DHIREN WALIA Vs. STATE OF H P

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THIS appeal by dhiren Walia. hereinafter called accused, is directed against the judgment of Sessions court, whereby he has been convicted of offence of murder, punishable under Section 302, IPC and illegal use of licensed fire arm for the commission of the offence of murder, punishable under Section 30 of the arms Act, 1959, and sentenced to undergo imprisonment for life and to pay fine of Rs. 2000/-, in respect of offence, under Section 302, 1pc and to undergo simple imprisonment for a period of two months and to pay fine of Rs. 1000/-, in respect of offence, under Section 30 of the Arms Act. 1959.

(2.) PROSECUTION case, as per evidence on record, may be summed up thus. Deceased padmesh Kaur, accompanied by accused dhlren Walia, P. W. 16 Jai Dev Sharma, nisha wife of P. W, 16 Jai Dev Sharma and children and a maid servant of P. W. 18 Jai dev Sharma, came to Shimla from Delhi on 23rd May, 2003. On the first day, i. e, 23rd may, 2003, they stayed in a Forest Rest house at Shimla. Next day they shifted to cedar Guest House of Punjab Government, situated on The Mall. On 29th May, 2003, the deceased, the accused P. W. 16 Jai Dev sharma and his wife Nisha went to Devicos. There they consumed liquor. They returned to Cedar Guest house around 12. 30 a. m. P. W. 1 Beer Singh, who was employed as a waiter at the said guest house, was asked to prepare meals for them. He was also asked to make available glass-tumblers, soda and pepsi, which he supplied immediately then he went to the kitchen to prepare meals for them. He prepared Pronthas and a dish of eggs (Bhurji) and served the same to the group of above named four persons and went to sleep. The group continued consuming liquor till 3 a. m. when accused Dhiren Walia, all of a sudden, called the deceased a bitch. The deceased protested and shouted back. The accused rose from his sofa chair, which was placed just opposite to the sofa chair occupied by the deceased, went behind her, took out pistol from holster, which was tied to his belt and fired a shot at the deceased. The bullet hit her on the head near the right ear. She died instantaneously, in the sofa chair itself. The accused then ran out from the guest house. He got into his black coloured Bolero Jeep, which was parked out side the Cedar Guest House and drove away. A telephonic call was made to police at number 100. Within no time the police arrived. They inspected the spot. Scene was got photographed by the police. Among other things, an empty shell of a bullet. Ext. P. 17, was recovered from the spot, vide Memo. Ext. PB. P. W. 16 Jai Dev Sharma wrote application Ext. PU, addressed to the Station House officer, narrating therein the details of the incident. On the basis of the said application, case was formally registered, vide FIR ext. PT, at Police Station, Shimla (East ). Inquest was conducted. Dead body was sent to Indira Gandhi Medical College/hospital. Shimla, where P. W. 20 Dr. Pyush Kapila and dr. H. S. Sekhon of Forensic Medicine department conducted post-mortem examlnation. They recorded the following observations :

(3.) ON being told by P. W. 16 Jai Dev sharma that the accused had escaped in a black coloured Bolero Jeep bearing registration no. DL-3cs-8975, alert was sounded to various SHOs, including that of kandaghat through whose territorial area of jurisdiction National Highway No. 21 leads to the exit point of the State. A Nakka was arranged at Kandaghat. The aforesaid vehicle was intercepted by the SHO, Police station, Kandaghat, namely P. W. 7 SI ramesh Chauhan and P. W. 6 H. C. Bhupinder Singh, in the wee hours of 30th may, 2003. The vehicle was being driven by the accused. Search of the vehicle was conducted. A bag containing Registration Certificate of Bolero no. DL-3cs-8975. insurance policy, pollution chit, driving licence of the accused, one key, one bandolier with 16 live cartridges with digits and letters "7. 65 b" inscribed thereon were recovered. One pistol lying under the driver's seat was also recovered. The words and digits that were inscribed thereon read as "colts PT. FA. MFG. CO. HARTFORD CT U. S. A. PATENTED apr. 20, 1897, DEC 22, 1903". The pistol was found loaded. One cartridge was found in its chamber and four in the magazine loaded therein. All the aforesaid articles were taken into possession vide memo. Ext. PM.