MANOHAR LAL Vs. STATE OF H.P.

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The present revision is directed against the Judgment dtd. 8/7/2013, passed by learned Sessions Judge (F), Shimla (learned Appellate Court), vide which the judgment of conviction dtd. 30/9/2010 and order of sentence dtd. 4/10/2010, passed by learned Judicial Magistrate First Class-1, Shimla, District Shimla (learned Trial Court) were upheld. (The parties shall hereinafter be referred to in the same manner in which they were arrayed before the learned Trial Court for convenience.)

(2.) Briefly stated, the facts giving rise to the present revision are that the police presented a challan against the accused for the commission of offences punishable under Ss. 279, 337 & 304-A of the Indian Penal Code ("in short IPC"). It was asserted that the informant, Devinder Sharma (PW3), had gone to Tara Hall School to bring Digvijay, son of Ashwani Sud, on 24/3/1999. An HRTC Bus bearing registration No. HP- 07- 1822 came from the Victory Tunnel towards Tara Hall School at high speed. The informant, Devinder Sharma (PW3), and Digvijay stood on the roadside. However, the driver drove the bus negligently; the rear side of the bus hit the legs of the informant, Devinder Sharma (PW3), and the right side struck Digvijay, leading to a fracture of his head. Digvijay fell onto the road. The informant and Digvijay were taken to the hospital; however, Digvijay succumbed to his injuries and was declared dead. An intimation was given to the police, who sent ASI Mohinder Singh to the hospital for verification. He recorded the statement of Devinder Sharma (Ex-PW 3/A) and sent it to the police station, where FIR (PW 14/A) was registered. He prepared the site plan and seized the bus bearing registration No. HP- 07- 1822, along with the documents vide seizure memo (Ex- PW 3/B). He applied to conduct a medical examination of the injured, Devinder Sharma. Dr. Krishan Anand (PW9) conducted the medical examination of Devinder Sharma and found that he had sustained simple injuries that could have been caused within 24 hours of examination. He issued MLC (Ex- PW 9/A). ASI Mohinder Singh conducted the inquest on the dead body and prepared the reports(Ex-PW12/B to Ex-PW 12/D). Dr. Piyush Kapila (PW 12) conducted the postmortem examination of Digvijay and found that the cause of death was ante-mortem injuries, including a crushed injury to the brain, probably caused by being run over by a motor vehicle. He issued the report (Ex- PW 12/E). ASI Vidya Sagar (PW 5) conducted the mechanical examination of the bus and found that there was no mechanical defect in the vehicle that could have led to the accident. The statements of the remaining witnesses were recorded as per the version, and after the completion of the investigation, the challan was prepared and presented before the learned Trial Court.

(3.) Learned Trial Court put the notice of accusation to the accused for the commission of offences punishable under Ss. 279, 337 and 304-A of IPC, to which the accused pleaded not guilty and claimed to be tried.