OM PARKASH Vs. STATE OF H.P.

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The appellant has been convicted and sentenced for the offence punishable under Sections 324, 326, 302 Indian Penal Code (for short' Code') and aggrieved thereby has preferred the instant appeal.

(2.) The prosecution story in brief is that on the evening of 19. 07. 2013 at around 10:30 p. m. , complainant (PW-1) Yagya Chand came to house of his uncle Thakur Dass in village Gadshaun and at that time Thakur Dass disclosed to Yagya Chand that his grandson i. e. appellant was not under his control as he was not looking after the affairs of the family, therefore, he had decided to give his property to his daughter Smt. Bhadari Devi unless the accused mended his behaviour. Upon hearing this, the appellant got furious and attacked his grandfather Thakur Dass but Thakur Dass gave 2-3 slaps to the appellant. At that time, the appellant's grandmother Smt. Dindu Devi, his wife Smt. Krishna and mother Smt. Gami Devi were present in the room and it was in their presence the appellant had threatened Thakur Dass that in case the property was not given to him, he would eliminate him. The appellant picked a sickle from the room in order to attack his grandfather but the appellant was intercepted by the complainant and in this process appellant gave sickle blow to the complainant, as a consequence thereof, his left thump got amputated. The accused thereafter gave another blow with the sickle on the left arm and abdomen of the complainant and in order to save himself, the complainant left the room and even the other family members of the accused started fleeing from the spot and followed the complainant. The complainant contacted ambulance 108 through telephone but the staff of the ambulance refused to come on the spot on the ground that the matter first be reported to the police, but the same was not reported by the complainant as it was a family matter. On the next morning, the complainant was informed by Nokh Singh about the murder of Thakur Dass and immediately he reached the room of his uncle Thakur Dass whom he found to be lying dead on the floor of the room and noticed the blood that was oozing from his person. The appellant was also found lying on the bed in his room. The complainant thereafter informed about the incident to the neighbours and number of people gathered on the spot including Ward Panch Smt. Varsha Devi, who informed her Jeth (brother-in-law) PW-13 Nirat Raj and requested him to inform the police regarding the incident. On receiving telephonic call from Devi Singh, Smt. Kanta Rana (PW-6), Pradhan of Gram Panchayat, Bahu also rushed to the spot and found dead body of Thakur Dass lying in the room and also noticed the stains of blood on his clothes. On receiving telephonic call rapat Ex. PW11/A was recorded in police station, Banjar and a police party headed by PW-11 ASI Narender Kumar consisting of PSI Vikas, Head Constable Jamal Deen and HHC Diwan Chand. The Investigating Officer after completing all the procedural formalities of investigation, presented the challan before the Court of learned Chief Judicial Magistrate, Lahaul Spiti at Kullu, however, since the offence of Section 302 was exclusively triable by the Court of Sessions, the same was committed to the Court of learned Sessions Judge, Kullu for trial under Section 209 Cr. P. C. Eventually, charge came to be framed against the appellant under Sections 302, 326 and 324 IPC.

(3.) In order to prove its case, the prosecution examined, in all, 14 witnesses and closed its evidence.