STATE OF H P Vs. RAGHUBIR SINGH

JUDGEMENT

(1.) We proceed to decide both these appeals (Cr. Appeal No. 177/90 and Cr. Appeal No. 195/90) by a common judgment since they arise out of the same case. Criminal Appeal 177 of 1990 (State of Himachal Pradesh v. Raghubir Singh alias Raghubhushan) has been filed by the State for convicting the accused under Section 302 instead of 304-I of the Indian Penal Code, as done by the trial Court. Criminal Appeal 195 of 1990 (Raghubir Singh alias Raghubhushan v. State of H.P.) has been filed by the accused against the trial Court judgment dated 24/10/1989 convicting him under Section 304-I of the Indian Penal Code sentencing him to rigorous imprisonment for six years and to pay fine of Rs. 4,000.00 and in default of payment of fine, to suffer further imprisonment for one year. Fine, on realisation, has been directed to be paid to the family of the deceased. Facts of the case, now, be narrated briefly.

(2.) Deceased Raghunath (hereafter 'the deceased') was a contractor. He was living at Mehroli in Delhi while accused Raghubir Singh (hereafter 'the accused') is a resident of village Odder in District Kangra, H.P. He was an employee of the deceased. K. R. Palaniswami and his wife Aarti were tenants in the premises where the deceased was residing. The deceased was a widower with two children. In his absence from the house, the deceased used to ask Aarti to look-after his children. The relations between K. R. Palaniswami and his wife Aarti were not cordial. She used to visit the house of the deceased in the absence of her husband to look-after the children of the deceased and thereafter started going to his house to watch Television. Soon, the deceased and Aarti developed friendly relations. She would disclose to the deceased the harassment she was meeting at the hands of her husband. Day came, the deceased and Aarti decided to live together. For this purpose they took a vow before the Idol of 'Shiva'. The accused was a visitor at the house of the deceased. Often times, he would spend nights also over there.

(3.) A plan was settled between the deceased, accused and Aarti that they would elope. In order to avoid detection by police and others, it was settled that the accused would take them to his house in his village Odder where they would remain till the matter cooled down. For three days, Aarti was kept as a maid-servant with Dr. Jain in Delhi and thereafter she was brought to the Bus Stand by a Taxi where they boarded a bus for Chandigarh. At Chandigarh, certain purchases were made for her. They included a wrist-watch and toilet articles. The accused also made certain purchases for his family. Then, they boarded a bus for Dharamshala and reached there at about 6.30 p.m. on 26/09/1987. The accused told both of them that in order to reach his village, they would have to travel through a 'Kacha' path. They started and after covering some distance, Aarti started getting tired. They met Sant Ram (PW-13) on the way who took them to his village Lanjni situated at a short distance from village Odder. He met them at 7.00 p.m. with a torch. He knew the accused and they started talking. They reached the house of Sant Ram where milk was offered to them. Although Sant Ram asked them to stay at his house for the night, yet the accused refused and decided to go to his own village.