AMAR SARAN, J. - (1.) The appellant Jay Prakash and co-accused Smt. Rajesh were charged under Section 302 IPC for having committed the murders of the appellants wife Smt. Guddi by strangulating her and the appellant's children, Gaurav and Km. Monika, by drowning them in a well. The two co-accused were also charged under Section 201 IPC for having concealed the dead body of Smt. Guddi in a haystack in a room in the appellant's house and for concealing the dead bodies of Gaurav and Monika in the well. The appellant Jay Prakash was sentenced to death under Section 302 IPC by the I Additional Sessions Judge, Bagpat. However, co-accused Smt. Rajesh was given benefit of doubt as apart from an allegation of having a motive to murder the deceased along with Jay Prakash there was no other evidence against her on record. She was living in a separate house from the deceased and Jay Prakash. On the night of incident no one had seen or heard Smt. Rajesh in the vicinity of the incident. No dead bodies had been recovered on her information or pointing out. Both the co- accused persons were acquitted on the charge under Section 201 IPC, as Guddi's dead body was lying in the house itself, and the children's bodies had been recovered from a well, and there was no material to substantiate the charge that the accused had made any effort to conceal the evidence. The present criminal appeal and criminal reference under Section 366 Cr.P.C. for confirmation of the sentence of death arise from the aforesaid judgment of the learned Sessions Judge, Baghpat, dated 5-6-2004.
(2.) An FIR was lodged by Ramvir, father of the deceased, Smt. Guddi, at PS Balaini, alleging that his daughter Guddi had been married to the appellant Jay Prakash 12 years earlier. The appellant was involved in wrong doings, which were resented by Guddi. The informant and others also tried to check the appellant but to no avail. On 26-8-2000 information was received by Ramvir in the morning that Jay Prakash had throttled Guddi in the night and committed her murder and that Guddi's daughter, Monika, aged 10 years, and son Gaurav, aged 7 years, were absent from the house. It appeared that Jay Prakash with the help of some others had also murdered the children and hidden them somewhere. Many villagers were present near the dead body of Guddi in the village. On the basis of the information furnished by Ramvir, an FIR was registered under Sections 302 and 364 IPC against the appellant by Head Moharrir Sukhvir Singh, PW 8, on 26-8-2000 at 7.35 a.m. The report was lodged in the presence of PW 9, SI, Digambar Singh, SHO, PS Balaini, who commenced investigation in the case. He took down the statements of the witnesses concerned with the preparation of the report and inspected the site after reaching there and prepared the site-plan (Ext. Ka-12). He conducted inquest on the dead body of 'Smt. Guddi (Ext. Ka-13) and duly sent the dead body for postmortem. He also effected the arrest of the appellant Jay Prakash on the same day with the aid of Sri Preetam Singh, PW 6, SO of PS Aminnagar Sarai. He recorded the confessional statement of the appellant Jay Prakash and on the pointing out of Jai Prakash, in the presence of other members of the appellant's family and the public and with the help of SO Preetam Singh, he got the dead bodies of Monika and Gaurav recovered from a well. The recovery memos of the dead bodies (Ext Ka 4) were scribed by SI Moti Singh on his dictation. SI Moti Singh also prepared the inquest papers of the bodies of Monika and Gaurav and sent the same for postmortem. A site-plan (Ext. Ka-14) of the place of recover of the dead bodies of Monika and Gaurav were also prepared by SI Digambar Singh, PW 9.
(3.) Postmortems were conducted on the bodies of Smt. Guddi, Master Gaurav and Km. Monika on 26-8-2000 at 5 pm, 5.30 pm and 6 pm, respectively, by Dr. P.K. Sharma, PW 3, Medical Officer, Upgraded PHC, Bagpat.;