RATTA Vs. STATE OF RAJASTHAN

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This is a jail appeal filed by Ratta against the judgment of the learned Sessions Judge, Udaipur, dated 31st Jan., 1975 by which the appellant was convicted under section 302 I.P.C. and sentenced to undergo imprisonment for life and to pay a fine of Rs. ICO/-in default of payment of fine to further suffer rigorous imprisonment for three months.

(2.) The incident that led to the prosecution of Ratta appellant may be briefly described as follows : Mst Shansi deceased was married to Ratta. After her marriage she lived with Ratta for some time but her relations with her husband were not cordial, as a result of which she frequently visited her parents at village Kolpura. About six months immediately preceding her death she was living with her parents. About 5 days prior to the "Dashera" festival which fell on 5th Oct., 1973 she was brought to the house of Ratta appellant by her father-in-law Uda who promised her parents that she would be treated with love and affection and would not be subjected to mal-treatment. About 5 days after her return to the appellant's house Uda went to village Kolpura, met her father Shri Chena and informed him that she had left the appellant's house and her whereabouts were not traceable. Uda asked Chena to find out Shanti but despite best efforts she could not be traced,

(3.) On 20th Oct., 1973, a be-headed dead body of a woman was seen by Nag Singh, P. W. 2 floating in a well known as Tedawala well near a water pond oi village Peepli. On seeing the dead body Nagsingh rushed to Tikam Singh and informed him about all that had been seen by him in the well. Thereupon a written report was sent to Police Station Deogarh through Puran Singh. The report was reduced to writing by Heera Lal P. W. 8. On receipt of the report Abhay Singh, Incharge Police Station, Deogarh deputed Bahadur Singh P.W. 5 to go to the spot for making an inquiry into the matter under section 174 Cr. P. C. Bahadur Singh visited the well and found that a be-headed dead body of a woman was taken out and placed on a cot. The dead body was identified by Chena to be of his daughter Mst. Shanti. Thereafter Bahadur Singh got the head of Shanti taken out of the well with the help of a bunch of hooks. Bahadur Singh prepared an inquest report upon the dead body and made a report Ex. P. 3 at Police Station Deogarh on the basis of which a criminal case under section 302 I. P. C. was registered and the investigation commenced. The dead body of Shanti was sent to Dr. Arun Kumar for post mortem examination which was performed by the said Doctor on 21st Oct., 1973 at village Peepli. The Doctor found that the dead body was under advanced stage of put refection and the skin was peeled off and there were maggots on the body. He noticed fracture of skull bone and in his opinion Mst. Shanti died of shock and hemorrhage on account of injury to brain and skull, stone was found tied on her body by a wire and her ordines. He further opined that possibility of her head being separated from the trunk by a sharp edged weapon and thereafter thrown in the well could not be excluded. According to him the fracture of the skull bone was sufficient to cause her death in the ordinary course of nature. In the course of investigation Ratta appellant was arrested on 21st Oct., 1973 vide memo of arrest Ex. P. 18. After his arrest he pointed out a place where blood was lying on the ground. Shri Udai Raj, S. H. O. took the blood stained earth into his possession. The appellant further gave the S. H. O. the information on 21st Oct., 1973, that he had kept concealed silver Kadulias in a field under the stones which were lying there. He further informed the S. H. O. that a sword had been hung by him inside his house and that he was prepared to get the Kadulas and sword recovered at his instance. The S. H. O. recorded the above information in a memo Ex. P. 21 and recovered two Kadulas and one sword at the instance of the appellant from the place disclosed by him in his information. On 30th Oct., 1973 the S. H. O. noticed that the clothes which the appellant was wearing on his body were stained with blood. Therefore, one Baniyan and Dhoti were taken off the body of Ratta appellant and sealed properly in the presence of the Motbirs. A bush shirt and another Dhoti and another sword were also seized and sealed by Udai Raj, S. H. O. at the instance of the appellant. These two articles were lying in the house . of the appellant and were suspected to have stains of blood on them. The father of Ratta appellant, namely, Uda also was arrested on 21st Oct., 1973, vide memo of arrest Ex. P. 19. At his instance also the S. H. O. recovered one half-pent from his house which contained some blood stains on it. Uda was wearing a bush shirt on his body which was taken off and seized by the S. H O. on 30th Oct., 1973 as it had some stains of blood on it. All these articles which were taken into possession by the police in the course of investigation were sent to S. P., Udaipur in a sealed condition for onward transmission to the Chemical Examiner, Jaipur. Ajab Singh, S. P., Udaipur sent the articles in the same sealed condition to Chemical Examiner on 26th Dec., 1973 through Kamala Ram P. W. 18. The Chemical Examiner upon analysis found that one Dhoti of Ratta appellant contained in packet Ex. 1 and other Dhoti contained in packet Ex. E. the stone and the clothes of the deceased contained in packet Ex. F and the sword contained in packet Ex. C and the blood stained earth and stone contained in packet Ex. H were positive for blood, Cuttings from Dhoti contained in packet E and sample of earth and strap-pings from stones contained in packet H were further found stained with human blood by the Serologist. The blood stains on other items were disintegrated and their origin could not be determined. 6. The S.H.O. collected other necessary evidence in the case and on completion of investigation filed a chargesheet against Uda and Ratta appellant in the court of Munsif Magistrate, First Class for the offence of murder. The learned Magistrate upon finding a prima facie case exclusively triable by a court of Session committed the appellant and his father Uda to the court of Sessions Judge, Udaipur for trial under section 302 I.P.C. and in the alternative under section 302 read with section 34 I.P.C. The learned Sessions Judge tried the appellant and his father for the aforesaid offences and came to a conclusion upon evidence adduced in the case that Ratta appellant only was guilty of murder of his wife. Consequently he convicted and sentenced Ratta appellant in the manner stated above and acquitted his father Uda of all the charges framed against him. Aggrieved by his conviction and sentence Ratta appellant has preferred this appeal through Jail authorities. 7. As the appellant was unrepresented by any counsel this Court appointed Shri Doongar Singh, Advocate as amicus curiae to argue the appeals on his behalf. 8. We have carefully perused the record and heard Shri Doongar Singh jtnicus curiae for the appellant and Mr. R. S. Acharya Public Prosecutor for the State. 9. It has been strenuously urged before us by Mr. Doongar Sinah that the Sessions Judge committed a grave error in holding Ratta appellant responsible for the murder of his wife. According to him there is no direct evidence to prove the connection of the appellant with the murder of Mst. Shanti and the circumstances established by the prosecution and relied upon by the Sessions Judge are wholly consistent with his innocence and are capable of being explained away on hypothesis other than those of his guilt. Mr. N.S. Acharya, Public Prosecutor on the other band urged that the circumstantial evidence led by the prosecution in this case unmistakeably pointed to the complicity of the appellant in the crime of murder of his wife and the learned Sessions Judge was justified in coming to a conclusion that no other person but the appellant was the author of the crime. 10. He have given out anxious consideration to the rival contentions. The case against the appellant no doubt depends on circumstantial evidence as no person has come forward to say on oath that he saw the appellant committing the murder of his wife and dropping her dead body in a well after severing her head from the trank Hence it has to be ascertained whether the circumstances relied upon by the prosecution are so closely connected with the fact in issue as to lead only to one conclusion that within all human probabilities the murder must have been committed by the appellant. 11. The circumstances proved on the record are enumerated below:-