Lakhi Ram vs State of Haryana

K.K. Srivastava, J.

Heard learned counsel for the petitioner and learned State counsel for the respondents.

Petitioner, Lakhi Ram seeks issuance of a direction for registration of FIR for the offence of murder of his son Ram Kumar. The dead body of Ram Kumar was found lying on the heaps of dung in the fields of the petitioner on 28.4.1997. Petitioner approached for registration of the case but the same was not done. The dead body of Ram Kumar had been sent by A.S.I., Jagat Singh for postmortem examination to General Hospital, Kaithal and thereafter it was handed over to the petitioner and other relatives for cremation which was done on the same day at village Sirsal. Two days later on 30.4.1997 witness Mai Chand son of Mansa Ram, resident of Sirsal told the petitioner about his witnessing the murder of Ram Kumar and the version given by him has been reproduced in para 5 of the petition which reads as under :

"That on 27497 at about 67 PM, he (Mai Chand s/o Mansa Ram) and Kehar Singh s/o Kura Ram and Ram Kumar s/o Lakhi, resident of Sirsal were sitting in their Chopal. We all the three are the friends among ourselves. I asked Ram Kumar that when are you going to Dubai ? He told that he will be going within a few days. While joking so (hanstehanste) we decided to drink liqour. Ram Kumar said that let us drink liquor in village Lohhanpur because Lakha Singh s/o Man Singh, Surta Badia keep good type of liquor. We all the three went to the house of Lakha Singh. There at the house of Lakha Singh we found another person sitting there Sukha Singh s/o Balkar Singh. Both these persons were taking liquor prior thereto. That Lakha Singh said that brother Ram Kumar you have met after many days, we also sat on the cot lying there. The bottle out of which Lakha Singh and Sukha were drinking liquor out of that we three took two pegs each and then Ram Kumar paid price of one bottle which was taken up by all the five. In this way sometimes one paid that money sometimes the other and we continued drinking liour till 1011 O''clock. All had gone under the influence of liquor, during this period when a womanfolk of the house of Lakha Singh came to serve vegetables then Ram Kumar said to her that you also have one pag. On which she started abuses. Lakha and Sukha got enraged. Sukha caught hold of Ram Kumar, Lakha gave several blows of wood to Ram Kumar. Ram Kumar became unconscious. Due to fear we started running then Lakha Singh said that where are you going ? Take him with you. We tried to move him but he was unconscious but his pulse was in motion. Then Lakha threw water on his face. Even then he did not get consciousness. We have been trying so that he may get consciousness and after 2 hours he died. As Ram Kumar died we ran from there. Lakha Singh tried to stop us. Lakha and Sukha gave threats to us that if you told it to anyone you both will be killed. On the way after consultation we decided not to disclose it to anybody as we were afraid of our death. I kept quiet till today. But there was struggle (Uthal Puthal) in my conscience.

Today, when I saw family members of Ram Kumar weeping my conscience woke up and I disclosed the entire matter to the family members of Ram Kumar. Now alongwith the villagers, I have come to give the information."

Since the petitioner aggrieved for nonregsitration of the FIR, he filed this petition under Section 482 Cr.P.C.

Notices were issued to the State of Haryana and other respondents namely Director General of Police, Panchkula, Superintendents of Police, Karnal, Superintendent of Police, Kaithal, Station House Officer, Police Station, Pundri, Disrict Kaithal, Station House Officer, Police Station Asandh, District Karnal as also two respondents 7 and 8. Reply has been filed by respondents 1, 2, 4 and 5. In the reply it was mentioned that A.S.I. Jagat Singh and other police officials visited the village and recorded the statement of the petitioner Lakhi Ram wherein he stated about his finding the body of his son Ram Kumar in his fields. He also stated that he apprehended that the injuries had been caused due to the accidental slipping by getting down from a vehicle. Primarily this statement of Lakhi Ram was considered by the police in holding that the death of Ram Kumar was accidental and the police ruled out the possibility of murder. However, it may be mentioned that in para 5 of the reply it was admitted that Mai Chand aforesaid had made a statement to the S.H.O. concerned during the enquiry of the case and which was said to be approximately the same as stated by the petitioner. It may be pointed out that the statement of Mai Chand which has been referred to in para 5 of the petition was not categorically denied in the reply and as such it cannot be said that the version of occurrence as contained in the statement of Mai Chand did not show the offence of murder allegedly committed by the culprits. At this stage reference may be made to the provisions of Section 154(1) Cr.P.C. which, inter alia, reads as under :

"(i) Every information relating to the commission of a cognizable offence, if given orally to an officer in charge of a police station, shall be reduced to writing by him or under his direction, and be read over to the informant; and every such information, whether given in writing as aforesaid, shall be signed by the person giving it, and the substance thereof shall be entered in a book to be kept by such officer in such form as the State Government may prescribe in this behalf."

There the offence of murder punishable under Section 302 IPC is the heinous offence providing punishment and sentence of imprisonment for life or death. It is a cognizable and serious offence committed against the society besides the victim of the occurrence and his family members. Once it was disclosed to the police Officer incharge of the Police Station that such a serious offence of murder punishable under Section 302 IPC had been committed, Section 154(1) Cr.P.C. bound him to register FIR and to investigate the same in accordance with law. The Police Officers cannot by themselves decide regarding the offence being cognizable or not. The offence once reported should by investigated after registration of the FIR and this mandate of Section 154(1) Cr.P.C., is to be religiously and legally complied with. Resultantly, this petition is allowed and a direction is issued so respondent No. 6 Station House Officer, Police Station Asandh, District Karnal to register FIR on the basis of the complaint, copy Annexure P2, and to investigate the case in accordance with law. Compliance of these directions be made within a period of ten days from the date of receipt of copy of this order either from this Court or a certified copy thereof from the petitioner.