CRIMINAL APPELLATE JURISDICTION
COURT : THE SUPREME COURT OF INDIA
BENCH : J. Harijit Singh Bedi , J. Chandramauli Kr.Prasad
HELD ON : 16/12/2010
PARTIES INVOLVED : Hari Singh ( Petitioner )
State of Uttar Pradesh ( Respondent )
BRIEF FACTS OF THE CASE :
The accused Hari Singh of Suthari Village was running a brick kiln. Subsequently, Randhir Singh installed another brick kill nearby. Hari Singh and his Brothers didn’t allow Randhir Singh to run his brick kiln effectively. At last, Randhir Singh sold his kiln to the deceased Gulab Singh, 3 months prior to the incident. The accused and his brothers warned the deceased that they won’t allow him to run the brick kiln.
On the night intervening 7th and 8th June, 1980 at about 1.00 a.m. Gulab Singh was asleep in the verandah of his house when Hari Singh armed with a lathi and Mohar Singh with a country made pistol entered the house and the latter fired a shot at Gulab Singh. On hearing the sound, Prem Pal PW-1, the son of the deceased and Kalu @ Anand Swarup PW-5, flashed a torch and also raised a cry attracting Jagdish PW-6 and one Mukhara to the spot.
These witnesses also saw the accused running out of the spot. PW1 went to the police station and lodged the FIR. A case was registered under section 302 of Indian Penal Code, 1860 against the accused. The officers went to the spot and started investigating the case, recorded statements and inspected the site. The dead body was taken for postmortem and the report revealed an ante-mortem firearm wound.
The trial court relying on the evidence of PW-1 and PW-5convicted the accused for the offence punishable under Section 302/34 and sentenced them to imprisonment for life. An appeal was thereafter taken to the High Court. The High Court endorsed the testimony of PW’s 1 and 5 as well as of Jagdish PW-6, the third eye witness, whose testimony had not been accepted by the trial court, and dismissed the appeal.
JUDGEMENT PASSED :
After hearing the total matter and both the sides the court held that-“as per the evidence on record, the night of the murder was a moonless one but we have no reason to doubt the testimony of the eye witnesses when they say that they had identified the accused in the torch light, more particularly as both the parties belonged to the same village and were well known to each other. We are of the opinion that merely because the torch had not been taken into possession would not mean that the statements of the eye witnesses were not credible. We find, also, that the Spontaneity of the FIR giving all relevant details fortifies the prosecution story.” The prosecution story is that the accused had fired at the deceased with a country made pistol from a very close range. The doctor PW-2, who had conducted the post-mortem examination found one wound of entry about 3 cm x 2.5 cm with blackening and charring and also recovered 160 pellets and three wads from inside the dead body. The medical evidence clearly suggests the use of such a weapon from almost point blank range. There is, thus, no merit in the appeal. It is, accordingly, dismissed.
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