DAULAT RAM

v.

STATE OF PUNJAB

APRIL 29, 1997

[M.M. PUNCHHI AND KS. PARIPOORNAN, JJ.]

Criminal Tlial :

No11-appreciatio11/ignora11ce of vital defence witnesses by the Trial

Cowt as well as by the High Court-Appreciation of defence evidence by the

Supreme Cowt called for if ignored by the Courts below.

No neighbour coming fo1ward to support the case of the prosecu­

tio11-Wl1ether fatal-Held 'Yes'.

A

B

c

Dress of the deceased at the time of death-Relevance of-Held, the D

manner of his dress was least suggestive of the fact that he was set for travel

to another destinatiol!-Conviction can be set aside if the timing of death

proves to be mutelially different than the one alleged by the prosecution.

Medical Jurisprudence

Timing of death-To be ascertained by properly i11te1preting the post­

m01tem repo1t and evidence of the doctor (conducting the post-mortem) and

11ot by the prosecutio11 story.

Cri111i11al Procedure Code, 1973 :

Section 313-Wliether stateme11t made by the accused releval!t if the

version came as suggestions i11 the cross-exami11atio11 of the witnesses as well

as deposition by a prosecutio11 wit11ess (wife of accused), whom the prosecu­

tion got declared hostile at the very i11itiation of her stateme11t.

/11dia11 Pe11al Code, 1860 :

E

F

G

Section

302 read with Section 27 of the Anns Act-Murder of educated

unmanied young man of 25 years-Murder i11 the prese11ce of alleged eye

witnesses-Accused a police constable-Murder by his service revolver--Con­

viction ca11not be upheld if the defence version is different and the timi11g of H

1061

1062 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [1997] 3 S.C.R.

A death is proved to be different than the one alleged by the prosecution.

B

The Appellant was employed as a Constable in the Police and PW 6

was his

wife. The couple had a single room house to live in locality R.

Deceased, a man of 25 years having done his M.A., had constructed a house

close to the house of the Appellant,

and was staying alone. His father,

Sub-Inspector

GS had at one time been posted at R, but at the relevant

time was posted

at M, a town about 53 miles away from R. Deceased's

father's brother,

G, a PW, lived at

S, at a distance of about 55 miles from

R. Both the towns were in different directions.

C The case of the prosecution was that G, father's brother of the

deceased

had visited the place R on a number of occasions and had

developed a feeling that the deceased was carrying on with PW6 and he

wanted to disrupt the relationship. Thus

on the date of occurrence,

some­

time after 1.00: PM, he came to the place R accompanied by H, in order

to take the deceased with him to his native place. Half an

hour later, at

D about 1.45 pm. G, H and the deceased set out from the latter's house for

going to their native place. While doing so, the deceased told G

and H that

he had a message to deliver at the house of the Appellant.

Saying so he

went and entered the house of Appellant followed

by G and H. They saw

him talking to

PW6. In the meantime Appellant arrived. Appellant shouted

E that he was going to teach a lesson to the deceased for having entered his

house and saying so

he fired live shots in quick succession towards the

deceased from the service revolver.

On receipt of injuries the deceased fell

on a cot, which lay in the sole room. The Appellant then further assaulted

the deceased 'l\ith a knife on his face. Then PW6 intervened. She too got

some injuries inflicted

by the Appellant. The Appellant thereafter left the

F place of occurrence carrying his revolver with him. G and H, the

eyewit­

nesses went near the deceased and found him dead.

The prosecution case further was

that G leaving behind H near the

dead body went to the Local

Police Station and lodged the FIR at 2:45 PM.

G The police came to the spot and prepared the inquest report and the dead

body was sent for post-mortem which

was conducted by Doctor PW 1, at

5:35 PM.

