NIRMAL SINGH Vs. STATE OF HIMACHAL PRADESH

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The appellant, Nirmal Singh, was tried for the offence falling under S.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 1984 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 Maina 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 to 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 16th/17th 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 disappeared from the house of her parents. Efforts to trace her having proved futile, her father, Swaran Singh (P.W. 1), lodged a report with the police on 30th August, 1983. A case under S.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 :-

(3.) Later on 7-9-1983 it was converted into a case under S.302, I.P.C. 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 feelings to that effect in his letter Ex. PB addressed by him to his father-in-law, Swaran Singh (P.W. 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 (P.W. 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 protest of her mother proceeded towards the Cho. After sometime the mother of the deceased sent her younger daughter, Paramjit Kaur (P.W. 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 home, 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.