- (1.) The appellant has been charged of the offence under Section 302 of the Indian Penal Code (for short 'IPC') for committing murder by intentionally causing the death of Dinesh Kumar Bishwas on the intervening night of 13/14.04.2006 at about 3.00 a.m. He was convicted of the said charge and awarded sentence of life imprisonment with a fine of Rs. 5,000/-, and in default to undergo further rigorous imprisonment for a period of six months vide judgment of conviction and sentence dated 29.08.2007 passed by the learned trial Court. His appeal is pending before this Court. The learned counsel for the appellant and learned State's counsel were heard.
(2.) In a criminal trial under the Indian Penal Code, the Courts have to invariably deal with cases based on direct or circumstantial evidence or both. Direct evidence comprises of eye witness account of the incident. In the cases resting upon circumstantial evidence, the settled law on the subject is that the inference of guilt can be justified only when all the incriminating facts and circumstances are found to be incompatible with the innocence of the accused or the guilt of any other person. The circumstances from which an inference as to guilt of the accused is drawn have to be proved beyond reasonable doubt and have to be shown to be closely connected with the principal fact sought to be inferred from those circumstances. Where the case depends upon the conclusion drawn from circumstances, the cumulative effect of the circumstances must be as to negative the innocence of the accused and bring home the offence beyond any reasonable doubt. The said principle is elaborately summed up by Hon'ble Supreme Court in Kusum Ankama Rao V. State of Andhra Pradesh, 2008 13 SCC 257.
(3.) The proof of criminal charge(s) rests on various factors and in certain cases the motive to commit the crime and identity of the culprit are of prime importance. The issues whether the death is or is not homicidal; impact of delay in lodging the FIR or its dispatch to the Area Magistrate; reliance upon a person whose evidence is attacked as chance witness are the other relevant factors. The Courts are more often than not also confronted with the impact of the certain witnesses turning hostile but the reliance is still placed by the prosecution upon portions of the statements of such adverse witnesses, in support of the circumstances, available and proved. These are broadly the issues, which are germane to a criminal trial.;