TOLA RAM Vs. STATE OF RAJASTHAN

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THIS is an unfortunate case in which the appellants Tolaram and Dana Ram are alleged to have murdered their father Nyolaram and brother Noranglal, with the assistance of a third person-Tejaram, brother of Tolaram's wife. The motive behind the murder is alleged to be strained relations between Tolaram and Danaram on the one hand and the deceased Nyolaram and Noranglal on the other.

(2.) NYOLARAM had five sons, viz. Tolaram, Danaram, Noranglal (deceased), Banna Ram and Dungar Ram. Except Dungar Ram the other four brothers lived in village Nuvan. Nyola Ram was residing with Tolaram but his relations with Tolaram were not happy. Danaram used to side with Tolaram. On November 19,1973 Tolaram and Danaram gave beating to NYOLARAM. The next day the deceased NYOLARAM went to Ratangarh with Noranglal for treatment. The prosecution case is that when both the deceased were returning in a bullock cart in the evening from Ratangarh to their village Nuvan, situated at a distance of seven miles from Ratangarh, they were way-laid at about 8. 30 p. m. by the three accused viz. Tolaram, Danaram and Tejaram-brother-in-law of Tolaram. Tejaram and Tolaram were armed with 'lathis', and the accused Danaram was armed with a 'chosangi' i. e. an iron pronged lathi. All the three accused inflicted multiple injuries on Noranglal and NYOLARAM. The victims raised a hue and cry which attracted the attention of P. W. 6 Jeewan Singh, who came to the spot, but did not stay there out of fear and ran to the village and informed P. W. 1 Banna Ram of the incident. P. W. 11 Madanlal and P. W. 18 Chhaganlal brothers and one Jankilal, who were in a hut, nearby also came to the spot on hearing the cries of the victims. They could not identify the assailants but when Madanlal and Chhaganlal reached the spot, they found both the victims lying in a pool of blood. Noranglal told them that his brothers Tola Ram and Dana Ram, and Tola Ram's brother-in-law had beaten them. Madanlal and Chhaganlal brought both the injured on the bullock cart to the village and took them to the house of Norang Lal. P. W. 2 Likhma Ram, P. W. 4 Taja Ram, and P. W. 13 Pura Ram came to the house of Norang Lal along with other villagers to look after the injured, and before these witnesses as well as before P. W. 5 Mst. Naraini, daughter of Norang Lal and P. W. 2 Mst. Bhanwari Bai, widow of Noranglal, the injured stated that they had been beaten by the three accused. Since the condition of both the injured was serious, P. W. 2 Likhmaram went to Ratangarh to bring a vehicle. However, by the time Likhmaram returned with a vehicle from Ratangarh, NYOLARAM had breathed his last and consequently Noranglal was taken to the hospital, at about 4 in the night. P. W. 14 Dr. B. N. Bhargava examined Norang-Lal and finding his condition serious, he sent a letter Ex. P. 29 to the Station House Officer, Ratangarh to come to the hospital to record the dying declaration of Noranglal. On receipt of the letter, P. W 16 Nagarmal started for the hospital but on the way he received another letter from Dr. Bhargava, marked Ex. P. 30, stating that since the condition of Noranglal deteriorated, and he died shortly before, he had himself recorded the dying declaration of Noranglal (Ex. P. 17), which was also sent along with the letter. P. W. 16 Nagarmal went to the hospital and placed the dead body of Noranglal in the mortuary, and thereafter went to village Nuvan, where the dead body of NYOLARAM was lying. From village Nuvan he went to the place of occurrence and after carrying out the necessary investigation at the spot, he handed over the investigation of the case to P. W. 17 Bhopal Singh on November 22, 1973. P. W. 17 Bhopal Singh recorded the information given by the three accused regarding the weapons of offence and made recoveries of the same at their instance. The information given by Tejaram is Ex. P. 40. The recovery memo of the 'lathi' Art. 15, pointed out by Tejaram, is Ex. P. 25. Ex. P. 39 is the information memo, whereby Tolaram gave information regarding the 'lathi' used by him and the recovery of the same is Ex. P. 26. Dana Ram also gave information regarding the 'chosangi', weapon of the offence used by him. Ex. P. 41 is the information memo and Ex. P. 22 is the recovery memo of 'chosangi'. Both the 'lathis' and the 'chosangi' were sent for chemical analysis. The Chemical Analyser's report is Ex. P. 42 and the Serologist's report is Ex. P. 43 All the three weapons were found to be stained with human-blood. Thus after the investigation had been completed, all the three accused were prosecuted to stand trial for the offences of committing murders of NYOLARAM and Noranglal.

(3.) THE case against the accused rests on three types of evidence: (1) Identification at the spot, (2) Dying declarations made by the deceased, and (3) Recovery of the weapons of offence, on the information supplied by them, and at their in stance.