GAIJI Vs. STATE OF RAJASTHAN

JUDGEMENT

(1.) GAIJI accused has appealed from jail against his conviction under section 302 I. P. C. and the sentence of imprisonment for life awarded by the learned Sessions Judge of Ganganagar by his judgment dated 30-5-70. One Gurcharan Singh was also tried with Gaji and he too was convicted under section 302 I. P. C. and sentenced to imprisonment for life but it appears that he had not chosen to file any appeal.

(2.) THE prosecution story is a simple one. Smt. Shanti was a married woman of 21 or 22 years. Her husband Sohanlal and P. W. 1 Smt. Bashni, a relation of her's had come to Chak 6 CC, District Ganganagar, in search of work. THEy belonged to village Jaloki. THEy were living in tents and were working as labourers on the nereby fields. On the day of the incident i. e. 9. 4. 69 Smt. Shanti's husband Sonahlal had gone to work at some field, but Smt. Shanti was at home. During the day she had gone to cut and bring green fodder for her she-buffalo. She went to the field of one one Jogendra Singh. Nearby was the field of one Tara Singh on which sugarcane crop was standing and the two accused Gurucharan Singh aged 28 and Gaiji aged 18 were working on Tara Singh's field. THE prosecution has come forward with a story that the two accused had gone near Shanti to help her lift the head load and at that time their passions were aroused and accordingly they criminally assaulted her. THEy ravished her and as she was raising an alarm, they strangulated her. Shanti died on the spot. THEreafter her dead body Was dragged by the two accused and placed under a heap of wheat. When Shanti did not rum up to her temporary abode her father-in-law P. W. 5 Kishna, who had come to 6 CC to met his son, grew anxious. He was told by P. W. 1 Smt. Bishai that Shanti was seen cutting green fodder in Jogendra Singh's field. THEy all searched for here for some time, but could not find her. Ultimately P. W. 6 Gokal, who is a foot tracker, was apprised of it. Gokal went to the spot and saw that there were foot prints of two persons and marks of dragging of a body. THE two accused who were working at a distance of one Kila from the place where Shanti was seen cutting green fodder, were suspected by the villagers to have done something for the disappearance of Shanti. THE villagers caught hold of them, brought them to the house of Tara Singh and interrogated them. At that stage, however, P. W. 5 Kishna went to the police station Padampur and lodged information at 11 a. m. on 10 4 69. THE accused are said to have been impressed upon by P. W. 6 Gokal that he had identified their foot-prints and there was no use denying their part in the incident. At this the two accused are alleged to have made a clean breast of the whole thing. It is the prosecution case that the two accused stated before the villagers that they had gone to help Shanti to left her head-load and at that stage their passions were aroused and they could not control themselves. THEy, therefore, tried to have sexual intercourse with the woman and as she was raising an alarm, they gagged her and in this Shanti died. THEreafter they had removed the dead body and placed that in the heap of wheat. By that time P. W. 13 Shri Radha Krishan Assistant Sub-Inspector, had also arrived at the house of Tara Singh. THE accused then led Tara Singh and the villagers to the place where the dead body was concealed and accordingly Radha Krishan recovered the dead body. It was sent for post mortem examination and Dr. G. S. Bhati P. W. 2, performed the post mortem examination. Bhati found the following injuries on the dead body: " 1. Bruise with subcutaneous ecchymosis 60" x 1" oblique across the right shoulder. 2. Abrasion 5" x 1/6" on the left side of right thigh upper half part. 3. Abrasion 4"x 1"on the right trochanteric region. 4. Abrasion on 2-1/2" x 1/2" x 2-1/4" x 1/4" on the right iliac region lateral part. . " THE doctor also found a ligature mark around the neck, 1-1/2" in width, with the knot mark on the right side of (he neck at the level of mastoid process. THEre was an abrasion 3/4" x 1/4" and l/3" x 1/6" on the left side of the neck below the angle of mandible. Further there were small abrasions on the forearms. THE vagina was patulous admitting three fingers. THEre was no laceration of labia minora or majora. THEre was no matting of the public hair, In the opinion of Dr. Bhati, the cause of death was strangulation. Dr. Bhati further opined that nothing definite could be said about the commission of any rape on the woman.

(3.) NOW we may briefly refer to the other piece of evidence furnished by P. W. 1 Smt. Bishni and P. W. 3 Narendra Singh. Narendra Singh stated that while he was returning to his house from his field Square No. 5, he happened to pass by the Square No. 9 of Tara Singh P. W. 10 and he had seen the two accused harvesting the Hadi crop in Tara Singh's field. He had further seen a Bagri woman cutting grass in the adjacent field at a distance of 15-20 'panvdas' from the place where Gurcharan Singh and Gaiji were working. On the next day the dead body of a woman was seen by the witness and he was able to identify that the dead body was of the woman he had seen the previous day working in the field at a distance of 15-20 'panvdas' from the accused. Narendra Singh, however, admits that the woman was putting on a veil and he was notable to see her face. He claims to have identified the dead body on account of the clothes that were worn by the woman. We may at once say that this testimony is wholly unsatisfactory. It is highly improbable that a parson who had not seen the face of another person will be a lie to identify him or her after his or her death simply by the clothes and that too when he had seen such clothes only in passing while on his way, from a distance of almost 70-80 feet. This evidence is, therefore, wholly unreliable. Smt. Bishni has no doubt stated that her relative Smt, Shanti was seen by her, working at a distance of 50 or 60 feet from 'he place where the accused were working, but we are afraid, this circumstance is, by no means, sufficient for connecting the accused with the crime.