PARKASH CHAND Vs. STATE OF H.P.

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The present revision is directed against the judgment dtd. 25/9/2014 passed by learned Sessions Judge, Bilaspur (learned Appellate Court) vide which, the judgment passed by learned Judicial Magistrate First Class, Bilaspur (learned Trial Court) convicting and sentencing the petitioner (accused before learned Trial Court) was 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 before the learned Trial Court for the commission of offences punishable under Ss. 279, 337 and 338 of the Indian Penal Code (in short 'IPC'). It was asserted that the informant, Dina Nath (PW1), and his son Sunil Dutt (PW7) were returning from Shimla in a bus bearing registration No. HP-10-0388, which was being driven by the accused. Sunil Dutt had sustained a fracture earlier in an accident, and he had gone to Shimla to get himself examined. When the bus reached Namhol at 12-12:15 pm, the accused drove it towards the other side of the road and hit a truck coming from the opposite direction. 5-6 persons sustained injuries in the accident. The injured were taken to the hospital. An intimation was given to the police regarding the accident. An entry (Ext. PW6/A) was recorded in the Police Station. ASI-Ram Nath (PW8), HC Prakash Chand, HHC Harbans Singh (PW5) and HHC Kamal Lal went to PHC Namhol for verification of the information. Ram Nath (PW8) recorded the statement of the informant Dina Nath (Ext. PW1/A), which was sent to the Police Station where FIR (Ext. PW8/A) was registered. ASI Ram Nath conducted the investigation. He prepared the site plan (Ext. PW10/B). He took the photographs of the spot (Ext. P1 and Ext. P2) whose negatives are Ext. P3 and Ext. P4. He filed an application for conducting the medical examination of the injured and obtained the MLCs of Sujata (Ext. PA), Vatani Devi (Ext. PB), Sunil Dutt (Ext. PD), Rikhi Ram (Ext. PE), and Prakash Chand (Ext. PF). He also collected X-rays of Sujata (Ext.PG, PG1 and PG2), Vatani Devi (Ext. PH and PH1), and Sunil (Ext. PJ, PJ1 to PJ4). ASI-Ram Nath seized the bus vide memo (Ext. PW4/B). Sher Singh (PW3) mechanically examined the bus and found that it had no mechanical fault in it. He issued the report (Ext. PW3/A). ASI Ram Nath recorded the statement of witnesses as per their version and arrested the accused. The challan was prepared and presented before the Court after the completion of the investigation.

(3.) Learned Trial Court put the notice of accusation to the accused for the commission of offences punishable under Ss. 279, 337 and 338 of IPC, to which he pleaded not guilty and claimed to be tried.