Rakesh Kumar vs State of Haryana

R.L. Anand, J. (Oral)

By this judgment I dispose of two criminal appeals Crl. A. No. 86SB of 1998 (Neki Ram v. State of Haryana) and Crl. A. No. 134 SB of 1988 (Rakesh Kumar v. State of Haryana) as both the appeals have arisen from the judgment and order dated 5th February, 1988 passed by the Court of Sessions Judge, Sirsa, who convicted Rakesh Kumar appellant under Section 332 of the Indian Penal Code, and Neki Ram appellant under Section 332 read with Section 34 of the Indian Penal Code, and sentenced each one of them to undergo rigorous imprisonment for a period of two years.

Brief facts of the case can be noticed in the following manner :

On 13th October, 1986 A.S.I. Ramesh Pal was on patrol duty along with Constables Bansi Lal and Om Prakash on a motor cycle bearing registration No. HYN 2682 and the police party was proceeding from village Jamal on a Kacha passage towards village Janania (Rajasthan). The A.S.I. was driving the motor cycle, whereas the two constables were sitting on the pillion seat. Shri Ramesh Pal, A.S.I., received a secret information that appellant Neki Ram was likely to bring opium from Rajasthan in his car bearing registration No. DHA 2520. A ruqa was sent to Police Station Nathusari Chopta for registration of a case. At about 5 p.m. the aforesaid car came from the side of village Janania. A.S.I. Ramesh Pal signalled the car driver to stop the car. Upon this firstly the driver of the car slowed down the speed of the car but on the instigation of Neki Ram appellant that A.S.I. Ramesh Pal should be finished, the driver of the car sped the car fast and tried to run over A.S.I. Ramesh Pal, who jumped on the side and in this manner he was saved. Thereafter the A.S.I. chased the car on his motor cycle along with Constable Bansi Lal. The car stopped near village Ahmadpur because of a pit ahead of it. Both the appellants were taken into custody by A.S.I. Ramesh Pal and the search of the car yielded 10 kgs. of opium and 800 grams of Charas. Thereafter A.S.I. Ramesh Pal produced both the appellants along with the car, opium and the Charas before the S.H.O. of Police Station Nathusari Chopta. A.S.I. Ramesh Pal made a statement before the S.H.O. to the effect that both the appellants wanted to kill the members of the Police Party and that they wanted to obstruct the Police Party when they were discharging their official duties, so much so he himself had received injuries in this process. Case under Sections 307, 353 and 332 of the Indian Penal Code was registered against both the appellants, which became the subjectmatter of F.I.R. No. 127 dated 13th October, 1986. The S.H.O. got A.S.I. Ramesh Pal medically examined and statements of the witnesses were recorded.

After completing the formalities of the case, both the appellants were challaned in the Court of the Illaqa Magistrate under Sections 307, 353 ad 332 of the Indian Penal Code. Learned Magistrate supplied copies of the documents to the appellants and vide order dated 27th May, 1987 committed them to the Court of Sessions in order to face the trial. Vide order dated 3rd September, 1987 Rakesh Kumar appellant was chargesheeted under Section 307 while Neki Ram appellant was chargesheeted under Section 307 read with Section 34 of the Indian Penal Code. Both the appellants were further chargesheeted under Section 353 of the said Code. The charges were read over and explained to each of the appellants, to which they pleaded not guilty and claimed trial.

In order to prove the charges the prosecution examined P.W.1 Dr. Karni Singh, Medical Officer, who found injuries on the person of Shri Ramesh Pal, A.S.I., and issued medicolegal report Ex.PA/1. It may be mentioned here that Shri Ramesh Pal, A.S.I., received as many as five injuries on his person, fully enumerated in the said medicolegal report. Injuries Nos. 1, 2, 4 and 5 were simple in nature while injury No. 3 was kept under observation. According to the doctor all the injuries could be caused by a blunt weapon. The probable duration of the injuries was found to be within six hours. It has been categorically stated by Dr. Karni Singh that these injuries could be caused on 13th October, 1986 at about 5.30 P.M. if the injured had fallen on a hard surface after the car had hit him. Shri Ramesh Pal appeared as P.W.2, while Shri Harchand Singh Patwari appeared as P.W.3. The statement of Shri Ramesh Pal has been corroborated by P.W. 4 Shri Bansi Lal, Head Constable, who was one of the members of the Police Party. Shri Jai Narain, who appeared as P.W. 5, is the Investigating Officer.

Both the accused were examined under Section 313 of the Code of Criminal Procedure and all the incriminating circumstances appearing in the prosecution case were put to them, to which the accused denied and stated that they had been falsely implicated. In defence they did not examine any witness.

Believing the prosecution story to be true, learned Sessions Judge, Sirsa, while acquitting both the accused of the charge under Section 307 and Section 307 read with Section 34, of the Indian Penal Code, came to the conclusion that both the accused were guilty of the offence under Section 332 and Section 332 read with Section 34 of the Indian Penal Code, as stated above. Learned Sessions Judge also come to the conclusion that the offence under Section 332 is more serious and grave as compared to Section 353 and, therefore, he did not like to pass separate order of conviction under Section 353 of the Indian Penal Code. Both the appellants were convicted and sentenced in the manner stated above.

Aggrieved by their conviction and sentence the appellants have filed the present appeals, which I am disposing of with the assistance rendered by Shri D.N. Ganeriwala, Advocate, appearing on behalf of the appellants, and Shri S.S. Pattar, Assistant Advocate General, Haryana, appearing on behalf of the State and with their assistance have gone through the record of the case.

Though an effort has been made by the learned counsel for the appellants to convince me to disbelieve the statements of Shri Ramesh Pal, A.S.I., and Shri Bansi Lal, Head Constable, but I have not been able to agree with the contention raised by the learned counsel for the appellants, for the reason that Shri Ramesh Pal, A.S.I., has fully given the details of the occurrence. His statement has been fully corroborated not only by the oral evidence of Shri Bansi Lal, Head Constable, but also by the medical evidence of Dr. Karni Singh, who medicolegally examined the injured and came to the conclusion that injuries of Shri Ramesh Pal could be caused within six hours of the examination. In other words, the injuries of Shri Ramesh Pal, A.S.I., were fresh in nature. The doctor also stated that the injuries could be caused if a running vehicle hit the injured. The statement of the injured, being a stamped witness, stands on a higher pedestal than that of a noninjured. The police people are supposed to discharge their duties and while doing so they can face and can be confronted with such like incidents when the accused would like to run away or would try to cripple the members of the Police Party, so that they may be able to get themselves released from the law. Learned counsel for the appellants has not been able to dislodge the statements of Shri Ramesh Pal and Shri Bansi Lal and also that of the Investigating Officer. I have gone through the impugned judgment. There is no illegality so far as the conviction aspect is concerned.

It was then submitted by the learned counsel for the appellants that in the matter of sentence, the appellants may be dealt with leniency, as the present incident had happened in the year 1986 and 13 years had elapsed since then. During all these years, the appellants are suffering. I feel convinced with this submission made by the learned counsel for the appellants.

Keeping in view the fact of conviction and the present position of the appellants, the substantive sentence of each of the appellants stands reduced from two years to one and half years.

With the above modification in the matter of sentence, the appeals are dismissed.

Appeals dismissed.