Susheel vs State of Madhya Pradesh

A.K. Shrivastava, J.—Feeling aggrieved by the judgment of conviction and order of sentence dated 11.08.2005 passed by the learned Sessions Judge, Bhopal in Sessions Trial No. 20/2005 convicting the appellant u/s 302 /34 IPC and thereby sentencing him to suffer life imprisonment and fine of Rs. 5,000/-, in default further 6 months SI, the appellant has taken shelter of this Court by preferring this appeal u/s 374(2) of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973. No exhaustive statements of fact are required to be narrated for the purpose of disposal of this appeal since in elaboration they have been narrated in para 3 of the impugned judgment. However, for ready reference, it would be condign to mention that on 04.11.2004 at about 8.10 p.m. the present appellant and juvenile co-accused Kishore stabbed the deceased namely Chandu alias Chandan Singh by causing knife injuries to him, as a result of which, he succumbed to those injuries. A Deharinalisi was lodged by Ramsingh (P.W.3), upon which criminal law was triggered and set in motion.

After investigation was over a charge sheet was submitted in the committal Court which on its turn committed the case to the Court of Session where appellant was tried.

The learned Trial Judge on the basis of the material available in the charge sheet, framed charges punishable under Sections 302 and 302 /34 of IPC against the appellant, which he denied and requested for the trial.

In order to bring home the charges, the prosecution examined as many as 8 witnesses and also proved Ex.P/1 to P/18, the documents on record. The defence of the appellant is of false implication and the same defence he set forth in his statement recorded u/s 313 Cr.P.C. However, in support of their defence they did not choose to examine any witness.

The learned Trial Court after appreciating and marshalling the evidence came to hold that charge u/s 302 /34 IPC has been proved against the appellant and eventually convicted the appellant and passed the order of sentence, which we have mentioned in para 1 of this judgment.

In this manner, the present appeal has been filed by the appellant assailing the judgment of conviction and order of sentence.

The contention of learned counsel for appellant is that looking to the testimony of Ramsingh (P.W.3) and another witness Ayub Khan (P.W.4) it cannot be said that appellant has caused knife injury to deceased, resulting into his death.

On the other hand, Shri Pandey, learned Public Prosecutor argued in support of the impugned judgment and submitted that there is clear evidence of these two eyewitnesses saying that appellant has caused knife injury to deceased resulting into his death, which is corroborated by the medical evidence also and thus learned Trial Court did not commit any error in convicting the appellant for the offences punishable u/s 302 /34 of IPC. Hence, it is prayed that this appeal be dismissed.

Having heard learned counsel for the parties, we are of the considered view that this appeal deserves to be dismissed.

The entire case of the prosecution rests upon the statement of eyewitnesses Ramsingh (P.W.3) and Ayub Khan (P.W.4). Merely because eyewitness Ramsingh (P.W.3) is real brother of deceased would not mean that his evidence cannot be taken into consideration on account of blood relationship. The law in this regard is well settled and in these circumstances his testimony should be scrutinized with great care and caution. By keeping this settled principle of law in our mind, we have thoroughly examined the testimony of this witness. On bare perusal of examination-in-chief, we find that there is specific evidence that appellant alongwith juvenile co-accused Kishore caused knife injuries upon the body of deceased. This witness was cross-examined at length but nothing has been carved out from his testimony in order to disbelieve this witness. After x-raying the testimony of this witness, we find that his testimony is clear, cogent and trustworthy. That apart, his testimony is corroborated by the testimony of Ayub Khan (P.W.4) which is also worth reliable. On going through the testimony of these two eyewitnesses, we are of the view that learned Trial Court did not commit any error by placing reliance upon the testimony of these two witnesses holding that appellant had dealt the knife blows upon the different parts of the body of deceased, as a result of which he died. The evidence of these two witnesses is further corroborated by the evidence of autopsy surgeon Dr. Jyanti Yadav (P.W.1) and his postmortem report Ex.P/1 in which following injuries were found by the doctor on the person of deceased:-

