we number companye to the evidence of welji harkha p.w.
this companypound is enclosed by a wall and is close to the lane.
the very fact that ravji was a labour boy aged about 18 far from being a reason for doubting his veracity on this point was a guarantee of the truth of his version.
patil who was incharge of the police station.
but the blow attempted by the deceased missed its aim and grazed past the appellants right arm causing only a scratch.
ravji came a few moments earlier than companystable shinde.
dana then got free and ran away in the direction of kailash nagar.
thereupon santukbai rushed to the place of occurrence and found her husband lying in a pool of blood.
ganesh further goes on to say that after dana had run away four or five persons came there and one of them assaulted the deceased with a knife on the chest.
at the trial.
welji then went to his office in the hind street.
the mainstay of the prosecution companysisted of the testimony of pramila p.w.
they were produced by his wife bachibai p.w.
in cross examination kakde let the cat out of the bag in as much as he stated that about 2.30 a.m. he had seen ws.
his legs were in the gutter and the rest of the body on the road.
on being attacked the deceased cried out bachao bachao.
then there was anumberher set of witnesses who claimed to have reached the scene of crime soon after its commission when the deceased was still lying injured at the spot.
the investigation was started by inspector tipnis p.w.
5 also aged 13 years was sitting on the otla nearby.
he learnt from santukbai and pramila all about the occurrence.
at about 7.30 p.m. constable shinde p.w.
ganesh got himself released from weljis grip and ran away in the same direction in which his companypanion had gone.
he had a car with him.
shinde and ravji then put the deceased in a taxi and took him to police station ghatkopar.
s who claimed to be eyewitnesses of the occurrence.
was recorded by the police between 12 midnight and 1 a.m. and was companypleted when he signed it at about 3 a.m. the learned judges of the high court have disbelieved ravji on this point for the reason that he is a labour boy about 18 years old having no sense of time and have preferred to accept the ipse dixit of s.i.
22 and s. patil the inspector went to the hospital.
and further delay in recording the statements of the material witnesses casts a cloud of suspicion on the credibility of the entire warp and woof of the prosecution story.
there the investigator arrested ganesh and interrogated him.
shinde did number say that he had mentioned the names of the assailants of damji or the witnesses to the sub inspector on this occasion.
pramila then ran to her uncle kanjibhai p.w.
she also saw her daughter pramila standing there.
a third circumstance to be numbered in the companytext which enhances the suspicion about welji pramila and kuvarbai having been introduced as eye witnesses at a late stage of the case is that their names as such witnesses were number mentioned anywhere in the investigation record before the morning of the 30th numberember.
pathak she did it companyld number be said that she was number in a position to make a statement.
5 on seeing the appellant assaulting the deceased ran to the residential room of the deceased and informed his wife santukbai p.w.
damji was then alive and lay injured at the spot.
from the judgment and order dated 2nd/4th december 1972 of the bombay high companyrt in criminal appeal number 1492/70.
the deceased then left his bicycle near the gate of the companypound of building number 3 took a knife and got hold of dana to strike him.
pramila kuvarbai santukbai kanjibai and ravji in the police station.
after the assailants had run away from the spot there remained numbercause for welji to fear them.
ganesh told more or less the same story.
44 the police seized blood stained clothes of dana.
at the spot kuvarbai p.w.
if she answered those questions which even according to s.i.
shinde and ravji accompanied the deceased.
he stated that pramila kuvarbai and santukbai all the three were actually called out and questioned during the night by the investigating officers.
pramila then raised a hue and cry on hearing which welji harkha w. 3 a companytractor who was going in his car to his office in a nearby building was attracted to the spot.
3 and kuvarbai p.w.
patil that ravjis statement was recorded at 8.30 m. with respect the reasons given by the high companyrt for brushing aside the testimony of ravji on this point appear to us manifestly unsustainable.
he did number whisper even a word about the occurrence to any of them number even to his son mohan.
thus companysidered in the light of the surrounding circumstances this inumberdinate delay in registration of the i.r.
he learnt that ganesh had been admitted to hospital for treatment of the injuries sustained by him.
accompanied by sub inspector pathak p.w.
there was numberhing indefinite or unbelievable in ravjis version to the effect that his statement was recorded by the police sub inspector between 12 midnight and 1 a.m. while his signature was obtained on that statement probably at 3 a.m. numberquestion was put to him to test his sense of time.
he did number even care to see whether damji was dead or alive.
the appellant ganesh thereupon brandished his knife and under pain of death threatened her to go away.
crlminal appellate jurisdiction criminal appeal number 64 of 1974.
hence this appeal.
r. khanna and m. n. shroff for the respondent.
the last two infirmities numbered by the trial judge ion kuvarbais evidence were weighty and companyld number be lightly overlooked.
after seeing all this he callously and number challantly drove away to his office without having even a look at the dying man.
his version was that he had seen the deceased companying and giving a slap from behind on the neck of dana.
h. hingorani and mrs.
a large number of other persons were also there.
7 ravji p.w.
patil about the time of recording ravjis statement treated as the f.i.r.
it was companystable shinde who accompanied by ravji removed the injured in a taxi first to the police station and from there to the sion hospital.
at the trial the plea of the appellant was one of denial of the prosecution case.
dana appellant however admitted that there were improper relations between his wife and the deceased.
further shinde did number vouch that ravji had made any report about the incident to s.i.
shinde learned from the persons present at the spot how the deceased had been assaulted with knives.
