S.S.BYAS,J. - (1.) ACCUSED Krishna Kumar has come up in appeal and challenges the correctness of the judgment passed on November 13, 1975 by the learned Sessions Judge, Sri Ganganagar convicting and sentencing him as under: _______________________________________________________________________________S.No. Offence u/s Sentence Awarded_______________________________________________________________________________(1) 302, IPC Imprisonment for life ;(2) 27, Arms Act Six months' rigrous imprisonment ;(3) 25(1)(a), Arms Act Six months' rigorous imprisonment._______________________________________________________________________________
(2.) BRIEFLY stated, the prosecution case is that PW 13 Mam Kauri was married to Basti Ram and from him she gave birth to three sons Ugmi Ram, PW 3 Asha Rare, PW 5 Hajari Ram and one daughter Mst. Chando. PW 2 Rustome Hind, aged about 11 years (in October, 1975) is the son of PW 3 Asha Ram The appellant Krishna Kumar is the son of Smt. Chando and thus grandson of PW 13 Smt. Mam Kauri. Smt. Mam Kauri left her husband Bastiram and started living with the deceased victim Khan Mohammed as his keep. Khan Mohammed adopted Rustome Hind as his son. Rustome Hind, thus, was living with him. Khan Mohammed migrated from Sri Ganganagar to Anoopgarh, where he purchased some land for cultivation The appellant was not hippy with Khan Mohammed as he was keeping his maternal grand mother (Smt. Mam Kauri) as his keep On March 22, 1974, Khan Mohammed and Rustome Hind came from Annopgarh to Sri Ganganagar, and remained there through out the day. In the evening on that day, Khan Mohammed and Rustome Hind went to the Railway Station, Sri Ganganagar to board a train to go to Annopgarh. They hid purchased tickets for the journey. At about 8.30 p.m. while they were standing on the platform and the train was just to arrive, a shot was fired at Khan Mohammed, which hit him on the lateral aspect of the left side of his chest. Khan Mohammed fell down. The culprit took to heels. The Police Constables of Railway Police, viz., PW 1 Sri Kishan Head Constables, PW 9 Mohan Lai, PW 11 Harisingh and PW 12 Gurudayal Singh, who were there on patrolling duty on the platform, became active. PW 11 Harisingh and PW 12 Gurudayal Singh ran after the culp it. The culprit, while fleeing away, dropped a pistol on the platform. Both these constables ran after the culprit upto the market situate out -side the railway station, but could not catch him. The culprit mounted on the front bar of a bicycle which the other culprit had kept ready for his escape. Both the culprits thereafter paddled the bicycle and disappeared. Police Constable Harisingh and Gurudayal Singh returned to the platform and found Khan Mohammed lying in an injured condition with blood oozing out from his wound. PW 1 Sri Krishna and other police constables took Khan Mohammed to the General Hospital, but before they could reach there, Khan Mohammed passed away. Shri Kishan drew up report Ex. P. 1 of the occurrence and sent it through PW 11 Harisingh to the Railway Police Station, Hanumangarh. He also informed the Station House Officer, Hanumangarh on telephone of the incident. The S.H.O. Jugrajsingh (PW 14). arrived at Police Station Ganganagar at about 5.00 a m. on March 23, 1974. He inspected the site and prepared the site plan. He also seized and sealed pistol (Article 1) lying a few feet from the place of incident. The postmortem examination over the victim's dead body was conducted by the Medical Jurist Dr. Goyal (PW 15). He noticed the following injuries on the dead body: External (1) Gun shot 1' x 1/2' x ? oblique in direction on the mid of lateral aspect of left side of chest posteriorly; (2) Gun shot 1/4' x 1/4' x ? of same size six wounds were there around injury No. 1; Internal Thorax -There was fracture of 6th and 7th ribs on the left side; Left Lung -Lacerated wound on left side of size 2' x 1 -1/2' x full depth found and there corks collected from the lung tissue; Pleurae and Pericardium were raptured at the place of the injuries; Heart was containing a lacerated wound of size l' x 1/8'x anterior wall back, total six wounds were 'found. Both sides were empty and whole of the chest was full of blood; Liver -Six wounds of size 1 -1/4' x 1/4' x full depth of the liver tissue. Three shots collected from the liver and three sheets just on the interior aspect of the liver. The doctor was of the opinion that Khan Mohammed had died on account of injury to heart and acute shock due to bleeding. The post -mortem examination report prepared by him is Ex. P 1. The appellant Krishna Kumar and Deshraj were arrested on March 26, 1974. They were lodged in judicial lock -up where their test identification was conducted on March 27, 1974 by the Tehsildar Mr. Amilal (PW 17). Both the accused persons were correctly identified by the Railway Police Constables PW 11 Hari Singh and PW 12 Gurudayal Singh. The recovered pistol was sent for examination to the State Forensic Science Laboratory, Jaipur. An empty cartridge was found in its barrel. On examination, it was found in working order and the cartridge case found in its barrel to have been fired from it. On the completion of investigation, the police submitted a challan in the Court of the Chief Judicial Magistrate, Sri Ganganagar, who, in his turn, committed the case for trial to the Court of Sessions Judge Sri Ganganagar. The learned Sessions Judge framed a charge under Section 302/114, IPC against accused Deshraj and under Section 302, IPC and Sections 27 and 25 of the Arms Act against accused Krishna Kumar. Both the accused pleaded not guilty and claimed to be tried. They denounced the whole prosecution story as false and fabricated piece of concoction and claimed absolute innocence. In support of its case, the prosecution examined 17 witnesses and filed some documents, while in defence, no evidence was adduced. On the conclusion of trial, the learned Sessions Judge found no incriminating material against accused Deshraj. He was, therefore, acquitted. The charges were taken as duly proved against accused Krishna Kumar. He was, therefore, convicted and sentenced as mentioned at, the very out -set. We have heard Mr. B.R. Purohit learned counsel for the appellant and the learned Public Prosecutor Mr. L.S. Udawat. We have also gone through the case file carefully.
(3.) BEFOE proceeding further, it would be proper to briefly analyse the evidence which the prosecution adduced in order to establish the charges against the appellant. The evidence adduced consists of the following sets: (1) Direct evidence of PW2 Rustome Hind who was standing with the deceased -victim Khan Mohammed; (2) the conspiracy hatched by the appellant and accused Deshraj to murder Khan Mohammed; (3) the extra -judicial confession alleged to have been made by the appellant; (4) the report of the Forensic Science Laboratory in respect of pistol (Article 1); and (5) the direct evidence of PW 11 Harisingh and PW 12 Gurudayal Singh, who chased the appellant and saw him fleeing away. ;