RAM LAL Vs. STATE

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THIS appeal is directed against the judgment and order dated 20.2.1995/22.2.1995 passed by learned Sessions Judge Jammu whereby the appellant has been convicted for commission of an offence punishable under sec.302 -RPC and sentenced to undergo imprisonment for life and to pay a fine of Rs.500/ -. The learned Sessions Judge has made a reference also to this Court u/s 374 Cr.P.C. for confirmation of the conviction and sentence of the appellant.

(2.) THE story of the prosecution case unfolded during the trial is that the deceased was a Gazetted Officer and lived in the neighborhood of the accused. The accused having a grouse over some irrigational issue started abusing the deceased and his family in the evening of 12.8.1992. On the objecting of the deceased to the act of the accused, the accused became furious and extended threat to the deceased. However the situation was averted by PW Kanta Devi, wife of the deceased, who took him away from the spot where after the accused, also went to his house. Early next morning i.e. 13.8.1992 when the deceased was asleep on the roof of his house, his daughter PW Anita , who was sleeping in side the house, proceeded to wakeup her mother, at about 5.30 AM.as she was to milk the cow. Her sister Babita Devi was also sleeping on the same roof. As soon as she climbed the roof, she found the accused standing on the roof along side her father pointing a gun towards him. Seeing this she raised an alarm but the accused pulled up the trigger and shot at the deceased when he was fast asleep. The accused after committing the crime started running away from the spot. On hearing the cries of PW Aanita, her mother PW Kanta Devi and her sister PW Babita Devi woke up. All of them rushed towards the injured deceased. On hearing the sound of the gun shot, PW Mela Ram, who was sleeping on the roof of his house, got up and seeing the deceased bleeding and his family members crying while the accused was running, ran after the accused followed by PW Sarwan Kumar. Both of them over -powered the accused when he was attempting to reload the gun and after dis -arming him tied him with a cot with a rope in the room of his house and locked the room from out side. The deceased had breathed his last on the scene of occurrence itself. PW Anita Devi accompanied by PW Thoru Ram and Numberdar Fateh Singh, went to Police Station Ramgarh for lodging the report. She lodged the FIR at 9 AM on 13.8.1992 itself. FIR was registered for commission of an offence u/s 302 RPC. During investigation the dead body of the deceased was seized and postmortem thereon was got conducted. The weapon of offence was also seized, statements of the witnesses were recorded and after completion of investigation charge sheet against the accused was laid in the court.

(3.) THE charge for commission of offence u/s 302 RPC was framed against the accused by the Trial Court, to which the accused pleaded not guilty. In order to prove the charge, the prosecution examined PWs Anita Devi, Kanta Devi, Babita Devi, Mela Ram, Som Dutt,Sarwan Kumar, Thoru Ram,Fateh Singh, Milkhi Ram,Girdharilal, Krishan Dass, Chamanlal, Ghulam Qadir Malik and Rajinder Singh Jamwal as witnesses. After closure of the prosecution evidence, the statement of the accused was recorded U/S 342 Cr.P.C. in which the accused on being asked to explain the incriminating circumstances put up total denial to the occurrence. He however, admitted the ownership of the seized gun. The accused also pleaded that he has been sick for some time and occasionally his mind had not been working properly. In defence he examined Dr.Subhash Dogra and Dr.Subhash Gupta,Medical Officers, Central Jail Jammu, besides S.Chanchal Singh, Superintendent Jail for proving his mental ailment during the period he was in custody at the Central Jail. Statement of the accused in order to assess his mental condition has also been recorded by the learned Trial Court.