Surinder Singh, J. - (1.) THE appellant has challenged his conviction and sentence passed by the learned Sessions Judge in Sessions Trial No. 7 of 2006 decided on 28.5.2009, whereby he has been sentenced under Section 302 of the Indian Penal Code, for causing the murder of his wife Monika to undergo rigorous imprisonment for life and to pay a fine of '.20,000/ -, in default to further undergo simple imprisonment for six months. Further fifty percent of the fine amount, if realized is ordered to be paid to the parents of the deceased as compensation. In short, prosecution story, as emerges from the evidence on record, can be stated thus. PW1 Banwari Lal, brother of deceased Monika had engaged the accused as a driver of his vehicle and served him for about a year. He was suspected to have some illicit intimacy with the deceased, thus he was removed from service. (ii) In the month of January, 2005, the deceased got employment as Nurse in a private Nursing Home at Kakihara in District Chamba. Her friend Lucky also joined the course in the same Institute. Later both of them left the job in the same month. (iii) Thereafter she alongwith her friend Lucky visited Jawalaji, where the deceased stayed in the house of Lucky aforesaid. Next morning, he (PW1) received a telephonic call from Lucky that Monika had boarded a bus to his place Fatehpur, District Kangra and he should receive her at Bus -stand. PW1 Banwari Lal alongwith his parents went to Bus -Stand, but he did not find any trace, then he visited Lucky's house at Jawalaji and enquired about Monika. She affirmed the above position, but after few days, Banwari Lal aforesaid received a telephonic message from the deceased that she had married accused. (iv) The accused was employed as a driver in Fertichem Spinning Mills at Dera Bassi in Patiala District of Punjab. In the year 2006, PW2 Dilwar Singh was running a Canteen in the said Mill. Later he left the service and Dilwar Singh came to know that he was staying in an Apartment at Mani Majra. Since, the accused owed some money thus he visited aforesaid place and demanded his dues to which he paid. According to him, at that time, he had seen a lady living with the accused as his wife and identified her photographs Ext. PA -1 to PA -14 which pertained to the deceased. (v) In the year 2005, PW14 Smt. Navneet Kaur was residing in House No. 435 in Mohalla Dehra Saheb, Mani Majra alongwith her husband Rajiv Kaushal, who used to deal in medicine and had a clinic nearby. The accused also started residing in the said building as a tenant alongwith deceased and stayed there for about two months. She also identified the photographs Exts. PA -1 to PA -13 of the deceased. According to her at that time, she appeared to be pregnant. She further stated that on 10th July, 2005, accused alongwith the deceased had left the rented premises, on the pretext that they were going to pay obeisance in the temple Mansa Devi and he would leave his wife in the house of his sister. Thereafter the accused returned next day i.e. on 11.7.2005 and told her that he had left the deceased in his sister's house in Kangra District, thereafter vacated the rented premises within about 12 days. (vi) PW15 Smt. Mamta also stated about the stay of the accused alongwith his deceased wife in Dehra Saheb area of Mani Majra. The deceased and the accused were both known to her brother Raju who was also a driver by profession. She stated that in June, 2005, the accused and his wife Monika visited the doctor in Street No. 9, Mani Majra. The deceased was got medically examined, they had also visited her place, took tea and during conversation, the deceased told her that it was her love -marriage with the accused and they had not visited home for the last about seven months. Thereafter she had met her at one or two occasions, in Bazaar. But in the month of July, 2005, the accused had left the rented premises and came to reside with her brother Raju alone. On being asked about his wife, he revealed that he had left her at the house of her sister in Ludhiana town as she being pregnant. (vii) On 11.7.2005, PW27 Inspector Ajay Rana received a telephonic message from S.I. Ruldu Ram, the then Incharge of Police Post City, Una that a dead -body of a lady was lying in 'Hotel Ganga Lodge' near Bus Stand, Una. On receiving this information, he rushed to the spot and found a dead -body of a lady lying in room No. 105 of the said hotel and recorded statement Ext. PW9/A of PW13 Krishan Kumar, Manager of the Hotel under Section 154 of the Code of Criminal Procedure. PW27 aforesaid made an endorsement on the statement and sent it for the registration of the case to the Police Station which culminated into FIR. He also sent for the Photographer PW23 C. Shashi Kumar. He took the photographs of