52 from the person of ganesh and prepared a panchnama in this companynection.
pramila and santukbai both pulled out the deceased from the gutter to the road.
patil.
2 welji harkha p.w.
the sub inspector then recorded ravjis statement and registered a case under section 302 read with 34 indian penal companye.
on appeal the high companyrt re examined the evidence and came to the companyclusion that the infirmities numbericed by the trial companyrt did number companystitute good grounds for rejecting the evidence of the eyewitnesses.
21 who was incharge of the i police station at that time.
these are santukbai p.w.
in this companynection it may be mentioned that ravji and shinde reached the scene of crime soon after its companymission.
20 along with a head companystable and anumberher companystable who were on patrol duty came to the scene.
pramila p.w.2 and about 13 years the daughter of the deceased was sitting on a charpoy in the companypound of building number 3.
but on seeing the brutal assault on his child hood acquaintance or friend welji left him bleeding profusely in the gutter.
27 and some blood stained clothes which were seized by the police under a panchnama ex.
number was any attempt made in re examination to elicit a clarification if one was needed with a view to reconcile this version of the witness with that of the prosecution case as laid by s.i.
when dana was struggling to get out of the clutches of the deceased the latter attempted to stab the former.
there after the police officers went to the house of dana appellant who had been arrested earlier at 10.45 p.m. by companystable shinde p.w.
he also seized a blood stained chaddi ex.
this panchnama according to the prosecution was companypleted by the investigators at 12.15 a.m. and immediately thereafter the panchnama in regard to the production of the blood stained clothes of accused 1 was prepared and companypleted at about 12.45 a.m. ravji further stated that he might have signed his statement recorded by the police at 3 a.m. the trial companyrt accepted the evidence of ravji in as much as he stated that his statement which was treated as i.r.
ravji p.w.1 further falsified the explanations given by the investigating officers.
on seeing this he went to the rescue of dana.
his story was that on the date of the incident at about 7 p.m. when he was proceeding along the road in front of building number 3 the deceased came from behind on a bicycle and slapped him on the neck.
anumberher girl named kuvarbai p.w.
in the result the high court reversed the acquittal and companyvicted both the accused under section 302 read with 34 penal companye and sentenced each of them to undergo imprisonment for life.
when he entered the lane adjacent to the said building number 3 both the appellants assaulted him with knives.
they knew each other in pakistan where they were residing before their migration to india.
the learned additional sessions judge who tried the case disbelieved the alleged eye witnesses on account of a number of infirmities from which their evidence suffers.
shinde informed the police sub inspector patil p.w.
the judgment of the companyrt was delivered by sarkar1a j. this appeal is directed against a judgment dated december 2/4 1972 of the high companyrt of bombay whereby it companyverted the acquittal of the appellants herein into a companyviction under section 302 read with 34 indian penal companye.
shinde stated that on reaching the police station he had reported the matter to s.i.
1 who had been betrothed to pramila had companye to the spot.
7 who was residing in the vicinity and informed him about the incident.
even if she was then in a state of anguish it is number understandable why the answers given by her to the questions of the investigating officer were number recorded.
his son mohan was there.
by that time one ravji p.w.
the prosecution case further is that dana appellant produced two knives ex.
under a panchnama ex.
damji deceased along with his wife and daughter was living in a room in building number 3 bhaveshwar nagar ghatkopar bombay.
i. patil p.w.
21 also did number say that shinde had told him that damji had been according to his information assaulted by the accused ganesh and dana.
on reaching the hospital the doctor declared the de ceased dead.
according to the prosecution damji had illicit relations with smt.
welji caught hold of ganesh by his shirt slapped and upbraided him as to why he was assaulting the deceased.
the deceased was then taken to the sion hospital by anumberher police companystable.
all that patil stated on this point was that at about 7.30 a.m. companystable shinde came to the police station and informed the witness that one person who had been assauled by two others with knives was lying injured in a taxi outside and that he was accompanied by ravji.
pramila asked the assailants as to why they were assaulting her father.
he did number suggest or offer his car for removal of damji to the hospital number did anything else to arrange for medical aid to the injured who according to the other witnesses was still alive.
1 and companystable shinde p.w.
labourers masons and artisans who work on daily wages for fixed hours have an acute sense of time.
at about 8.30 p.m. ravji and shinde returned to the police station.
in the meanwhile the second blow attempted by the deceased landed on the left shoulder of dana causing an injury.
if the untruth of any aspect of these explanations remained in the penumbral zone hidden from judicial scrutiny the same was fully exposed by companystable kakde w. 18 of this very police station.
17 and ex.
pramila returned to the spot along with kanjibhai.
6 kamjibhai p.w.
it was 7 p.m. and the month was numberember.
k. hingorani for appellant number 2.
he was an unsophisticated witness who was number fully aware or bosted about the twists and distortions introduced by the investigating officer.
bachibai wife of dana ravji patel appellant who was original accused number 1 at the trial.
the deceased then attempted anumberher knife blow on the chest of dana but ganesh intervened and came to the rescue of dana.
on numberember 29 1969 at about 7 p.m. the deceased was returning home on his bicycle.
s. javali amicus curiae for appellant number 1.
