- (1.)This appeal is directed against the judgment dated 24th August, 2005 passed by the High Court of Uttaranchal(now Uttarakhand) at Nainital in Criminal Appeal No.1388 of 2001 (Old No.-Criminal Appeal No.1165 of 1988). By the impugned judgment the High Court upheld the judgment and order of conviction dated 30th March, 1988, passed by the Sessions Judge, Almora in Sessions Trial No.54 of 1987, State vs. Khim Singh, whereby the accused- appellant was convicted for the offence punishable under Section 302 IPC and was sentenced to undergo imprisonment for life.
(2.)Brief facts, giving rise to the present appeal as emerging from the material on record, are that the accused Khim Singh was residing with his wife Himuli Devi in his residential house at village Simgari. He has a son, named Mohan Singh, who was also residing with them, but sometimes, he resided with his grandmother, who resides in the adjacent house of Laccham Singh, brother of accused-Khim singh. Earlier accused-Khim Singh was in service outside his village, but for the last 4-5 years he had come back and was working as labourer. His wife, Himuli Devi, was a short- tempered woman and she often quarrelled with Khim Singh. It was suspected in the village that she was a woman of loose character and on account of this, accused-Khim Singh was also not in good terms with her. Often they used to be quarrelled with each other. On 17th July, 1987, also in the evening, they had a quarrel. Early in the morning of 18th July, 1987, one Bahadur Singh (since deceased), a resident of the village, while passing in front of the house of the accused-Khim Singh found that the door was closed and there was none outside. He opened the door and went inside the house and found Himuli Devi lying dead. He raised an alarm, on which, the mother of the accused also came there. He called the Sabhapati of the village, Bachi Singh also. They all saw that Himuli Devi was lying inside the room, having injuries on her body and she was dead.
(3.)The Sabhapati of the village, Bachi Singh, prepared a written report, Ext.Ka-1. It was sent to the Patwari of the Kshetra through one Kishan Singh. In the said report, Sabhapati mentioned that it was accused-Khim Singh who killed his wife Himuli Devi and requested the Patwari to come and investigate the matter. The written report was received by the Patwari, Narain Singh, at 11.30 a.m. on 18th July, 1987 and on that basis he prepared the FIR, Ext.Ka-3. He came to the house of Bachi Singh and recorded his statement. Accompanied by Bachi Singh, he went to the house of the accused, where Himuli Devi was found lying dead inside the house. The dead body was taken into custody and the inquest report, Ext.Ka-4, was prepared and the dead body was sealed. The letter with a request for postmortem, Ext.Ka-5, was also prepared. The blood stained clothes were taken into custody from the dead body and Fard, Ext.Ka-6 was prepared. From the place where the dead body was lying, blood stained and plain earth were also taken and sealed and a Fard, Ext.Ka-7, was prepared. The scene of occurrence was also reflected in site plan Ext.Ka-8. The accused-Khim Singh, who was present there, was arrested and a Fard, Ext.Ka-9, was prepared. At the instance of the accused, a blood-stained Kulhari (axe) was found inside the house and a Fard, Ext.Ka-2, was prepared. The sealed articles were handed over to the peon and Fard, Ext.Ka-10 was prepared. The statements of Manuli Devi (PW-1) and Khimuli Devi (PW-2) were recorded. In between 19th and 22th July, 1987 the statements of other witnesses, including Joga Singh (PW-5) were recorded. The sealed articles were sent for chemical examination. The investigation was completed and the chargesheet dated 22nd August, 1988, Ext.Ka-14, was submitted against the accused.