the dead -body Exts. PA -1 to PA -14. Investigating Officer took into possession two tumblers Exts. P8 and P9, lying on a stool and three plastic water bottles Exts. P10 to P12 from another stool and sealed with seal impression "P". Seal after its use was handed over to witness Vinod Kumar and all these articles were taken into possession vide memo Ext. PW5/A. A carry bag Ext. P -13 containing clothes of the deceased i.e. Shirt Ext. P14, Salwar Ext. P15, Dupatta Ext. P16, Underwear Ext. P17, Bra Ext. P18 and a pair of Sandle Ext. P19 found in the room, vide memo Ext. PW5/B. The Investigating Officer noticed some injuries on the face and around neck of the deceased which gave the impression of strangulation with Dupatta, as such he prepared inquest papers Exts. PW27/A and B. The dead -body was taken into possession and sent for autopsy. (viii) Inspector Ajay Rana (PW27) prepared the site plan Ext. PW27/C and also took into possession guest/tourist visitors register which was produced by PW13 Krishan Kumar Hotel Manager, vide memo Ext. PW5/C. The register aforesaid contained the entries with respect to the stay of the deceased with one person in the said hotel. According to PW13 Krishan Kumar, the entries were made by the person accompanying the deceased. Said Investigating Officer visited the place of address given in the register Ext. P20, but the address was found fake. (ix) PW7 Dr. S.K. Gupta with the assistance of Dr. Rajan Angra and Dr. S. Rana conducted the postmortem of the dead -body on July 11, 2005, on the request of the police. Her abdomen was found distended. The team of the doctors also noticed that there was Dupatta around her neck and the doctors noticed ligature mark around her neck having abrasions of 3 cm x 0.5 cm with clotted blood at the root. The face of the dead -body was congested and swollen with petechial haemorrhage. Her eyes were bulged out. There was also an abrasion of 1x0.5 cm in size on the forehead with the clotted blood, which was brownish in colour. A blackish ligature mark on the upper neck having thickness of 0.5 cm all around the neck except lateral side was also observed. The depth of the ligature mark was found to be upto subcutaneous tissue which was ecchymosed. A contusion was also found on the scalp with clotted blood. The brain was congested and the body was having partial post mortem rigidity with postmortem lividity on dependant parts. Cricoid bone was found broken and the larynx and trachea were found filled with pinkish froth. The tongue was protruded and swollen. Pink froth was drooling from mouth and nostrils and was also in pharynx. Undigested food article was noticed in the abdomen. Small intestines were found distended containing gases and faecal matter. Liver was congested, whereas the uterus was found enlarged and on dissection it was found containing a dead male foetus of 900 grams. There was no evidence of any fresh injury on the organs of generation internal or external. (x) In the opinion of the doctor, the death was due to strangulation. The probable time which elapsed between the neck injuries and death was immediate and death and postmortem was 12 to 24 hours. (xi) The viscera was preserved and sent for forensic examination. The vaginal swabs were also taken for chemical analysis. The blood samples of the deceased as well as the foetus were also taken. For the purpose of finger printing/typing all the finger tips of both the hands of the deceased were cut and put into a separate bag for DNA analysis. Sample of foetus tissue were also taken and sealed in a separate bag. The postmortem report (four leaves) Ext. PW7/A was also prepared, which was signed by the team of the doctors aforesaid. The doctors ruled out the possibility of the suicide but they confirmed homicidal death by strangulation with Dupatta Ext. P21. (xii) PW13 Krishan Kumar, hotel Manager and Sudama Ram the then waiter in the hotel gave description and features of the accused on the basis of which the Investigating Officer got prepared the posters and circulated in the various Police Stations in neighborhood. The posters were also got published in the newspapers. (xiii) The Superintendent of Police, Una constituted a special investigation team (SIT) the members of which were sent to locate the culprit. (xiv) During the course of investigation it came to notice that the deceased belonged from Fatehpur village of district Kangra (H.P.) and was daughter of Ram Nath with whom the accused was working as driver and had developed intimacy with the deceased, later he is alleged to have kept her as his wife. Thus, the police team consisting of PW25 ASI Harbans Lal and PW24 ASI Shakti Singh on tip visited Chandigarh where the accused was working as a taxi driver and was residing in Chandigarh. PW25 Harbans