STATE Vs. ASHOK SINGH

JUDGEMENT

(1.) VIDE impugned judgment of learned Sessions Judge, Udhampur dated 31 -03 -2003 respondent, Ashok Singh (here in after referred to be as the accused) has earned acquittal. Aggrieved by the same, the State has preferred the instant appeal which stands admitted vide order dated 07 -07 -2003. Records have also been received.

(2.) WITH the assistance of the learned Counsel for both the sides, I have gone through the impugned judgment and trial court records.

(3.) WITH the assistance of the learned Counsel for both the sides, I have gone through the material evidence and find that the prosecution has not been able to bring any evidence much less convincing with regard to the charge of Section 306 RPC. The prosecution case primarily hinges upon the statement of the deceased which turned out the dying declaration and that statement is also shrouded under thick clouds of doubt. The learned trial court while disbelieving the dying declaration has observed, thus: There is a certificate of PW Dr. NK Gupta on the application of IO, regarding the fitness of the deceased to make a statement. It has been proved as EXPWNK. The timing of the examination of the injured, recorded by the doctor and in the statement made by the deceased, reveals a intriguing circumstance. In his certificate EXPWNK, doctor says he examined the deceased on 11.2.2000 at 5.50 PM and opined that the patient was in a state of giving a statement. While her dying declaration has been recorded at 1300 Hours i.e. 1 PM on the same day. This means that the statement of the deceased had already been recorded well before the certificate of fitness to make statement was obtained, from the said doctor. In these circumstances the certificate of the fitness given by the doctor is an after thought event carrying no meaning. If we believe the other witnesses some of them were present in the hospital where deceased was lying admitted in Tikri hospital. Therefore, it was the duty of the IO to have associated some of them with the recording of the statement. On the contrary the only witness i.e. Mohan Singh, who has said something about deceased having made statement in the hospital, that goes in contradiction to what the IO has stated. He has stated that Satya Devi said that her husband poured kerosene oil on her body and then set her on fire. Besides that he is emphatic in stating that deceased made no statement before police or a doctor. This statement contradicts EXPWNK/1 which reveal that deceased herself poured kerosene oil on her body, after being fed up with the behavior of her husband. Under these circumstances the so called dying declaration gets shrouded in mystery.