STATE OF RAJASTHAN Vs. BANARSI DASS

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THE respondent was tried by the learned Additional District and Sessions Judge No. 1, Hanumangarh on a charge under Section 302 of the Indian Penal Code for having caused the death of one Mala Ram on 27th July, 1978. After conducting the trial, the learned Additional District and Sessions Judge came to the conclusion that the prosecution had failed to bring home the guilt to the accused -respondent. He, therefore, acquitted the respondent of the charge under Section 302 of the Indian Penal Code. Feeling aggrieved by the judgment of acquittal the State has filed this appeal.

(2.) THE prosecution story, in brief, is that on 27th July, 1978 Panna Ram went to the shop of respondent for purchasing 'moonj' at that time the respondent demanded money and pushed Panna. Where -upon some altercation took place between the two. Panna Ram thereafter returned home in the evening when Panna reached his house he told his elder brother about the incident. The amount demanded was a petty sum of Rs. 8/ - only. The respondent No. 1 annoyed with the deceased on account of the fact that he had made a quarrel for such a petty amount. Thereafter, some altercation took place between the deceased and the respondent and something which was probably a measuring weight was thrown towards the deceased and it hit him. The respondent also caused a lathi blow on his head. In this manner the deceased was injured by the respondent. The deceased was thereafter taken to the hospital. A first information report of the incident was lodged on 27th July, 1978. The first information report Ex.P.l was written by one Sher Singh and it was forwarded by Dunger Ram Panwar M.L.A. of Tibi area (Sri Ganganagar) to the Station House Officer. The police, however, did not register the case on the basis of that report. When the deceased was in the hospital, the Station House Officer visited him and recorded his statement, which has been marked as Ex.P.8. That particular statement was the basis on which the Police registered the case under Sections 325 and 323 of the Indian Penal Code. The deceased died in the hospital on account of the injuries found on his body. After the death of Mala Ram, post mortem examination was conducted. Before his death his injuries were also examined by a Doctor and a simple injury on his head was found. According to the post mortem report Ex.P.21, the kidney was pyogenic and death was caused by septicaemia, circulatory failure and other complections including bed sores and paraplegia and imbalance in electrolytes. In the post mortem report Ex.P.21 there is no mention that the injuries found on the dead body of Mala Ram were likely to cause death or were sufficient in the ordinary course of nature to cause death.

(3.) THE learned Public Prosecutor has submitted that the findings arrived at by the learned Additional District and Sessions Judge No. 1, Hanumangarh they are not only unreasonable but are also puverse because in significant contradiction have been given excessive importance for discarding the otherwise trustworthy dying declarations and the testimony of the eye witness has been discarded on the basis of conjectures. He has, therefore, prayed that this appeal should be allowed and the respondents should be convicted under Section 302 of the Indian Penal Code.