Ram Singh vs State of Haryana

Kuldip Singh, J.—This judgment will dispose of CRA No. D-742-DB of 2002 against judgment and order dated 07.09.2002/10.09.2002 passed by learned Addl. Sessions Judge, Narnaul, vide which accused-appellant Ram Singh was convicted under Sections 302 and 201 IPC and sentenced to undergo imprisonment for life and to pay a fine of Rs. 500/- and in default thereof to further undergo rigorous imprisonment for three months for the offence u/s 302 IPC. He was also sentenced to undergo rigorous imprisonment for three years and to pay a fine of Rs. 200/- and in default thereof to further undergo rigorous imprisonment for one month for the offence punishable u/s 201 IPC. Both the sentences were directed to run concurrently.

The State machinery was put in motion by Kishori Lal, brother-in-law of the deceased by moving an application Ex. PJ dated 03.12.2000 before S.H.O., Police Station, City Narnaul. In his application, he submitted that his bhabhi (brother''s wife) Kamla widow of Jhallu Ram resident of Hudina, aged about 48 years used to come to Narnaul for labour work. As usual, on 09.10.2000 at about 7 a.m., she went to Ram Singh, mason, son of Phusa Ram, resident of village Mokhuta at Narnaul for collecting money for her labour work. Kishori Lal knew Ram Singh earlier. Kamla did not return home at night. They waited for her till late hours in the night. On the next day, they went to Narnaul and searched for Kamla but neither Kamla nor Ram Singh, Mason were found. They searched them at their own level. On 02.12.2000, they had gone to Sirsa for searching Kamla and Ram Singh, Mason. Ram Singh, Mason was seen by them at Hathi Chowk, Sirsa. He told his brothers Raghubir and Krishan, who were accompanying him, about the identity of Ram Singh, Mason. They enquired from Ram Singh about their Bhabhi (brother''s wife). Ram Singh replied that he does not know about Kamla. Then they strenuously enquired from Ram Singh about Kamla and gave him 2-4 slaps and fist blows, then Ram Singh told them that he would tell all the incident about Kamla on reaching Narnaul. Then they brought Ram Singh with them and produced him before SHO/Inspector Krishan Chand, PS. City Narnaul and also moved an application Ex. PJ before the police, on the basis of which the formal FIR No. 329 dated 03.12.2000 u/s 365 IPC was registered against Ram Singh.

On 04.12.2000, accused Ram Singh was interrogated. On interrogation, he suffered a disclosure statement (Ex. PK), wherein he sated that he had constructed the house of Kamla (deceased). He fell in love with her and developed illicit relations with Kamla. Kamla used to come to him continuously for the last one year. His wife and children had gone with somebody else. Therefore, he had been giving his entire earning to Kamla. Kamla used to come to him in a rented house. He and Kamla both used to drink liquor together. Near about Dussehra festival, Kamla had taken his entire earnings. After the Dussehra festival, about 1 3/4 months ago, Kamla came to his house and demanded more money. He became frustrated by the greediness of Kamla and decided to get rid of her. Then he and Kamla consumed liquor at the rented chobara (first floor) of the house owned by one Data Ram resident of village Nasibpur. Then under the influence of intoxication, some altercation took place between them. Ram Singh lost his temper. He gave fist and slap blows to Kamla. Kamla fell down. Then he committed murder of Kamla by strangulation. Thereafter, he buried the dead body of Kamla in the poli built up in the house of Data Ram after digging the pit as the house of Data Ram was lying vacant and abandoned and he was only tenant in the chobara (first floor) of the house of Data Ram. On the next day, he ran away with his luggage. He further stated that he can get the dead body recovered.

Thereafter, Inspector Krishan Chand moved application Ex. PF before the Sub Divisional Officer (Civil), Narnaul for permission to dug out the dead body of Kamla. Vide order dated PF/1, permission was granted.

Thereafter, the application was moved to the CMO, Govt. Hospital, Narnaul to constitute the panel of doctors for exhumation of the dead body. The CMO constituted a panel of Dr. K.K. Yadav, Dr. S.N. Sharma, and Dr. Ravi Sudan Sharma along with Jamadar.

A photographer was also arranged. Some persons of the locality were also gathered and process of exhuming the dead body was started.