The post-mortem report (Ex

PA) of the deceased revealed that the

death was instantaneous and that the time between death

and post-mortem

H was within six hours. At the trial, however, PW 1 amended his statement

DAULATRAM. v. STATE 1063

to say that the probable duration between death and post mortem could A

also be eight hours. The blood stained clothes of the deceased which were

a T-shirt and pyjamas, were removed

and given to the police.

However, the Appellant had a counter version and this came as

suggestions in the cross-examination of the witnesses as

well as deposition

by

PW 6, whom the prosecution got declared hostile at the very initiation

of the statement. Under Section 313 Cr.P.C, the Appellant gave a statement

B

that on the day of occurrence in the morning when he was away from his

house to the market for making purchase of vegetables etc. deceased

intruded into his house

and tried to criminally assault his wife. In the

process she received injuries and she caused injuries to the deceased with

C

which he died. On his return, he found his wife absent from the house while

the dead body of the deceased

was there. He then went to the

Police Station

where his wife was sitting and she narrated the occurrence. He also

requested the Police to record her statement, but they refused. The local

Police then sent information to the places M and S and then, father of the

deceased arrived,

who arranged G and H as

PWs. This false case was then

concocted. The revolver with

live cartridges had been taken to the

Police

Station by his wife.

D

PW6 in her statement admitted having killed the deceased by the

service revolver of the Appellant which she said lay under the pillow on

E

the cot on which deceased was found lying dead.

The Appellant in his defence examined

13 official witnesses of the

Punjab Police to suggest that since the occurrence had taken place at about

8:00 AM in the morning, there had been frantic telephonic and wireless

messages

by

Police to contact GS, father of the deceased. This effort was F

to dislodge the time of occurrence as projected by the prosecution.

On these facts Trial Court convicted the Appellant under Section

302 of the Indian Penal Code read with Section 27 of the Arms Act, and

the same was affirmed in appeal before the High Court. Hence this appeal. G

Allowing the Appeal, this Court

HELD :

1. If holes can be picked in the defence that doesn't lead to

the prosecution story being automatically proved. The prosecution has to

stand on its own legs and can derive no advantage from the weakness

~f H

1064 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [1997) 3 S.C.R.

A the defence. (1068-E]

2. The time of the occurrence is seriously in dispute. According to

the prosecution the occurrence took place

at

2.00 PM and according to the

defence it took place

at about

8.00 AM in the morning. The situs of the

crime

is not disputed. According to

PWl the time between death and post

B mortem could be upto eight hours. Thus according to the medical opinion

the crime could have been committed eight hours earlier to S.30 PM,

putting it around 9.00 AM. However that cannot be viewed as a certainty.

(1068-F·G]

C 3. As per the post mortem report, the abdomen of the deceased when

dissected showed

that the small intestines and their contents were

described as healthy and containing small amount of semi-digested food.

Large intestine

and their contents were shown to be healthy and empty.

The bladder

was shown to be healthy and containing small amount of

urine. Thus from the post mortem report, it is conclusively established

D that before his death the deceased had not taken full meals for hours. The

prosecution would have the Court believe that until

2.00 PM when deceased

was about to leave for his native place in the company of his uncle

G, he

was not expected to have taken regular breakfast or the noontime meal.

According to G when

he and H had reached R at about

1.00 PM, they had

E not taken tea etc. at the house of deceased and further that the deceased

also had not taken any food etc. in the presence of these

two. The condition

of the stomach

and that of the intestines and the bladder does indicate

that the occurrence perhaps took place much earlier to the expected time

for breakfast and lunch, possibly in the morning hours. The courts below

have totally ignored this aspect of the case.

[1068-G· H; 1069-A·C]

F

4. The manner of his dress was least suggestive of the fact that he

was set for travel to another destination SS miles away in the company of

his uncle. The dress of the deceased is therefore somewhat intriguing. It

is more close to the theory

that in morning hours he was casually dressed

G and had gone to the house of the accused with designs which were far from

honourable.

