accused was arrested on 28/5/2017. The accused had sustained injury on his head hand and finger of his right hand. SI Beeru Ahmad filed an application (EX.PW17/A) for conducting medical examination of the accused. Dr Rajeev Chauhan (PW17) conducted the medical examination of the accused and found that he had suffered simple injuries that could have been caused by a blunt-edged weapon within 10-12 hours of examination. He issued the MLC (EX.PW17/B). The accused made a disclosure statement (Ex.PW16/A) on 30/5/2017 in the presence of HHC Kamal Kant (PW16) and Constable Arun Kumar that he could get the knife recovered from his room. The accused led the police to his house at Village Tokiyon. Nettar Singh (PW11) and Malkiyat Singh were associated on the way. The accused got recovered a knife (Ex.P8) from the bottom of the cupboard. SI Beeru Ahmad prepared the sketch of knife (EX.PW20/D) and sealed it in a parcel with three impressions of seal 'T'. He seized the knife vide memo (Ex.PW11/C). He obtained the sample of seal (Ex.PW11/D) on a piece of cloth and handed it over to Nettar Singh after the use. The accused also produced one Pant (Ex. P9) and a Shirt (Ex. P10), which were put in a parcel and the parcel was sealed with three impressions of seal 'D'. The clothes were seized vide memo (Ex.PW11/E). The spot map of the recovery (Ex.PW20/C) was prepared. The case property was deposited with HC Virender Singh, who sent it to FSL for analysis. The result of the analysis (Ex.PX1 to Ex.PX3) issued by FSL shows that the controlled brick piece lifted from the spot was consistent with a blood-stained piece of brick, the soil sample was consistent with the bloodstained piece of concrete, human blood was detected in the blood sample, Pants, T-shirt and underwear of the deceased, bloodstained brick pieces, blood-stained soil, blood-stained stones lifted from the spot, belt and Chappal of the deceased, knife and shirt of Surender Kumar (accused) but the result was inconclusive regarding the blood group. Blood was detected on the pants of the accused but it was insufficient for Serological examination. No poison/alcohol was detected in the viscera. The DNA profiling obtained from the pants, T-shirt, blood-stained stone, and dagger/knife was consistent with DNA profiling obtained from the blood of Balbir Singh. A partial and mixed DNA profiling was obtained from the Pants, and T-shirt of accused Surender Singh but nothing conclusive could be said about the same. The Medical Officer issued the final opinion that the deceased had died due to hypovolemic shock and asphyxia caused by the cutting of great vessels like common carotid and subclavian arteries and collapse of the right lung leading to cardio respiratory arrest. The injuries could have been caused by means of the knife recovered at the instance of the accused. Statements of witnesses were recorded as per their version and after the completion of the investigation, a challan was prepared and presented in the Court of Learned Judicial Magistrate First Class, Court No.2, Paonta Sahib, who committed it to the Court of learned Sessions Judge, Sirmour at Nahan for trial, from where it was assigned to the Court of learned Additional Sessions Judge, Sirmour, at Nahan (learned Trial Court).

(3.) The learned Trial Court charged the accused with the commission of an offence punishable under Sec. 302 of IPC. He pleaded not guilty and claimed to be tried.