SINGH, J. - (1.) PRAKASH, the appellant herein was put to trial before the Court of Special Judge, Scheduled Caste and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Cases and District and Sessions Judge, Dholpura, in Sessions Case No. 59/2002. the learned trial Judge vide his judgment dated 11-8-2005, convicted the appellant under Section 302 IPC and sentenced him to undergo imprisonment for life and also imposed a fine of Rs. 5000/- and in default of payment of fine to further undergo six month's imprisonment. For the offence under Section 341 IPC, a fine of Rs. 500/- was imposed and in default of payment of fine to undergo six days imprisonment. While the appellant was acquitted for the offence under Section 3 (2) (v) of the Scheduled castes and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989 (hereinafter referred to as `the Act of 1989' ).
(2.) THE brief facts of the case are that the informant Meer Singh lodged a written report (Ex. P. 10) at Police Station Kanchanpura, on 31-3-2002, at 10 a. m. stating that on 30-3-2002 at about 7-8 p. m. the accused appellant Prakash s/o Sanja, by caste Gusai, resident of Math Hansai inflicted lathi blows on the head and temporal region of his uncle Pooran as a result of which he died and this incident was witnesses by Pooran S/o Shiv Narain Meena and Rakesh S/o Ram Khiladi Meena, residents of village Hansai. THE dead body of his uncle Pooran was brought to the village and was placed at his residence. It was further stated that after the incident, the accused Prakash fled away from the scene of occurrence and the whole incident was brought to the knowledge of the informant by his aunt Charandei w/o deceased Pooran and his son Munni Chand, who went to inform at village Surethi in the night. On the basis of this report, a case under Section 341/302 of the Indian Penal Code and under Section 3 (2) (v) of the Act of 1989, was registered and the investigation commenced. After investigation, challan was filed against the accused under Section 341/302 of the Indian Penal Code and Section 3 (2) (v) of the Act of 1989. The accused pleaded not guilty and claimed to be tried. The prosecution examined as many as 21 witnesses namely Dharmendra, (P. W. 1) Badri Prasad, (P. W. 2) Rambharosi, (P. W. 3) Ram Prakash, (P. W. 4) Ramvakeel, (P. W. 5) Peetam, (P. W. 6) Jagdish, (P. W. 7) Kanhaiya, (P. W. 8) Charandei, (P. W. 9) Lakhan, (P. W. 10) Munni Chand, (P. W. 11) Meer Singh, (P. W. 12) Rakesh, (P. W. 13) Pooran Singh, (P. W. 14) Shriniwas, (P. W. 15) Dr. Gopal Goyal, (P. W. 16) Sukhveer Singh, (P. W. 17) Shri Ganga Ram, (P. W. 18) Banwari Lal, (P. W. 19) Satveer Singh (P. W. 20) and Ravi Kant Mittal (P. W. 21 ). Thereafter the statement of the accused Prakash was recorded under Section 313 Cr. P. C. No evidence was led in defence. Learned trial Judge on hearing final submissions, convicted and sentenced the accused appellant as indicated here in above. Having scanned the material on record, we find that the death of Pooran was homicidal in nature. As per post-mortem report (Ex. P. 13) the following ante-mortem injuries were found on the dead body: (1) Incised wound 3 cm x 1. 5 cm x bone deep with fracture of the frontal bone at the mid. Part of forehead. (2) Bruises 7 x 4 cm with swelling over left parietal region of scalp. (3) Lacerated wound 2 cm x 1 cm x muscle deep on right pinna of ear. (4) Abrasion 3 cm x 2 cm on Rt. Mastoid region. All injuries were anti mortem in nature and there was fracture of frontal bone of skull and left parietal bone fracture at skull. Dr. Gopal Goyal, (P. W. 16) who conducted autopsy on the dead body deposed that the cause of death was head injury leading to shock.
(3.) IN assailing the impugned judgment, learned counsel for the appellant urged following points: (i) testimony of eye-witness Rakesh (P. W. 13), Pooran Singh (P. W. 14) and Dharmendra (P. W. 1) lacked in inherent consistency and probability and thereby the same was devoid of intrinsic truth; (ii) the eye-witnesses Rakesh (P. W. 13) and Pooran Singh (P. W. 14) were in fact the person who were responsible for the death of deceased Pooran while the appellant had no motive to assault and to cause death; (iii) the prosecution has failed to prove the genesis of the prosecution story; (iv) the testimony of the eye-witnesses is afflicted by contradictions, improvements and embellishments making them unworthy of credit; and (v) the investigation is unfair and the prosecution has failed to prove the case beyond doubt. Per contra, learned Public Prosecutor has supported the conviction of the appellant and it has been canvassed that the eye-witnesses (P. W. 1) Dharmendra, (P. W. 14) Rakesh and (P. W. 15) Dharam Singh, were rightly relied upon by the learned trial Judge. It is further contended that the infirmities pointed out by the learned counsel for the appellant do not affect the substratum of the case. Learned counsel took us to the statements of the witnesses and other material on record. On reappraisal of the evidence led by the prosecution it is revealed that the deceased Pooran, aged 45 years, was Sweeper by caste and resided with his family in village Hasai. The village was predominantly inhabited by the persons of `meena' Community. It has also come on record that the land on which the deceased resided was also given by the father of Puran Singh (P. W. 14 ). As per the statement of Charandei (P. W. 9) wife of Puran deceased, on the day of incident at about 4 p. m. Rakesh (P. W. 13) and Puran Singh (P. W. 14) came to her house and called her husband and took him along with them. At about 6-7 p. m. she was informed about the altercation between her husband and accused Prakash taking place on the way from village Hasai to Jahanpur, at a distance of one and half k. m. from Hasai, near the wheat filed of Narain Singh. Charandei (P. W. 9) went to the place of occurrence with her son Munichand (P. W. 11) but the dead body was not found on account of dark and there being standing wheat crop in the field of narain Singh. So Charandei (P. W. 9) and Munichand (P. W. 11) went to inform Peetam, elder brother of the deceased, who resided in village Sarothi and when they all came back to the place of occurrence, the body of the deceased was found lying in the wheat crop of Narain Singh. The body was then taken on cycle to the residence of the deceased and a written report of the incident was lodged on the following day at 10 a. m. by Meer Singh (P. W. 12 ). ;