[1069-E·Fl

S. The two supposed eye witnesses G and H are from S and according

to their

own version they seem to have come there to take away the

deceased. Their coming to the house of the deceased is a strange

coin·

H cidence orchestrated so as to witness him being killed. It is rather strange

DAULAT RAM. v. STATE [PUNCHHl,J.] 1065

that G on his own would be caring for his nephew to desist from his A

amorous relationship with PW6 without taking into confidence the

deceased's father. [1069-G-H]

6. The prosecution has not advanced any cogent reason as to why the

presence of these witnesses

be not doubted, especially when the time of

occurrence is shrouded in doubt. In addition thereto is the defence evidence

B

suggesting that both police stations i.e. at M and

S where the father and

the uncle of the deceased lived respectively were frantically being attempted

to be contacted on police station to police station connection.

All these facts

lend credence to the defence version

that the

PWs had come to know of the

crime because the matter had been reported

at the police station in the first C

instance by

PW6 followed by the Appellant. [1070-A-C]

7. No one from the neighbourhood has come forward to support the

prosecution even though the investigating officer says

that he had

ques­

tioned some people in the neighbourhood. [1070-C]

8. On the totality of circumstances this Court entertains the doubt

that neither of the two supposed eyewitnesses were present at the scene of

the occurrence,

nor have they witnessed the same.

[1070-D]

9. The dress of the deceased and the contents of his abdomen suggest

D

that he was murdered much before 2.00 PM, the time asserted by the E

prosecution. [1070-E]

CRIMINAL APPELLATE JURISDICTION: Criminal Appeal No.

489 of 1989.

From the Judgment and Order dated 19.10.87 of the Punjab &

Haryana High Court in Cr!. A. No. 227 of 1986.

Pankaj Katra and Vijay Kumar for the Appellant.

R.S. Sodhi for the Respondent.

The Judgment of the Court was delivered by

PUNCHHI, J. This appeal has arisen from an appellate Judgment

and Order of the Punjab and Haryana High Court passed on October 19,

F

G

1987 in Criminal Appeal No. 427/DB of 1986. H

1066 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [1997] 3 S.C.R.

A The appellant was employed as a Constable in the Punjab Police and

at the relevant lime

was assigned duty as the

Personal Guard of one Brij

Lal Goel, Ex-MLA, Rajpura, District Patiala. Smt. Pushpa, PW was his

wife. The couple had a handful of children. They had a single room house

to live in a locality al Rajpura.

In the neighbourhood, Narinder

Singh

deceased was living having constructed a house, quite close to the house

B of Daulat Ram. Narinder Singh was an educated unmarried young man of

25 having done his MA. He was contemplating to start some business at

Rajpura. He was staying alone

in his house. His father,

Sub-Inspector

Gurbachan Singh had at one time been posted at Rajpura, but at the

relevant time

was posted in the C.I.A.

Staff at Malerkotla, a town about 53

C miles away from Rajpura. His father's brother, Gurnam Singh, PW lived at

Sunam, at a distance of about 55 miles from Rajpura. Both the towns were

in different directions.

The case of the prosecution

is that Gurnam

Singh, PW, father's

brother of the deceased had visited Rajpura on a number of occasions and

D had developed a feeling that the deceased was carrying on with

Pushpa,

P.W. Gurnam Singh, PW wanted to disrupt the relationship. Thus on July

23, 1985, sometime after 1.00 PM, he came to Rajpura accompanied by

Hardial Singh, PW in order to take the deceased with him to his native

place Sunam. Half an hour later, at about 1.45 PM, Gurnam Singh, Hardial

E Singh, PWs and the deceased set out from the latter's house for going to

Sunam. While so, the deceased told Gurnam Singh and Hardial Singh, I-Ws

that he had a message to deliver at the house of Daulat Ram. Saying so he

went and entered the house of Daulat Ram followed

by Gurnam

Singh and

Hardial Singh PWs. They saw him talking to Pushpa PW. Jn the meantime,

Daulat Ram, appellant arrived. Daulat

Ram shouted that he was going to

F teach a lesson lo the deceased for having entered his house and saying so,

he fired

five shots in quick succession towards the deceased from his

service revolver.

