VIJAY KUMAR Vs. STATE

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Appellant Vijay Kumar has been convicted of an offence under Section 302 of Indian Penal Code, for allegedly committing the murder of one Rup Lal of Bharmour on 29th August, 2001, at 9 p.m. at a place called Karian in Chamba District, by the learned Sessions Judge, Chamba. As a result of such conviction he has been sentenced to undergo rigorous imprisonment for life and to pay a fine of Rs.2000/- and in default of payment of fine to undergo simple imprisonment for a further period of three months. The appellant is aggrieved by the order of his conviction and punishment and so he has come up in appeal to this Court.

(2.) The case of the prosecution, as per record, may be summed up thus. Deceased Roop Lal was a Gorkha from Nepal and used to work at Bharmour. On 29th August, 2001 he went to village Karian, falling within the jurisdiction of Police Station, Chamba, to meet one of his compatriot, namely Tek Bahadur, who was employed as a mate or sub-contractor with one Sh. Des Raj. Around 9 p.m. in the night they together went to a nearby public call office, owned by appellant Vijay Kumar, as the deceased wanted to make a call to someone at Bharmour. In the said public call office a tumbler containing tea was lying on the counter. Accidently respondent's hand came into contact with that tumbler and the tea in it got split on the clothes of the deceased. That infuriated the deceased and he protested in a rude manner. The appellant reacted to the rudeness of the deceased and the two started quarrelling and they even had a scuffle. They were got disengaged by one Bhagat Ram, running a shop nearby. The deceased then proceeded towards the road in the company of Tek Bahadur, but kept hurling abuses. The appellant then went inside his S. T. D. Booth and brought a piece of pipe/rod and dealt a blow on the head of the deceased with considerable force. Blood started flowing from the head of the deceased. His companion Tek Bahadur tried to help him to reach his place of residence but after walking" a distance of about 20meters he sat down-Tek Bahadur tried to lift him but could not succeed. He then went towards his residence to arrange for some other person to help him to carry the deceased, to the hospital at Chamba. He returned after sometime in the company of one Bal Bahadur, but the deceased was not at the site where Tek Bahadur had left him. Soon Des Raj contractor with whom Tek Bahadur was employed those days, happened to pass by the road on which Tek Bahadur and Bal Bahadur were searching for him. He was in a vehicle. Tek Bahadur and Bal Bahadur went with him in his vehicle to Zonal Hospital, Chamba, in search of the deceased, but he was not there too. Thereafter they went to their respective houses and next day also they searched for the deceased but could not find him.

(3.) In the meanwhile on 30-8-2001 a police party, headed by ASI Naroop Singh of Police Station, Sadar Chamba, which had gone towards the place of occurrence in connection with routine patrolling, spotted the deceased lying in the bushes at a distance of 20 meters from the J. P. Company CheckPost in village Karian. The party carried the deceased, who was still alive, to the Zonal Hospital, Chamba and got him medically examined. The same day Roop Lal succumbed to the head injury. Tek Bahadur, accompanied by Bal Bahadur, also reached the Zonal Hospital. He narrated the incident to said ASI Narup Singh, who reduced his version into writing in the form of statement under Section 154 of the Code of Criminal Procedure and sent the same to police station, Sadar Chamba, for the formal registration of the case. Case was formally registered at the said Police Station, vide FIR No. 178/01. The said ASI then conducted inquest and filled in the necessary forms. Medical Officer Incharge, Zonal hospital was approached by the said ASI to conduct the post-mortem. The doctor conducted the post-mortem examination and found a lacerated wound on tempo-frontal region of head measuring 3" x .75" x 1" having sharp edges. On opening the skull, the doctor found fracture of left-temporo frontal bone and extradural haematoma about 200cc, pressing the right side of the brain and midbrain. He opined that the time lag between the injury and the death was within 24 hours and between the death and the post-mortem it was 24 to 48 hours and that the tentative cause of death was head injury, which led to haemorrhagic shock with cerebral compression. Final opinion was reserved to be given on receipt of the report of the Chemical Examiner regarding viscera. At the time when the Injured was taken to the hospital, he was opined to be unconscious and not fit to make a statement.