MOHD YASIN Vs. STATE OF H P

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This appeal is directed against the judgment dated 19-1-2006 passed by Presiding Officer, Fast Track Court, Mandi, District Mandi, H. P., whereby the appellant has been convicted of an offence under Section 302 of the Indian Penal Code (hereinafter referred to as 'IPC') and sentenced to undergo rigorous imprisonment for life and to pay a fine of Rs. 10,000/- and in default thereof further imprisonment for a period of one year. The case of the prosecution as borne out from the record is as under : The incident is stated to have occurred on 1-9-2004 at about 11.10 a.m. at Chamda Mor, Kotrupi, (Police Station, Joginder Nagar) in the jungle below the National Highway. Deceased Kishan Chand had gone to his field, below the road, near the forest to protect the crop from the monkeys. Durga Dutt (P.W. 1) at about 9.30 a.m. along with Lineman of Telephone Department had gone to Chamda Mor, Kotpuri, Police Station Joginder Nagar for repairing the telephone line. They were joined by Anil Kumar (P.W. 2) who is also commonly known as "Pandit- Ji" in the village. P.W. 1 and P.W. 2 were helping the Lineman (Purshotam) in setting the telephone wire in order at the pole on the road near the Nallah and in vicinity of the place of occurrence of crime. At about 11.30 a.m. they heard cries from the jungle below the road as "Pandit Ji Pandit Ji". Upon hearing the cries, Durga Dutt (P.W. 1) and Anil Kumar (P.W. 2) proceeded towards the jungle from where the cries were coming and noticed that the accused was sitting on the chest of Kishan Chand; had put a string (Nara) around his neck and was strangulating him to death. After hearing the noise, Anil Kumar (P.W. 2), Durga Dutt (P.W. 1) and Bhagat Singh (P.W. 4) along with other persons came on the spot and saw the accused running away towards Joginder Nagar side but he was chased and nabbed by the aforesaid persons and was tied with the rope tin the jungle. The accused was also given beatings by the local people. An information was received by the Police Station, Joginder Nagar that a dead body was lying in the Nallah near Kotripi which was duly recorded in the daily diary vide entry No. 14 dated 1-9-2004 (Ext. PN). Acting on the said information Dina Nath ASI (P.W. 13) proceeded to the spot along with MHC Jawala Ram.

(2.) ASI Dina Nath (P.W. 13) recorded the statement of Durga Dutt (P.W. 1) under Section 154, Cr. P.C. (Ext. PA). He sent the statement (Rukka) through Head Constable Jawala Ram for registration of the case to Police Station, Joginder Nagar and carried out the investigation at the spot by taking photographs Exts. P-22 to P-24 and filled in the inquest reports (Form No. 24.35 Ext. PG and Form No. 25.35(1B) Ext. PH). Narinder Kumar (P.W. 14) Station House Officer reached the spot and took over the investigation of the case. He carried out the personal search of the accused in the presence of the witnesses and prepared the recovery memos (Ext. PC and Ext. PE). The articles recovered were the clothes of the accused, registration and insurance policy of his motor cycle, "syringe", small bottle of liquid, shoes and personal belongings. Soon thereafter, he went to Kotrupi Nallah on the main road where a parked motor cycle bearing registration No. CE-03N-6456 along with its key and papers and other material was found. It was taken into possession vide seizure memo (Ext. PD). Since the accused had sustained injury due to the beatings given by the public, he was got medically examined at Community Health Centre, Joginder Nagar, FIR dated 1-9-2004 (Ext. PN) was registered.

(3.) From the statement of the witnesses, it has come on record that at about 9-30 a.m. Durga Ram (P.W. 1) went to Chamda Mor where Lineman (Purshotam) met him and they were joined after some time by Anil Kumar (P.W. 2) who is also commonly known as 'Pandit Ji' in the village. While the telephone line was being repaired, Durga Dutt and Anil Kumar at about 11.30 a.m. heard cries from the jungle situated below the National Highway. Both Durga Dutt and Anil Kumar went towards the jungle on the down hill and after covering a distance of about 30 mtrs, they found Kishan Chand (deceased) lying on the ground with face upward and accused sitting on his chest/body strangulating the deceased by putting a Nara string around the neck of the deceased. Having heard the cries, other persons including Bhagat Singh (P.W. 4) came near the site of incident. Having seen all of the said persons, the accused ran away from the site towards Joginder Nagar side and he was noticed wearing T-shirt bearing No. 36 on its back by witnesses. The aforesaid witnesses raised hue and cry and ran after the accused to catch him. The accused was nabbed by the witnesses and the other villagers, who tied him with the rope near the place of occurrence. The villagers also gave beatings to the accused.