KHERAJ RAM Vs. STATE OF RAJASTHAN

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The aforesaid Murder Reference has been made by the Additional Sessions Judge, Barmer, under Section 366 Cr. P.C. for confirmation of the Sentence of Death passed by him. Accused Kheraj Ram, also, filed D.B. Criminal (Jail) Appeal No. 481 of 1994, challenging the judgment dated 7-9-94, passed by the learned Additional Sessions Judge, Barmer, by which the learned Additional Sessions Judge convicted him for the offence under Section 302 IPC and passed the Sentence of Death. As the Murder Reference as well as the D.B. Criminal (Jail) Appeal arise out of the same proceedings, they are, therefore, being disposed of by this common judgment.

(2.) Accused Kheraj Ram was tried by the learned Additional Sessions Judge, Barmer for committing the murder of his wife Smt. Amru, the two daughters Kumari Meera (aged about 12 years) and Kumari Kesi (aged about 9 years) and his brother-in-law Achla in the night intervening between 9th and 10/10/1992, in village Baytu. The case of the prosecution is that Achla, Smt. Amru, Meera and Kesi were sleeping in the house of the accused. They were found murdered when they were sleeping in the house of the accused in the night intervening 9th and 10/10/1992. The accused, who was, also, in the house, at about 2.00 a.m., went to the house of PW 9 Gaina Ram and informed him that some body had given beatings to his wife Smt. Amru, daughter Meera and Kesi and brother-in-law Achla and blood were coming out from their bodies. Gaina Ram went to the house of accused Kheraj Ram along with him and found the truth in the incident narrated by Kheraj Ram. Gaina Rain thereafter went to the house of Daula Ram and informed him about the incident which was narrated to him by Kheraj Ram and found true by him. Gaina Ram and Daula Ram thereafter went to the Dhani of the accused and called other persons of the nearby Dhanis. Thereafter Daula Ram, from the rear side of the Dhani, entered inside the Dhani and saw Smt. Amru lying on the ground and blood was coming out from her body. Meera was also, lying on the ground and was crying and blood was coming out from her body, also. Kheraj Ram was sitting in the Court-yard. They called him out-side and on enquiry made from him, he was unable to disclose anything. Daula Ram thereafter went to lodge the report at Police Station, Baytu. The FIR was registered at 7.30 a.m. The name of the accused was not given in the FIR and it was disclosed that somebody had killed Achla, Smt. Amru, Meera and Kesi. During the course of investigation, the investigating officer found that Kheraj Ram was the perpetrator of the crime; he, therefore, arrested the accused, made the recoveries of the Jooti of Achla Ram, the Dhoti of the accused, which was found stained with blood, and the Kulhari - the weapon of the offence-on the information and at the instance of the accused. The motive behind this heninous crime, which was disclosed later-on, was that the accused suspected his wife Smt. Amru as a lady of easy virtues and Meera and Kesi the two daughters - were not born from his loin and the relations between the accused and Smt. Amru were not cordial and they were quarrelling off and on. The prosecution, in support of its case, examined twenty witnesses. The learned Additional Sessions Judge, after trial, convicted accused Kheraj Ram for the offence under Section 302 IPC and passed the sentence of death, which has been submitted to this Court along with the proceedings for confirmation of the capital punishment. The accused has, also, filed an appeal challenging his conviction and sentence.

(3.) There is no eye witness to the occurrence and the prosecution case mainly rests upon the circumstantial evidence and the extra-judicial confession made by the accused before PW 12 Simratha. The learned Additional Sessions Judge, while convicting the accused, placed reliance over (i) the recovery of the Jooti, blood-stained Dhoti of the accused and blood-stained Kulhari made on the information and at the instance of the accused; (ii) the conduct of the accused, which according to the trial Court, was found abnormal as he was smoking the Chilam when the witnesses from the nearby Dhanis came at the scene of the occurrence and the four dead-bodies were lying in the house of the accused; (iii) the motive that the accused was suspecting the fidelity of his wife Smt. Amru; (iv) the quarrel took place between the accused and deceased, which was heard by PW 5 Smt. Kanu and PW 6 Smt. Veeru; (v) the accused, after committing the murder took-up the shoes of deceased Achla, went to the house of his mother-in-law PW 7 Smt. Saro; and (vi) he was last seen in the Dhani alongwith the deceased.