ANUJ ALIAS ANU Vs. STATE OF HIMACHAL PRADESH

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The four accused/ appellants (hereafter referred to as the 'accused') in these two appeals (Cr. A. No. 129 and Cr. A. No. 247 of 1999) have been convicted and sentenced under Section 302 read with Section 34 of the Indian Penal Code to life imprisonment and to pay fine in the sum of Rs. 2000/- each and in default of payment of fine, to undergo rigorous imprisonment for a period of two months by the learned Sessions Judge, Kangra at Dharamshala by the impugned judgment. Since both these appeals arise out of the same judgment, therefore, are being disposed of by this common judgment.

(2.) The case of the prosecution against the accused is that on October 27, 1997 during day time there was a 'Bhandara' and during night a 'Jagrata' in the house of oneSaranDass of village Sarah. At about 9.00 p.m. accused Kapoor Chand came to the 'Jagrata', stayed there for a few minutes and kept on searching for some-one and then abruptly left. Some-time after his leaving the place, PW-6 Onkar Chand and PW-7 Parminder heard "Maardiya Bachao" cries from the road which passes at a distance of 20 feet from the place where the 'Jagrata' was in progress. On hearing the cries, they rushed to the road side and on reaching the place from where the cries were coming, they found the accused persons beating Manjeet on the road behind the house of one Parkash Chand. Accused Anuj was causing injuries to Manjeet with a 'Khukhri', accused Manu alias Varun and Lala alias Sunil were hitting Manjeet with kick and fist blows and accused Kapoor Chand was inflicting injuries on his person with 'Sotha'. The intervention by PWs. Onkar Chand and Parminder to rescue Manjeet proved futile and accused Kapoor Chand declared that he would kill Manjeet. Due to the injuries caused by the accused persons to Manjeet, he fell on the road and the accused persons then bolted away from the place of occurrence. PW-6 Onkar Chand asked PW-7 Parminder to inform the family members of Manjeet about the incident. In the meanwhile, PW-5 Desh Raj, on hearing the noise from the road, rushed to the place of occurrence. On the way he met PW-7 Parminder who informed him that the accused were beating Manjeet. On reaching the place of occurrence, PW-5 Desh Raj found Manjeet lying injured on the road and PW-6 Onkar Chand was crying 'Manju Ko Maar Diya'. By that time PW-8 Partap Singh had also reached on the spot and was informed of the incident by PW-6 Onkar Chand and he also saw the accused running. PW-5 Desh Raj asked Manjeet as to who had injured him. Manjeet, who was in agony, named accused Kapoor Chand, both his sons and son of Amin Chand as the assailants. Thereafter parents of Manjeet and many other villagers came to the spot. A taxi van coming from Gagal side was stopped and Manjeet was taken to Zonal Hospital, Dharamshala in the van where they reached at about 9.45 p.m. Manjeet was checked by PW-1 Dr. Vaneet Aggarwal who declared him dead at 10.00 p.m. and issued Medico Legal report Ext. PW-1/A. PW-1 Vaneet Aggarwal vide letter Ext. PW-1/B informed the Station House Officer, Police Station, Sadar, Dharam-shala that a patient had been brought to the hospital after having been hit by an axe. On receipt of the letter Ext. PW-1/B, report Ext. PW-12/A was recorded in the daily diary of the said Police Station. Thereafter PW-17 Inspector Kishan Chand, S.H.O. Police Station, Dharamshala went to the hospital along with other police officials. On reaching the hospital, he recorded statement of PW-5 Desh Raj under Section 154 of the Criminal Procedure Code Ext. PW-5/A on the basis of which formal FIR. Ext. PW-13/A was recorded in the Police Station. The photographs of the dead-body of Manjeet were taken by PW-4 Amrit Lal negatives whereof are Exts. PW-4/A-7 to PW-4/A-12 and the photographs are Exts. PW-4/A1 to PW-4/A6. PW-17 Kishan Chand prepared the inquest report Ext. PW-3/B and got the post mortem examination of the dead-body of Manjeet conducted. On such examination PW-3 Dr. K. S. Katoch found the following injuries on the dead-body of Manjeet vide post mortem report Ext. PW-3/D :

(3.) On October 29, 1997 accused Kapoor Chand made a disclosure statement Ext. PW-10/A about the 'Sotha' and pursuant to said statement, got 'Sotha' Ext. P-2 recovered on October 30, 1997 vide memo Ext. PW-11/A. Sketch of 'Sotha' Ext. P-2 is Ext. PW-11/B and the site plan of the place of recovery is Ext. PW-17/G. The blood and blood-stained grass collected from the place of occurrence vide memo Ext. PW-8/A and the shoes/Chappels and the clothes of the accused they were wearing at the time of occurrence and were taken in possession vide memos Exts. PW-9/A, PW-17/B to PW-17/E, clothes of the deceased taken in possession by PW-3 Dr. K. S. Katoch at the time of post mortem of the dead-body of Manjeet, 'Khukhari' Ext. P-1 and 'Sotha' Ext. P-2taken in possession vide memos Ext. PW-5/C and Ext. PW-11/A respectively were sent to the State Forensic Science Laboratory for analysis and the report received from the said laboratory is Ext. PW-17/K. Case of the prosecution further is that on October 27, 1997 accused Kapoor Chand, Varun and Sunil Kumar were also medically examined in Zonal Hospital, Dharamshala by PW-1 Dr. Vaneet Aggarwal and injuries were found on their persons and he accordingly issued the Medico-legal Certificates Exts. PW-1/C, PW-1/D and PW-1/E. One of the two injuries found on the person of accused Kapoor Chand was grievous and as per opinion given by PW-2 Dr. S. P. Swamy this injury was more in favour of self-inflicted injury than homicidal. Statement of accused Kapur Chand under Section 154 of the Criminal Procedure Code Ext. PW-19/A was recorded by PW-19 Dile Ram, ASI and on its basis formal FIR Ext. PW-15/A was recorded at Police Station, Dharamshala. The sum and substance of this report is that Varun and Sunil informed Kapur Chand that they were beaten up by Manjeet. Accused Kapoor Chand then went out in search of Manjeet to find out as to why Manjeet had beaten Varun and Sunil. When he finally met Manjeet on the road and inquired from him as to why he had beaten his boys, Manjeet retorted that he had beaten them and he (Kapoor Chand, accused) could do whatever he liked and saying so he gave a fist blow on the face of Kapoor Chand who fell down on the road and when he got up, Manjeet gave him another blow with a knife. Kapoor Chand thereafter ran to his house where his wife dressed his hand with a cloth and then he left for hospital in his vehicle. Finally, in this case registered at the instance of accused Kapoor Chand, final report Ext. PW_19/B for cancellation was submitted. Police recorded another FIR. Ext. PW-15/B at the instance of Champa Devi, wife of accused Kapoor Chand containing the allegations that on October 29, 1997 a group of Jat extremists burnt their Jeep and were threatening to burn their house.