- (1.) The three respondents were convicted by the learned Additional Sessions Judge, Kanpur under Ss. 148 I.P.C. and 302/149 I.P.C. for the murders of Ram Shanker and his friend Satya Narain Singh. They were sentenced to suffer rigorous imprisonment for two years under S. 148 I.P.C. and imprisonment for life for the offence under Ss. 302/149 I.P.C. Both sentences were ordered to run concurrently. The High Court of Allahabad allowed their appeal and set aside the order of conviction and sentence passed by the Trial Court. They were acquitted of all the charges levelled against them and their bail bonds were discharged. The State of U.P. feeling aggrieved by the order of acquittal has approached this Court by way of special leave. The facts relevant to be stated are as under : - The incident in question occurred on 29th December, 1972 at about 7.30 p.m. near block No. 10 in Govind Nagar locality of the city of Kanpur. In the said incident Ram Shanker and his friend Satya Narain received fatal injuries. Ram Shanker died on the spot about 65 steps away from the place of occurrence whereas his companion Satya Narain expired in the hospital on 8th January, 1973. It may here be mentioned that both the deceased persons had a criminal record. The Investigating Officer P.W. 7, Jagdish Kumar has stated that both the deceased were bad characters of Govind Nagar area and several cases of marpit were pending against them, particularly Ram Shanker. Besides, there were cases pending against Ram Shanker under S.25, Arms Act and S. 392 I.P.C. also. P.W. 1 Sheo Shanker, the brother of the deceased Ram Shanker, also admits that there were two to four cases pending against his brother, including a couple of cases under S. 25, Arms, Act.
(2.) One Sneh Lata Aggarwal resided in the house one Tiwarijee in 'E' Block of Govind Nagar. The deceased Ram Shanker had illicit relations with her. This fact is admitted by his brother P.W. 1 also. Ram Shanker and his companion Satya Narain used to visit her regularly which was not liked by the landlord Tiwarijee. A couple of days prior to the incident Tiwarijee had reprimanded them for visiting Sneh Lata. This had annoyed the two deceased. They had, therefore, beaten up Tiwarijee. On the morning of 29th December, 1972, the respondent No. 1 Madan Mohan is alleged to have admonished the deceased Ram Shanker for beating Tiwarijee and is further alleged to have threatened to kill him (Ram Shanker) if he misbehaved in future. According to the prosecution, on the evening of 29th December, 1972, the three respondents along with two or three others cordoned the two deceased on the footpath near the residence of the respondents and inflicted knife blows to them which ultimately proved fatal. As stated earlier, Ram Shanker died on the spot while his companion Satya Narain died in the hospital a few days later.
(3.) The prosecution relies on the evidence of two eye witnesses P.W. 1 Sheo Shanker, the brother of the deceased Ram Shanker, and P.W. 2 Inder Singh. Both these witnesses arrived at the scene of occurrence after the quarrel started and claim to have seen the respondents inflicting knife injuries to the two deceased from a short distance. In addition the prosecution relies on the statement of deceased Satya Narain recorded in the hospital on the next morning. The said statement is admitted in evidence as a dying declaration. The Trial Court accepted the evidence of the two eye witnesses as well as the dying declaration and convicted the respondents. The High Court, however, came to the conclusion that the presence of the two eye witnesses at the place of occurrence was doubtful and since the dying declaration gave out a version totally different from the version of the two eye witnesses it refused to place reliance on the dying declaration. The High Court, therefore, reversed the finding of conviction and acquitted all the respondents.;