Lal, the then ASI alongwith some police officials drew blank till 8.8.2005, however on 9.8.2005, he visited Dera Bassi where the accused was stated to have served as a driver in "Fertichem Spinning and Floor Mill". Police came across PW2 Dilwar Singh, who pointed out the location of the residential quarter of the accused, but accused was not found present there. Thereafter, police visited Mani Majra alongwith Dilwar Singh aforesaid and enquired about the whereabouts of the accused from some of the taxi -drivers. Suddenly the accused came across the police, who was identified by Dilwar Singh for whom the police was looking for. The accused was arrested and his face was muffled. A memo Ext. PW25/A to this effect was prepared and his arrest information was passed -on to PW27 Inspector/SHO Ajay Rana on his mobile phone. Accused was brought to the Police Post Haroli (Una). (xv) The accused was interrogated. He gave his disclosure statement Ext. PW6/A with respect to throwing the keys of the room No. 105 of the aforesaid Hotel in the water source a few kilometers short of Bangana. (xvi) On 10th August, 2005, he was produced with muffled face in the Court with a prayer to conduct his identification parade by the Judicial Magistrate. Request was allowed and the identification parade was conducted in the Sub -jail on 11.8.2005 at 9 a.m. While in custody, on 12.8.2005, the accused made another disclosure statement that he had also thrown the Payal (anklet) of the deceased by the side of the Khokha at village Bhota near a place where people used to urinate. All these items could not be located, but however, the accused is stated to have pointed out the room No. 105 in hotel Ganga Lodge, Una and also Quarter No. 130 in Mani Majra where he had stayed with Raju brother of PW15 Mamta aforesaid. He also stated about wearing apparels of the deceased having kept in his residential quarter. (xvii) On 12.8.2005, police visited Room No. 130 in Street No. 10, Shakti Nagar Mohalla of Mani Majra and found the room closed as keys were with Ranbir Singh, brother -in -law of Raju, who was residing there. He was called and the room was opened. During search, a green coloured bag Ext. P23 and a VIP suitcase Ext. P1 were recovered. The bag contained clothes Ext. P24 to P37 which were supplied by the brother of the deceased to her. These were sealed in the same bag with seal impression "M". Suitcase Ext. P1 was containing pullover Ext. P2 and other wearing apparels Exts. P4 to P7 of the deceased alongwith middle standard certificate Ext. P8, character certificate Ext. PC, mark -sheet Ext. PD, employment card Ext. PE and another certificate Ext. PF pertaining to the deceased. Three photographs Exts. PA -15 to PA -17 of the deceased were also found in the suitcase. All these articles were taken out and sealed with seal impression "M" and taken in possession vide memo Ext. PW3/A. (xviii) The accused was produced before PW10 Dr. M.K. Pathak to take blood sample with his consent which was sealed. On 17.8.2005, it was sent for DNA profiling to Forensic Science Laboratory, Chandigarh through PW21 ASI Darshan Singh. (xix) The clothes of the deceased were got identified before the Executive Magistrate. Specimen writings of the accused were taken before the Magistrate on the request of the police, which was allowed. Said writings Ext. PW26/K -1 to Ext. PW26/K -10. (xx) On 20.8.2005, the finger prints of the accused were also obtained before the then Chief Judicial Magistrate, Una. FORENSIC REPORTS. (xxi) The report Ext. PW27/D is of the Forensic Science Laboratory with respect to the vaginal swabs, which contained the blood and semen stains. Ext. PW27/E is another report of viscera, but it do not contain any poisonous substance. Ext. PW27/F is the report of Finger Print Bureau with respect to the finger prints developed from the finger tips of the deceased. Ext. PW27/H is the DNA report of the Central Forensic Science Laboratory, Chandigarh. The accused has been opined to be the biological father of dead foetus found in the womb of the deceased. The forensic report Ext. PW27/J confirms the writing of the accused on the hotel register.
(2.) DURING the investigation, the police found the involvement of the accused in committing the crime as he had suspected her of infidelity and carrying the pregnancy of some other person. After completing the investigation, the challan was presented in the Court for the trial of the accused. Finding a prima -facie case under Section 302 of the Indian Penal Code against the accused, he was accordingly charge -sheeted for the said offence, to which he pleaded not guilty and claimed trial.
(3.) TO prove its case, prosecution examined its witnesses and the accused was also examined under Section 313 of the Code of Criminal Procedure.;