Deciding Authority: The Supreme Court of India
Name of the Judges: R.P. Sethi & K.G. Balakrishnan
Date of Judgement: 27/02/2002
Facts: According to the prosecution, the deceased was a resident of Dadiapada, Navinagri where she had some houses. Complainant Saiyed Khan Majid Khan (PW2) had taken one of the houses on rent from her, as he wanted to start factory at Dadiapada. The deceased was residing in another house nearby the house leased out to the complainant (PW2). The appellant was stated to be the kept-husband of the deceased and both were living as husband and wife for the last 7-8 years. Two months prior to the date of occurrence, the appellant is alleged to have attempted to kill the deceased with an axe for which the deceased had filed a complaint before the police. On 7.8.1984 when PW2 was present at his house, the deceased went to his house and was sitting on the chair in front of the room of that house. Besides the complainant, two girls, namely, Nayana (PW9) and Shuruti (PW10) of that locality were also there sitting on the cart. The deceased was informing the complainant not to allow the accused-appellant to take away anything from that house on any pretext. At about 11.30 a.m. on that day accused came in the house leased out to PW2 and stood on the Otala and demanded his clothes from the deceased. When she told him that she was not having his clothes, he got excited, pulled out a dagger from his waist and gave a blow with that dagger on the stomach of the deceased while she was sitting on the chair. After receiving the injury the deceased fell down and started crying. The persuations of PW2 to stop the accused from committing the crime had no effect and he gave repeated blows of his dagger on the body of Ubadiben, with the result she received 35 injuries on various parts of her body. Her clothes were stained with blood and she died on the spot. The accused ran away with his dagger. Yusufkhan Nurkhan and Abdul Razzak Akbar, are stated to have seen the accused running away from the house of the complainant with dagger. The complainant (PW2) thereafter lodged the complaint Exhibit 8 before the police. After registration of the case, the police came on spot and drew the inquest Panchanama of the dead body of the deceased. Panchanama of the scene of occurrence and dead body was also prepared. Post-mortem of the deceased was conducted on the following day. According to the prosecution the accused himself appeared before the police on 8.8.1984 along with the weapon of offence which was seized in presence of two Panch witnesses. The appellant was arrested and his blood stained clothes and dagger were seized vide Panchanam Exhibit 21. After completion of the usual investigation, the charge-sheet was filed in the court. For acquitting the accused, the trial court found that the prosecution had failed to connect the accused with the commission of crime as, according to it, the evidence of complainant (PW2) did not inspire the confidence on account of Nayana (PW9) and Shuruti (PW10) having not supported the prosecution case. The evidence of Abdul Razzak Akbar (PW11) was not accepted as he was held to be a chance witness. In appeal, the High Court evaluated the whole of the prosecution evidence and found that prosecution had successfully established the culpability of the accused for committing the murder after trespassing into the house of the complainant without any shadow of doubt. It was held that the view adopted by the trial court and the ultimate conclusion arrived at was not sustainable.
Judgement: Assailing the judgment of the High Court Shri Y.P. Adhyaru, Senior Advocate contended that as there is no corroborative evidence to the testimony of PW2, his lone statement cannot be made a ground for convicting and sentencing the appellant. He further submitted that he also being a paramour of the deceased was an interested witness. As he failed to intervene and did not take any step to save the deceased when she was being attacked by the appellant, his presence on the spot becomes very doubtful. Non mentioning of the names of the people in the FIR who allegedly gathered on the spot is a further circumstance which weakens the testimony of PW2. It is further submitted that the trial court was justified in discarding the testimony of PW2 for the reasons detailed in its judgment. The Court is not impressed with any of the submissions made on behalf of the appellant as we feel that none of the circumstances pointed out have any substance. Otherwise also the grounds urged to disbelieve PW2 are based on misconception of facts and law. It cannot be said that there is no corroboration of the testimony of PW2. There is sufficient corroboration in this case as is evident from the medical evidence showing the infliction of a number of injuries with the weapon of offence stated to have been used by the appellant. His appearance before the police with the dagger and the blood stained clothes fully corroborates the prosecution evidence. No doubt is left in our mind when it is proved that blood stained clothes and the weapon of offence had the same group of blood which was that of the deceased. The FIR has been lodged promptly with sufficient details. On appreciation of evidence, the High Court has assigned valid reasons for believing the testimony of PW2 and rightly held that the trial court had arrived at erroneous conclusions of fact and law. Merely because PW2 did not intervene at the time when the appellant was inflicting knife blows on the person of the deceased cannot be a ground to discard his testimony. The intimate relations between the deceased and the complainant on account of their relationship of landlady and tenant cannot be stretched to the extent of holding that PW2 was an interested witness in the case. The manner and the place where the occurrence had taken place unambiguously suggests that PW2 is the natural witness of the occurrence. Merely because Nayana (PW9) and Shuruti (PW10) were declared hostile would not render the evidence of PW2 inadmissible in view of the fact that he stands corroborated in material particulars by other evidence including the statement of PW7. The settled position of law regarding the powers to be exercised by the High Court in an appeal against the order of acquittal is that though the High Court has full powers to review the evidence upon which an order of acquittal is based, it will not interfere with an order of acquittal because with the passing of an order of acquittal the presumption of innocence in favour of the accused is reinforced. In a case where the trial court has taken a view based upon conjectures and hypothesis and not on the legal evidence, a duty is cast upon the High Court to re-appreciate the evidence in acquittal appeal for the purposes of ascertaining as to whether the accused has committed any offence or not.
Decision:
The appeal is dismissed.
Sudipta Bhowmick, 4th Year, KIIT School of Law
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