Accused Ram Singh pointed the place, where the dead body was buried. On digging the pit, a skeleton of decomposed body was found. The dead body of Kamla was identified by Kishori Lal (complainant) and Raghbir. Memo Ex. PH of pointing out recovery and identification of the dead body was prepared. The site plan of the place of recovery was prepared. The inquest report was also prepared. Postmortem of the dead body was got conducted, on which it was found that the dead body was of a female. Though the cause of death could not be determined. From the roof of the chobara (first floor), where accused lived on rent, one pair of hawai chappal belonging to Kamla, was also recovered. The kassi (spade) used in digging the pit after the crime was stated to have been sold to one Omi @ Om Parkash for Rs. 50/- from whom it was later on recovered.

After the completion of the investigation, the challan was presented in the court. The accused was charge sheeted under Sections 302 and 201 IPC.

In support of its case, the prosecution examined Inspector Shashi Pal as PW1, Draftsman Mahesh Kumar as PW2, Constable Amardeep as PW3, Constable Hosiyar Singh as PW4, Dr. S.N. Sharma as PW5, Dr. S.K. Datarwal as PW6, SDM Shri Birjender Singh as PW7, SI Hosiyar Singh as PW8, HC Mahender Singh as PW9, Sarpanch Shri Kishan as PW10, Data Ram as PW11, complainant Kishori Lal as PW12, Krishan Kumar as PW13 and Inspector Krishan Chand as PW14.

When examined u/s 313 Cr.P.C., accused pleaded false implication and claimed that he is innocent.

After hearing learned Public Prosecutor for the State and learned counsel of the accused, learned Addl. Sessions Judge Narnaul convicted and sentenced all the accused aforesaid.

We have heard learned counsel for the accused-appellant as well as learned Addl. Advocate General for the State and have also minutely perused the record.

In this case, complainant Kishori Lal, PW12 proved his complaint Ex. PJ. He stated that when his bhabhi (brother''s wife) Kamla went missing on 09.10.2000, he started searching for her. Accused Ram Singh was also missing from his house. On 02.12.2000, when he was searching for Kamla and accused Ram Singh, Ram Singh met them at Hathi Chowk, Sirsa. At that time, his brothers Raghubir and Krishan were with him. They enquired from Ram Singh about Kamla but he avoided any information. When they threatened accused Ram Singh, he agreed to accompany them to Narnaul. On 03.12.2000, they brought him to Police Station, City Narnaul and produced him before the police along with their application PJ. He further stated that interrogation of accused Ram Singh was made in his presence and as a result of which accused Ram Singh made a disclosure statement about Kamla. He also proved the exhumation and identification of dead body of Kamla.

Dr. S.N. Sharma, PW5, stated that he was present at the time of exhumation the dead body. Accused Ram Singh pointed to the place, where the dead body was buried. The dead body was wrapped in jute bag and was in multiple pieces. It was highly putrefied and decomposed and emanating foul smell. It was difficult to identify the sex and stature of the body. The body was identified by Kishori Lal and Raghbir Singh on the basis of the belongings found lying near the dead body. The dead body was referred to the Forensic Department, PGIMS, Rohtak to find out the cause of death.

Dr. S.K. Datarwal, Forensic Department, PGIMS, Rohtak, PW6 stated that on examination of the skeleton, it was found that the pelvis was typical female with U-shape sub pubic angle. Mandible was typical female with round chin and inverted angle. No bone injury was found present. Time and cause of death could not be ascertained since the death took place about two months back.

Shri Birjender Singh, IAS, SDM, Narnaul, PW7, proved that an application was moved before him by the police and he passed order Ex. PF/1, whereby he permitted the exhumation of dead body.

Krishan, Sarpanch, PW10 stated that he was present when the dead body was exhumed from the pauli of house of Data Ram resident of Nasibpur. He further stated that the dead body was identified to be of Kamla. It was wearing full sleeve''s shirt and one green colour bangle in the right hand. He further stated that in their village, widow can wear only green colour bangles.

Data Ram, PW11, landlord of the house, proved that he had rented out his house at village Nasibpur to accused Ram Singh at a monthly rent of Rs. 100/-. Ram Singh stayed in his house for three months and then shifted from Nasibpur after Dussehra and had taken away all his belongings.

Krishan Kumar, PW13 stated that accused Ram Singh was interrogated in his presence on 05.12.2000 and that in his presence a pair of chappal was recovered from the house of Data Ram and one kassi (spade) was recovered from one Omi of Narnaul. He further stated that the pair of chappal belonged to Kamla.

Inspector Krishan Chand, PW14 proved the interrogation and arrest of accused Ram Singh and exhuming the dead body as per sanction of SDM, Narnaul in the presence of a team of doctors deputed by CMO. He proved that accused Ram Singh had pointed to the place in the house, where the dead body was buried and after removing the earth, got recovered the dead body, which was lying in the gunny bag. He also proved the recovery of chappal at the instance of the accused and kassi (spade) from one Omi @ Om Parkash as per statement made by the accused.

