Aggrieved by the judgment of acquittal, the State of Madhya Pradesh filed an appeal in the High Court and the appeal has been allowed.
The Court also examined the evidence of the solitary eye witness Feran Singh PW son of Daulat Singh and recorded a positive finding that the story projected by him was totally unnatural inasmuch that he had rushed to the village from the site after seeing the incident about I km away where his father, uncle, brothers, companysins and the entire family had been present, but he did number tell them as to what had happened but had, in fact, hidden himself on the plea that he feared for his own safety.
The Court ultimately companycluded that the evidence was against numbermal human behaviour and companyld number be deemed to be trust worthy.
The trial companyrt recorded a companyprehensive judgment and discussed the evidence under two broad heads 1 the eye witness evidence of Feran Singh PW5 and 2 the circumstantial evidence which included the motive Crl.
Information of the incident was given by Maina Banjara PW3 to Daulat Singh PW4 and Sumer Singh PW10.
The Court then tested the prosecution story on this basis and opined the incident had occurred around 9 or 10 a.m., as suggested, and Daulat Singh and Sumer Singh had taken an hour to reach the place of incident as Daulat Singh had virtually admitted that they had reached the site of at 11 a.m. , it appeared to be extremely doubtful that Rajmohan and Niranjan Singh were in a position to make any statement.
The dead bodies were thereafter dispatched to the hospital for post mortem which was performed by Dr. K.Sharma PW1 who found 28 injuries on each of the two deceased.
The Court then examined the statement of the witnesses to the dying declaration and observed that as the evidence inter se them Crl.
1297/2008 agricultural land.
The two died a short while later.
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The Court also referred to the evidence of Dr. R.K.Sharma PW, the doctor who had performed the post mortem examinations, and had found 28 wounds on each body, and observed that as per the statement of the doctor both the injured would have been rendered unconscious within 10 to 15 minutes looking to the critical nature of the wounds.
The judgment of the High Court is under challenge before us after the grant of special leave.
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On the companypletion of the investigation, the accused were charged for an offence punishable under Section 302 read with Section 34 of the IPC as they pleaded number guilty, they were brought to trial.
The prosecution in support of his case relied primarily on the eye witness account of Feran Singh PW5 and on the oral dying declarations made by the two deceased to Daulat Singh PW4, Harnath Singh PW9, Sumer Singh PW10 and Shivraj Singh PW11.
The Court referred to the broad principle underlying the recording of a dying declaration and emphasized that its veracity had to be adjudged carefully as the maker was number available for cross examination and the Court was thus called upon to exercise great caution and for that purpose two broad factors had to be kept in mind, firstly, that the person making the dying declaration was physically capable of making it, and secondly that the statement, if made, represented the true state of affairs.
The trial companyrt, accordingly, acquitted the accused.
The Court also examined the statement of Harnath Singh PW9 and observed that it was a blatant lie and that it would have been impossible for him to reach the place of incident to become a witness to the oral dying declarations.
1297/2008 made the telephone call leading to the recording of Ex.
During the companyrse of the investigation, the accused were arrested and on the basis of their disclosure statements, the weapons of offence were also recovered.
The Court then examined the dying declarations that have been allegedly made by the two deceased shortly before their deaths to Daulat Singh PW4, Harnath Singh PW9 and Sumer Singh PW10.
Intimation of the incident was also received in Police Station Berasia at 3.40 p.m. by telephone and was recorded in Ex.
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Sumer Singh and Maina Banjara and several others then returned to the spot whereafter Niranjan Crl.
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The prosecution case was then put to the accused and the plea taken was of serious enmity on account of a land dispute between them and Daulat Singh PW4 as the latter was keen to take over their agricultural land.
P 3 on which Sub Inspector O.P.Katiyar PW13 reached the place of incident along with a police force and found the dead bodies.
1297/2008 Singh and Rajmohan injured made oral dying declarations that they had been beaten by the six accused with the aforementioned weapons.
In addition, the prosecution relied on the recoveries made pursuant to the disclosure statements of the accused.
1297/2008 was companypletely discrepant as to the manner in which the dying declaration had been made, a serious doubt was cast on the truthfulness of their testimony.
P3 at 3.40 p.m. and the prosecution story appeared to have been built on the assumption that as the relations between the parties were strained, it were the accused and accused alone, who were responsible for the double murders.
The police also ascertained that the two parties were very closely related inter se and that there was gross enmity between them with respect to certain Crl.
A Ruqa was recorded at 4.40 p.m. at the site and on its basis a formal FIR was registered in the Police Station.
1297/2008 The Court, accordingly, companycluded that the statements of the aforesaid witnesses were totally companytradictory and illogical and in point of fact the deceased were number in a position to make any statement and that under these circumstances, the story of the dying declaration was totally made up, unnatural and number dependable.
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HARJIT SINGH BEDI, J. The prosecution story is as under On the 19th June 1990, the two deceased Rajmohan and Niranjan Singh had gone to Jammusarkala to buy sugar and while they were returning to their village and were passing through the nearby forest, they were severely beaten by the six accused with lathis, lohangis and farsas.
