BHAJAN DASS Vs. STATE OF H.P.

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The present revision is directed against the judgment dt. 11/4/2013 passed by learned Sessions Judge (Forests), Shimla, District Shimla, H.P. (learned Appellate Court), vide which judgment of conviction dt. 24/11/2010 and order of sentence dt. 29/11/2020, passed by learned Judicial Magistrate, First Class Court No.2, Shimla, District Shimla, H.P. (learned Trial Court), were upheld. (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 revision are that the police presented a challan against the accused for the commission of offences punishable under Ss. 279, 337 and 201 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 (I C) and Ss. 184 and 185 of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988 (MV Act).It was asserted that informant Prem Chand (PW-1) and Shyam Lal Kashyap (PW-6) had parked their vehicle bearing registration No.HP06-3393 near Dhalli Link Road, Inder Nagar, towards the left side of the road on 3/4/2006, and were talking on the telephone. A truck bearing registration No. HP-63-1157 came from Sanjauli and hit the rear side of the car. The truck did not stop and sped away towards Dhalli. The informant followed the truck. The truck also hit a Tata Specio Sumo bearing registration No. HP51-0460 near Anubhav Enterprises, a Wagon R bearing registration HP09A-0717, Zen car bearing registration No. HP 62-7777 near Swati Car Care and a Maruti car bearing registration No. HP09A-0609 near Dhalli Bazar. The truck was stopped near the Mashobra bifurcation. The truck was being driven in a dangerous manner, which caused danger to the parked vehicles and pedestrians walking on the road. The name of the driver was found to be Bhajan Dass (present petitioner/accused). He was intoxicated. The matter was reported to the police. An entry (Ext.PW-8/A) was recorded in the Police Station. SI Pal Chand (PW-15), HC Surinder Singh (PW-7), HC Man Dass (PW-9), Constable Diwan Chand and Constable Chander Prakash went to the spot to verify the correctness of the information. The informant made a statement (Ext.PW-1/A), which was sent to the Police Station, where F.I.R. (Ext. PW-13/A) was registered. HC Man Dass (PW-9) investigated the matter. He prepared the site plan (Ext.PW-9/A) and seized the truck bearing registration No.HP63 -1157,driving licence (Mark X1), Insurance Certificate (Mark X2), (Mark X3), and National Permit (Mark X4) vide memo (Ext.PW-1/B). Constable Rajinder Singh (PW-11) mechanically examined the vehicle, and he did not find any defect in the vehicle, which could have led to the accident. He issued a report (Ext.PW-11/A). Constable Lokinder Singh (PW-12) took the photographs (Ext.PW-12/A-1 to Ext.PW-12/A-6), whose negatives are Ext.PW-12/A-7 to Ext. Ext. PW12/A-12. Dr Aman Madaik (PW10) examined the accused. He found that the accused had sustained simple injuries. His speech was slurred, his gait was staggering, and his breath smelled of alcohol. He preserved the blood and the urine sample and issued the report (Ext.PW10/A). Blood and urine samples were sent to FSL, and the result of the analysis (Ext.PZ) was issued, in which it was mentioned that the blood contained 78.2 mg% and the urine contained 235.8 mg% alcohol. Statements of prosecution witnesses were recorded as per their version, and after the completion of the investigation, the challan was prepared and presented before the learned Trial Court.

(3.) Learned Trial Court found sufficient reasons to summon the accused. When the accused appeared, a notice of accusation was put to him for the commission of offences punishable under Ss. 279 and 201 of the IPC and Sec. 185 of the MV Act to which he pleaded not guilty and claimed to be tried.