On receipt of injuries the deceased fell on a cot, which

lay in the sole room. The appellant then further assaulted the deceased

with a knife on

his face. Then

Pushpa PW intervened. She too was given

some injuries

by

the appellant. The appellant thereafter left lhe place of

G occurrence carrying his revolver with him. Gurnam Singh and Hardial

Singh eye-witnesses went near the deceased and found him dead.

The prosecution case further

is that Gurnam

Singh leaving behind

Hardial Singh near the dead body went to the local Police Station, Rajpura

H and lodged the FIR at 2.45 P.M. The investigative machinery was set in

\~

DAULAT RAM. v. STATE [PUNCHHI, J.] 1067

motion. SI, Harsajjan Singh PW 12 came to the spot and prepared the A

inquest report. He has shown therein the dead body lying on the cot in

position. The dead body was sent for post-mortem examination which \Vas

conducted by Dr. Vinod Kumar PW.1 al 5.35 PM. He was also required

to examine the injuries of Pushpa PW at 7.00 PM the same day. He found

on her three injuries, l

wo of whom were as a result of a blunt

weapdil

assault and one by a sharp-edged weapon. The post-!11ortem report of the

deceased revealed that the death

was instantaneous and that the time

between death and post mortem

was within six hours. At the trial however

he amended

his statement to say that the probable duration between death

and post mortem could also be eight hours. The blood-stained clothes of

B

the deceased which were a T-shirt and pyjamas, were removed and given C

to the police as case properly.

After completion of investigation, the appellant

was tried by the

Sessions Judge,

Patiala under Section 302 of Indian Penal Code as also

under Section

27 of the Arms Act. He was convicted for both the offences

and sentenced to life imprisonment and payment of fine of Rs.

1000; in

default further rigorous imprisonment for one year for the former offence

and sentenced to undergo rigorous imprisonment for one year for the latter

offence; serttences to be running concurrently. They were affirmed in

appeal before the High Court.

The appellant had a counter-version. That version came

as sugges­

tions

in the cross-examination of the witnesses as well as deposition by

PW.

6 Pushpa, whom the prosecution got declared hostile at the very initiation

of her statement. The appellant have the following statement under Section

313

Cr.P.C.

"I am innocent. I have been falsely implicated. On the day of

occurrence in the morning when I was

away from my house to the

market for making purchase of vegetables etc. deceased intruded

D

E

F

into my house and tried to criminally assault my wife and she

resisted. In the process she received

injuric~ at her hands and she G

caused injuries to the deceased with which he died. On my return

I found

my wife absent from the house while the dead-body of the

deceased was there. I then went to the

Police Station where my

wife was sitting and she narrated the occurrence. I also requested

the police to record her statement, but they refused. The local

H

1068 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [1997) 3 S.C.R.

A police then sent information to Malerkotla and Sunam and Gur­

bachan Singh S.I. father of the deceased arrived,who arranged

Gurnam Singh and Hardial Singh as PWs. This false case

was then

concocted. The revolver with

live cartridges had been taken to the

Police Station

by my

wife."

B P.W. 6 Pushpa in her statement admitted having killed the deceased by the

service revolver of the appellant which she said

lay under the pillow on the

cot on which the deceased

was found lying dead in position.

The appellant

in his defence examined 13 official witnesses of the

C Punjab Police of the Wireless Department to suggest that since the

occur­

rence had taken place at about 8.00 A.M. in the morning, there had been

frantic telephonic and wireless messages

by Rajpura Police to contact S.I.

Gurbachan Singh, father of the deceased

who was then posted at

Malerkot­

la. This effort was to dislodge the time of occurrence as projected by the

prosecution and hence the story

by itself.

