VISHAL DOGRA Vs. STATE OF H.P.

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THE appellant, who has been convicted of an offence punishable under Section 302 IPC and sentenced to undergo rigorous imprisonment for life and to pay a fine of Rs.20,000/-; in default of payment of fine to undergo rigorous imprisonment for a further period of two years by the trial Court, has filed this appeal seeking reversal of the judgment of the trial Court and consequently his acquittal.

(2.) APPELLANT , alongwith his wife Babnesh Kumari, was charged with and tried for offences punishable under Section 302 and 201 IPC on police report under Section 173 of the Code of Criminal Procedure. Police filed the challan in the Court of concerned Judicial Magistrate, who after complying with the requirement of Section 207 of the Code of Criminal Procedure committed the case to the Sessions Court. Whether reporters of the local papers may be allowed to see the judgment?

(3.) APPELLANT took the police to the site where the dead body was found. He produced one piece of stone from near that site and told that he had hit the deceased on his head with that stone. That piece of stone was stained with blood. It was taken into possession by the Police and sealed in a parcel. It may be stated that the neck of the dead body was found noosed and a wound was also noticed on the head. Appellant was then taken to the Police Station, Palampur, where he was interrogated in the presence of PW-9 Tilak Raj, Pradhan of Gram Panchayat Bandian, and PW-12 Rasham Paul, Pradhan of Gram Panchayat Wahe Da Pat. The appellant, when questioned about the ignition key of the scooter, produced the same from the pocket of his pants, which he was wearing. That key was taken into possession and sealed in a parcel. On further interrogation, the appellant disclosed that he had removed the clothes of the deceased after killing him and that after putting those clothes in a polythene bag had kept them concealed in an empty coal tar drum near the rain shelter in village Paplah and could get the same recovered. He also stated that the scooter had been abandoned by him in a gali in village Sujanpur Tira and could get it recovered. On the basis of the alleged disclosure statement made by the appellant, pants Ex. P-25, shirt Ex. P-26 and vest (Baniyan) Ex. P-27, all stained with blood, were recovered from an empty coal tar drum near the rain shelter of village Paplah. Those clothes were identified to be that of the deceased by his father PW-1 Bali Raj Dogra. Scooter was also recovered from Sujanpur Tira from a gali behind the house of one Shyam Lal Gupta. When the appellant and his wife were fleeing on the scooter of the deceased on 27th May, 2003, the wife of the appellant purchased a soap cake at the shop of PW-10 Karan Singh in village Bardam. The appellant and his wife allegedly washed their blood stained clothes with that soap cake. The appellant and his wife produced their clothes, which they were wearing at the time of the commission of the crime. Clothes of the appellant and his wife were sent to the Chemical Examiner for examination for ascertaining whether they bore stains of human blood. The Chemical Examiner reported that Salwar and shirt of Babnesh Kumari and T-Shirt of the appellant bore stains of human blood.