STATE OF RAJASTHAN Vs. ASHA ALIAS ASHANAND

JUDGEMENT

(1.) BY his judgment dated February 2, 1989, the learned Sessions Judge convicted the accused Ashanand alias Asha Under Section 302 IPC and sentenced him to death with a fine of Rs 100/ -. By the same judgment, be convicted the accused Mohan Singh and Chitaria alias Chitar Singh Under Section 302/34, IPC and sentenced each of them to imprisonment for life with a fine of Rs. 100/ -, in default of the payment of fine to further undergo one months rigorous imprisonment. The learned Sessions Judge has submitted the proceedings Under Section 366(1) Cr.PC for confirmation of the death sentence. As usual, the three convicts have come up in appeals to challenge their conviction. We have thus two matters before us namely (1) the reference for confirmation of the death sentence and (2) the appeals of the convicts.

(2.) THE incident is alleged to have taken place at about 5.00 p.m. on 6 -3 -1987 at Rawat -Bhata Bus -stand in the city of Kota in which one cripple Chetu Ram alias Chetu Sindhi aged about 50 years was done to death. Briefly narrated, the prosecution case is as follows:

(3.) IN the opinion of Dr. Sharma, the cause of death was shock and haemorrhage caused by multiple injuries and extensive burns. The Doctor prepared the post mortem examination report Ex.P 7 and Ex. P 8. The clothes of the deceased which he was wearing at the time of the incident containing acid burns and blood stains were seized and sealed. Accused Ashanand was arrested on 8 -3 -1987 and in consequence of the informations furnished by him one knife and one underwear were recovered from his house. The underwear had acid burns Accused Mohan Singh was arrested on 14 -3 -1987. On their medical examination, acid burns were found on their person. Accused Chitar Singh was arrested on 17 -6 -1987. On chemical examination, the clothes of the deceased and the underwear of accused Ashanand were found having Sulphuric acid burns. The clothes of the deceased were also found stained with human blood. On the completion of the investigation the Police submitted a crime report against the three accused Ashanand. Mohan Singh, Chitar Singh in the court of Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate (3), Kota who in his turn committed the case for trial to the court of Sessions. The learned Sessions Judge framed charges under Sections 302 and 302/34, PC against all of them to which they pleaded not guilty and faced the trial. They denied that they went to the log -cabin of the deceased victim Chetu Ram and killed him. Accused Ashanand and Mohan Singh in their statements recorded under Section 313, Cr.PC stated that they had taken Jeep RJF 3031 to the workshop and there when they were taking out the battery, the battery fell down. They thus received acid burns on their person. In support of its case, the prosecution examined 11 witnesses and filed some documents. In defence, the accused examined 8 witnesses. The common defence taken by the accused persons was that some unknown sikh terrorists came mounting over a motor cycle to the log cabin of Chetu Ram. They threw acid on him and landed knive blows to him. Chetu Ram was thus killed by the unknown terrorists. On the conclusion of trial the learned Sessions Judge disbelieved the defence version of the incident and help the charges duly proved against all the three accused. The accused were consequently convicted and sentenced as mentioned at the very outset.