stab wound present on lateral aspect of Rt. side of abdomen with medial and in the line of nipple and 14 cm below it. Size 4x 0.5 cm obliquely transverse lateral end is broad and up, while the medial end is placed down and is relatively pointed. Lower margin shows sticking effect while flapping effect is seen on upper margin. The wound has entered the abdominal cavity by cutting the 7th intercostal space and by sharp cut to 8th and 9th rib in their cartilaginous part obliquely. The wound enters the anterior aspect of Rt hole of liver and cut it through and through to emerge out from the anterior margin of left lobe. It then enters the thoracic cavity by cutting the diaphragm. The wound enters the pericardial cavity from posterior aspect near the nose, cuts the left ventricular wall through and through at 2 places and emerge out of pericardial cavity by cutting it at left lateral border and gives a sick of inferno medial margin of upper lobe of left ulna. The total depth of wound is 17 cm and the neck is euhymosed. The wound is directed from below upward from right to left and slightly posteriorly. Partly clotted blood of about 1000cc is present in abdominal and pericardial cavity.

stab wound present on left side of chest with medial end situated 6 cm below medial and of left clavicle. The wound is 7 x 1.5cm obliquely transverse left lateral end is relatively pointed and is situated up where the medial end is brought is placed down. Lightening effect is seen on upper margin and flapping effect is seen on lower margin. The wound has entered the thoracic cavity by cutting the muscle of 2nd inter costal space, dipping the lower margin of medial end of 2nd rib and cutting the adjoining part of sternum. The wound has cut the upper lobe of left lung on medial and interior aspect then entered the pericardial cavity where it has given nick to anterior. Total depth of wound is 7cm and the back is ecchymosed wound is directed from anterior to posterior, slightly to right and slightly downwards left thoracic cavity contain about 1000cc partly clotted blood. Clotting are preserved, sealed and handed over to PC concerned.

stab wound present over last in midline with Rt. and 8cm pointed left end is broad 0.1cm wide present all around which become 0.2cm wide on Rt. side. The wound enters the thoracic cavity by entering the sternum at level of 3rd rib transversely left and this cut jam with wound no. 2. The bound cut the medial end of left lung and enters the mediadorsal cavity to give a nick to pulmonary mark. The neck is euhymosed and 8cm long 4 stab wound present on the left side of chest, 12 cm below medial and of left clavicle. 3 x 0.5cm transverse with medial and relatively pointed end lateral and broad. Abrasion 0.1 cm surrounds this wound. The abrasion becomes 0.2cm wide on medial aspect with loping of 0.8 cm length at medial end. The wound enters thoracic cavity by cutting muscle of 3rd intercostals space. The wound has cut left lungs in lower border of upper lobe and has entered the left sternum after cutting the pericardial from left lateral aspect. The wound is 9cm long euhymosed and is directed anterior to posterior, slightly medially in same place.

superficial incised wound 0.5 cm dia present just below medial end of right clavicle skindeep.

superficial incised wound 1 x 0.5cm present 7cm below medial of RT. Clavicle 6 cm lateral to midline oblique with medial and upwards skindeep.

abrasion present 1cm above the lateral end of wound no. 2 9cm oblique upward medially 4.5 x 0.5cm. At mid of this abrasion a superficial incised wound is present 1 x 0.5cm with lateral end up.

The evidence of the autopsy surgeon is further corroborated by the evidence of another doctor namely Dr. J.K. Chorasiya (P.W.2) who examined the deceased when he was brought in the hospital immediately after the incident and he found that he was already dead. His report is Ex.P/4.

Looking to the umpteen injuries dealt by appellant by knife it is emphatically clear that learned Trial Court did not commit any error in convicting the appellant u/s 302 /34 of IPC and therefore we do not find any merit in this appeal. For the reasons stated hereinabove, this appeal fails and is hereby dismissed.