On behalf of the accused, a suggestion was put to Kishori Lal that Kamla was a woman of easy virtue and that he was feeling bad about her. Therefore, on account of this, Kishori Lal killed Kamla and buried her body in his house and falsely implicated Ram Singh. However, in the statement u/s 313 Cr.P.C., no such stand was taken.

Learned counsel for the accused-appellant has argued that in this case, there is no eye witness. There is a delay in recording the FIR and the supporting witnesses are not reliable. It has been argued that Kamla went missing on 09.10.2000 and the complaint was made on 03.12.2000 i.e. after near about two months.

This contention has been controverted by learned Addl. Advocate General for the State. It has been argued that Kamla had gone missing and accused Ram Singh was also missing from his house. Therefore, the complainant party was searching for both of them. They did not know that Kamla has since been murdered. It was only after long search that accused Ram Singh was traced by them at Sirsa, which is at a distance of about 300 Kms. from Narnaul and when Kamla was not found with him, complainant got suspicious and Ram Singh was brought to Police Station, City Narnaul. It is to be noted that deceased Kamla belonged to village Hudina in Narnaul and accused, who was a mason was living at village Nasibpur in Narnaul, which is stated to be at a distance of 7-8 Kms. Therefore, the occurrence had taken place in a different village than the village of deceased Kamla.

It has come in the evidence of Kishori Lal, PW12 that Kamla was widow. She was having four children. Her elder daughter was married and her son was only 14-15 years of age. It is natural that when Kamla and Ram Singh went missing, everybody might have suspected that both of them have eloped. Therefore, they started searching for both of them. Normally, in such case police also drags its feet in recording the FIR. Therefore, when the complainant party traced out accused Ram Singh and Kamla was not found with him, they brought accused Ram Singh from Sirsa to Narnaul and handed over him to the police, alleging that he had kidnapped Kamla. It was only during investigation and on the disclosure statement of the accused that it was found that Kamla was murdered and her dead body was buried in the house, where Ram Singh used to live on rent. Data Ram, PW11 has proved that Ram Singh was living on rent in the house owned by him and that he had gone away along with all his belongings after Dussehra. The process of exhuming of the dead body was done in the presence of a team of doctors, Kishan Sarpanch and other respectables of the village. It was not known to anybody that Kamla was lying buried in the house of Data Ram, where accused Ram Singh used to live on rent. Accused himself dug the earth and got recovered the dead body. From the bangles and belongings, dead body was identified to be of Kamla. The delay in recording the FIR in this case is immaterial. The identity of deceased was established.

It was suggested that Kishori Lal, complainant was suspecting the character of Kamla and he had murdered Kamla and falsely implicated the accused in this case. It shows that murder of Kamla is not denied by accused though he claims that he did not do it.

There is no motive on the part of the complainant to falsely implicate the accused. However, there is a motive on the part of the accused, who was fed up with the increasing demands of Kamla.

There are some other circumstances, which show the involvement of the accused in crime. The dead body of Kamla was buried in the house, where Ram Singh was living on rent. This fact was within his exclusive knowledge. The subsequent conduct of the accused shows that after burying the dead body of Kamla, he went away with all his belongings to a far away place at Sirsa, which is stated to be at a distance of 300 Kms. Therefore, in this case, the chain of circumstances is complete. The accused has failed to explain as to how dead body of Kamla, who used to visit him, was found buried in his rented house.

Learned counsel for the appellant has placed reliance upon the judgments of Division Bench passed in Kailash Vs. State of Rajasthan, , "Chhotu Singh vs. State of Rajasthan", 1999 AIR(SCW) 4953 and Shri Suman Rajowar Vs. The State of Assam,

We are of the view that the said authorities are of no help to the accused as in this case the chain of circumstances is complete and dead body was buried by the accused in the house, where he used to live on rent and was got recovered by him. This is also supported by the subsequent conduct of the accused in running away from the rented house along with his luggage.

In this way, we are of the view that accused was rightly convicted and sentenced u/s 302 IPC for murder of Kamla and also convicted and sentenced u/s 201 IPC. We do not find any illegality and perversity in the impugned judgment and order.

Accordingly, the appeal stands dismissed.

Accused Ram Singh is on bail. He be arrested immediately and committed to jail to undergo his remaining part of the sentence.