Amar Saran, J. - (1.) CRIMINAL Appeal No. 7525 of 2007 preferred by the appellants was connected with Capital Jail Appeal No. 6362 of 2007, which the appellants have preferred from jail and with Reference No. 23 of 2007 sent by the Sessions Judge under Section 366 of the Code of CRIMINAL Procedure (hereinafter referred to as the Code) for confirmation of the sentence of death awarded to the appellants under Section 302/34, I.P.C. together with a fine of Rs. 10,000 each. In default of payment of fine, the appellants were sentenced to two years additional imprisonment by the order of the Additional District Judge/Special Judge, S.C./S.T. Act, J. P. Nagar dated 31.8.2007. The appellants were also sentenced to two years' R.I. and a fine of Rs. 1,000 each under Section 201, I.P.C. and in default of payment of fine, the appellants were sentenced to three months additional sentence ; three years' R. I. under Section 377/511, I.P.C. together with a fine of Rs. 1,500 each and in default of payment of fine, an additional sentence of 4 months ; a sentence of one year's R.I. under Section 379, I.P.C. and to a sentence of one year's R.I. also un Shankerlal Gyarasilal Dixit v. State of Maharashtra, AIR 1981 SC 765 der Section 411, I.P.C. The appellant Balveer Singh was also convicted to imprisonment for life under Section 3 (2) (v), S.C./S.T. Act and a fine of Rs. 10,000 in default of payment of fine two years additional sentence. The appellant-Mukesh was, however acquitted under the aforesaid charge as he himself was a member of the Scheduled Caste.
(2.) A report was lodged on 24.10.2001 at 8.45 p.m. by Hem Raj, P.W. 1, father of the deceased at P. S. Amroha Dehat at Crime No. 490 of 2001 under Section 302, I.P.C. against unknown persons. The allegations in the F.I.R. were that his son Vipin Kumar aged about 14 years had left his home with a darati on a bicycle at about 1.30 p.m. on the same day for cutting the maize crop. When the boy did not return till 7 p.m. then the informant became worried. He was then informed by his cousin brother Jaikar that the dead body of a boy is lying in the field of Shamsuddin, which was neighbouring his field. Then the informant accompanied by the Gram Pradhan and others went to the spot, where they found the dead body of his son lying in the field of Shamsuddin with a wire tied around his neck and an injury on his head. His stomach was also lacerated. Some unknown persons appeared to have committed the crime. The Station Officer of P. S. Amroha Dehat registered the F.I.R. and got the inquest conducted, and thereafter sent the body for post-mortem after completing the necessary formalities. The post-mortem which was conducted on 25.10.2001 at 1.50 p.m. at District Hospital, Moradabad by Dr. Sudhir Singh showed that the deceased Vipin Kumar was 14 years in age. One day had passed since his death and rigor mortis had passed off from the upper extremities, but was present in the lower extremities. The following ante-mortem injuries were noted by the Doctor : (1) Ligature mark all around neck placed in middle of neck 29 cm. x 0.4 cm. Margins are ecchymosed. (2) Multiple incised wound on left side scalp in an area of 15 cm. x 10 cm. Minimum 2 cm. x 0.3 cm. scalp to 6 cm. x 1 cm. x scalp. (3) Incised wound on right side occipital region 4 cm. x 1 cm. x bone partial cut. (4) Stab wound on right limb region of front of abdomen 5 cm. x 2 cm. x abdominal cavity. Bowel loops are out of wound. (5) Abrasion on left arm lower end, 2 cm. x 1 cm. After completion of the investigation charges under Sections 302 read with 34, 201, 377, 379, 511, I.P.C. and 3 (2) (v) of the S.C./S.T. Act were framed against the two appellants on 17.1.2002 by the Special Judge, to which the appellants pleaded not guilty and claimed trial.
(3.) THIS is a case of circumstantial evidence in which 11 witnesses were examined from the side of prosecution. Three witnesses A.P.W. 1 Smt. Phoolvati, A.P.W. 2 Data Ram Sharma, A.P.W. 3 Inderwati and two Court witnesses C.W. 1 Dr. Ashok Kumar and C.W. 2 Dr. Ranjan Gautam were examined for proving the ages of the appellants Balveer and Mukesh in order to show that they were juveniles on the date of incident, so that they could get the benefit of the Juvenile Justice Act. The case of the appellants in their statements under Section 313, Cr. P.C. was of denial and they claimed to have been falsely implicated. P.W. 1 Hem Raj, the father of the deceased Vipin Kumar aged 14 years was the informant of this case. He reiterated his version in the F.I.R. that his son had gone on his bicycle to his maize field for harvesting maize at about 1.30 p.m. on the date of incident. When the boy did not return till 7 p.m., they got worried. Thereafter his cousin brother Jaikar gave him an information that a dead body was lying in Shamsuddin's field. When the informant reached that location alongwith the Pradhan and family members, he found that the dead body was of his son, who had injuries on his head and a wire was tied on his neck and his stomach was torn. It appeared that the body had been concealed in the field. After that he dictated the report to Jai Prakash (Ext. Ka-1), which he lodged at the police station at 8.45 p.m. After that he police reached the place of incident, and after completing the inquest, sealing the dead body and taking it into possession sent it for post-mortem, which was conducted the next day. In his cross-examination he states that the earth near the corpse was blood stained and there were marks of brick injury. The body was lying naked. The field where the body was lying was about 500 metres from the village. He denied that the report was dictated by the Sub-Inspector or that it was changed by Jai Prakash.;