NIRMAL SINGH Vs. STATE OF H P

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The appellant, Nirmal Singh, was tried for the offence falling under section 302 I.P.C. for having committed the murder of his wife, Kulwant Kaur. He was found guilty and convicted of the said offence by the trial court. For this conviction he was awarded sentence of life imprisonment. He filed an appeal in this Court, being Criminal Appeal No. 43 of 1994 against his conviction and sentence. Vide our short order dated 5th September, 1986, we allowed that appeal and ordered acquittal of the appellant. We now proceed to supply our reasons in support of the said order.

(2.) The facts of this case show that the appellant is a young man of about 21 years. He belongs to village Mama Majari falling within the jurisdiction of Police Station, Bassi, in District Patiala (Punjab). He was married to Smt. Kulwant Kaur deceased on 28-1-1983. The parents of the deceased reside in village Bhadsali in District Una, which is at a distance of about 80 or 90 miles from the village of the appellant. After the marriage the couple had been occasionally visiting the parents of the deceased in village Bhadsali. The appellant last visited the place of his in laws on or about 16th117th August, 1983. His wife, Smt. Kulwant Kaur, was either already present at the house of her parents or had accompanied him during that visit. The appellant then stayed with his in-laws for four or five days. Thereafter he left that place leaving behind the deceased at the house of her parents- Two or three days later in the evening of 22nd August, 1983, the deceased disappeard from the house of her patenis. Efforts to trace her having proved futile, her father, Swaran Singh (PW 1), lodged a report with the police on 10th August 1983. A case under section 364 I.P.C. was registered with Police Station, Una, vide F. I.R. No. 162 of 1983 on the basis of that report. It would be expedient to reproduce the English transliteration of that report: Stated lhat on 28-1-1983, I had solemnized the marriage of my daughter, Kulwant Kaur alias Pappi, aged about 17 years with Shri Nirmal Singh son of Ramji Dass, caste Ramgariha, r/o Manipur Majri, Thana Bassi, District Patiala. Shri Antar Singh R/o Rais-Sari, brother-in-law (Sadu) of my son Kehar Singh got this engagement settled. After marriage, the girl stayed at her in-law's house. In the month of Haar, Nirmal Singh had left my daughter at my house. Thereafter on 17-8-84 my son-in-law Nirmal Singh again visited our house and left the house after staying for 4 days. It is not known as to in what manner he induced the girl during these four days. On 22-8-83, at about 7 p.m. Kulwant Kaur left the house without informing anybody. On the same evening Nirmal Singh was seen hiding himself by Naresh Kumar s/c Bir Singh, at a distance of one furlong from our house. I made search for my daughter on 25th and 26th August, 1983, at .the house of Nirmal Singh and at Kharar, but my daughter was not found there. Thereafter on 26-8-1983, Nirmal Singh again met me at Una, and I enquired from him about the whereabouts of Kulwant Kaur, in the presence of Shri Hem Raj Pradhan, but he expressed his ignorance about Kulwant Kaur. Another boys was also accompanying him. The girl had told me earlier that her husband did not like her. Since then her whereabouts are not known till today. So, I fully suspect that Nirmal Singh, my son-in-law has abducted my daughter Kulwant Kaur with intention to kill her. Necessary action be taken.T

(3.) Later on 7-9-1983 it was converted into a case under section 302 IPC. The case, which the prosecution endeavoured to establish at the trial and as made out from the evidence adduced on the record was that the appellant after his marriage discovered that his wife, Smt. Kulwant Kaur deceased, was suffering from tuberculosis. He got her examined from T.B. Hospital, Patiala, and P.G.I., Chandigarh, for this disease but as per medical opinion obtained by him, the disease was incurable. He was therefore, keen to get rid of the deceased. He had earlier ventilated his feelin5E to that effect in his letter Ex. PB addressed by him to his father-in-law, Swaran Singh (PW 1). It was either during his stay of four or five days at the place of his in-laws or by somehow sending a message to the deceased later on that the appellant had prevailed upon the deceased to see him in the evening of 22nd August, 1983, at the Cho near her village. It was pursuant to that desire of the appellant that the deceased left her parental house in the evening of 22nd August, 1983, on the pretext that she was going to meet her husband. Her mother, Smt. Harbans Kaur (PW 7), however, dissuaded her from doing so on the plea that the appellant could also come and See her at their house. The deceased, however, despite protests of her mother proceeded towards the Cho. After sometime the mother of the deceased sent her younger daughter, Paramjit Kaur (PW 8), in search of the deceased. The deceased, however, could not be traced. Shri Swaran Singh, the father of the deceased, who was then not at borne, on being apprised of the fact searched for the deceased at various places including the place of the appellant. After having failed in his efforts, he lodged his report with the Police as referred to above.