JUGLAL Vs. STATE OF RAJAS THAN

JUDGEMENT

(1.) FAKIR Chand S/o Ramrakh Jat was found murdered in the Khaliyan of Buddha Nayak in village 'dhani Bari' on 22. 11. 68. In this connection two sons of Buddha, Juglal and Mansingh were tried by the Additional Sessions Judge, Churu and were found responsible for causing the murder of FAKIR Chand. They were convicted for an offence under sec. 302 I. P. C. and sentenced to imprisonment for life. Both the convicts have challenged their conviction in this appeal.

(2.) ARJUN (P. W. 1) was grazing his herd of she goats in the nearby field on that day. Sometime before dusk he heard a cry from the Khaliyan of Buddha. He saw Juglal and Mansingh inflicting blows by 'khotan' to Fakir Chand. He went near the field of Buddha but he was threatened by the accused to dire consequences and as such he did not dare go to the place of occurrence. He, however, went to the village and met Mukhram (P. W. 2) at his house. Bheraram (P. W. 3) was also sitting with Mukhram. ARJUN informed them about the incident and stated that Juglal and Man Singh S/o Buddha have murdered Fakir Chand. Bheraram collected a few more persons including Sheraram (P. W. 4) brother of the deceased and they proceeded to the place of occurrence. The found they dead body of Fakir Chand covered by a blanket. Bheraram then accompanied by Mukhram went to Sidhmukh Railway Station where the police out post is also situated. He informed the head constable Deeparam but as the report could not be lodged in the out post they proceeded to Rajgarh. According to the prosecution, Deeparam also accompanied them. At 7-30 a. m. , on 23-11-1968 the first information report was lodged at the police station Rajgarh. It is Ex. P. 1. It was also mentioned in the F. I. R. by Bheraram that some 4 or 5 days prior to the date of occurrence Fakir Chand tried to misbehave with the wife of Juglal and on that account Buddha the father of Juglal reprimanded the deceased Fakir Chand. A case was registered under sec. 302 I. P. C. and Shri Ramlal, Station House Officer, (P. W. 6) proceeded to the place of occurrence and he took with him the medical officer, Dr. Shiv Narain Vyas (P. W. 7) for conducting the post mortem examination. According to the prosecution they reached the place of occurrence at 11. 40 a. m. on 23-11 1968 The S. H. O. started the investigation. He recorded the description of the dead body and the said memo is Ex. P. 2. He also collected blood stained earth and the blood stained clothes from the body of the deceased vide Ex. P. 3 and Ex. P. 4. Site Plan Ex. P. 5 was also prepared and the description of the site plan was recorded in Ex. P. 10. The Medical Officer did the autopsy of the dead body of Fakir Chand and the post-mortem prepared by him is Ex. P. 15. According to this report Fakir Chand was found to have sustained the following four injuries - (1) Contused wound with fracture: 3" x 1/4" x 1/2" scalp left parietal bone with fracture of the underlying bone and laceration of the muscles and brain. (2) Contused wound with fracture: 2-1/2" x 1/2" x 1/4" lateral side of injury No. 1 with fracture of the left parietal bone. (3) Fracture: both bones of the right leg lower one third. (4) Contused wound with fracture 2" x 1/2" x 1/4" left leg lower one third with fracture of the Tibia bone at the side of the injury.

(3.) ANOTHER submission on behalf of the appellant is that the witness was inimical to the accused. In this behalf Jaikaran (DW. 5) has been produced. According to the witness it appears that there was no direct enmity between Arjun and the accused. The witness stated that Kishanlal brother-in-law of Arjun stole some she-goats of Buddha and a case was instituted against Kishanlal and in that case Jaikaran appeared as a witness on behalf of the prosecution. He has not been able to state the result of that case. He, however, admitted that this happened in the year 1951. It is difficult to believe that Arjun will harbour any feeling of ill-will against the accused persons on that account and that too after such a long time.