MADAN SINGH Vs. STATE OF RAJASTHAN

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Heard the learned counsel for the petitioner as well as the learned Public Prosecutor for the State.

(2.) The incident occurred on 1.7.2002, when Smt. Daku Bai died. Initially the investigation was on lines that she committed suicide on account of misbehaviour by the accused. Daku Bai was the sister of the mother of the accused. On 24.7.2002 Chagan Lal was examined under Sec. 164 of the Cr.RC. Similarly, his wife Smt. Sajjan Devi was also examined on 24.7.2002 under Sec. 164 of the Crimial P.C. Earlier Sajjan Devi was examined under Sec. 161 of Cr.RC. on 19.7.2002. There is no satisfactory explanation as to why Chagan Lal and Sajjan Devi did not report the matter to anybody on 1.7.2002 and kept quiet for more than two weeks. The learned Public Prosecutor submits that both were threatened by the accused and hence they could not pick up the courage to tell about the incident to police or to anybody else. In this respect there is variance between the statements recorded under Sec. 161 and 164 of the Cr.RC. In the statement recorded under Sec. 161 of the Crimial P.C. it is stated-that the accused threatened to kill Sajjan Devi and Chagan Lal if they disclosed about the incident to anybody. However, in the statement under Sec. 164 of the Cr.RC. Chagan Lal has stated that they were offered money to remain silent. Smt. Sajjan Devi in her statement recorded under Sec. 164 of the Crimial P.C. does not say that any threat was issued or any money was offered.

(3.) In the statement Sajjan Devi recorded under Sec. 161 of the Crimial P.C., she specifically states that after the incident, lot many people came and found that the dead body of Daku Bai was lying on the ground. However, on 18.7.2002 when the case was registered under Sec. 201 and 302 of the IPC, there is a specific mention at the behest of Manohar Singh that he found Daku Bai hanging from roof and it was he who made her to sleep on the ground.