D

The learned Sessions Judge devoted more than half of his judgment

in critically examining the defence version

as if it required the standard of

proof

as that of a prosecution case. The High

Court however avoided

pursuing that course and confined itself to the prosecution case.

If holes

E can be picked in the defence that doesn't lead to the prosecution story

being automatically proved. The prosecution has to stand on its

own legs

and can derive no advantage from the weakness of the defence. Keeping

that

in view, we proceed further.

The time of the occurrence

is seriously in dispute. According to the

F prosecution the occurrence took place at

2.00 PM and according to the

defence it took place at about 8.00 A.M. in the morning. The situs of the

·crime is not disputed. According to Dr. Vinod Kumar PW.1 the time

between death and post-mortem could be upto eight hours. Thus according

to the medical opinion the crime could have been committed eight hours

earlier to 5.30 PM, putting it around 9.00 am. However that cannot be

G viewed as a certainty. Coming to the post-mortem report Ex. PA, the

abdomen of the deceased when dissected showed that the stomach and

its

contents were healthy and empty. The small intestines and their contents

were described

as healthy and containing small amount of semi-digested

food. Large intestines and their contents were shown to be healthy and

H empty. The bladder was shown to be heahhy and containing small amount

---

DAUIATRAM.v. STATE [PUNCHHI,J.) 1069

of urine. Thus from the post-mortem report, it is conclusively established A

that before his death the deceased had not taken full meals for hours. The

prosecution would have

us believe that uptil 2

PM, when he was about to

leave Rajpura

for

Sunam in the company of his Uncle Gurnam Singh PW,

he was not expected to have taken regular breakfast or the noon-time meal.

According to Gurnam Singh PW when he and Hardial Singh had reached

Rajpura at about 1.00 PM, they had not taken tea etc. at the house of the

deceased and further that deceased also had not taken any food etc. in the

presence of those

two. The condition of the stomach and that of the

intestines and the bladder does indicate that the occurrence perhaps took

place much earlier to the expected time for breakfast and lunch, possibly

in the morning hours. The courts below have totally ignored this aspect of

the case.

It

is worthy of recall that the deceased was an educated youngman

of

25 wanting to set up a business at Rajpura. He seemingly had done well

B

c

in building a house of his own. He had good parentage. Supposedly D

accompanying his uncle in order to go to

Suman he is said to have been

wearing a T-shirt and pyjamas, a dress uncommon to be worn for going to

places. The top dress does not match with the bottom one. Having regard

to the normal pattern of life, the deceased was expected when wearing a

T-shirt to match

it with a pair of trousers or Jeans and not with pyjamas.

Likewise if he

was to be wearing pyjamas he would be matching it with a E

shirt or a kurta not a T-shirt. The manner of his dress was least suggestive

of the fact that he

was set for travel to another destination 55 miles away

in the company of his uncle. The dress of the deceased is therefore

somewhat intriguing.

It is more close to the theory that in morning hours

he was casually dressed and had gone to the house of the accused with

F

designs which were far from honourable.

The

two supposed eye-witnesses Gurnam

Singh and Hardial Singh

PWs are from Sunam and according to their own version seem to have

come there to take

away the deceased. Their coming to the house of the

deceased

is a strange coincidence orchestrated so as witness him being G

killed. It is rather strange that Gurnam

Singh PW on his own would be

caring for his nephew to desist from

his amorous relationship with

Pushpa,

PW without taking into confidence the deceased's father. According to his

statement he had kept the affair to himself. Strangely he took into con­

fidence rather Hardial Singh, P.W. and brought him along to Rajpura. It H

1070 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [1997] 3 S.C.R.

A is difficult to understand what purpose had Hardial Singh to serve in

accompanying

Gurnam

Singh to Rajpura to fetch the deceased. The

prosecution has not advanced any cogent reason as to why the presence of

these witnesses be not doubted, especially when the time of occurrence

is

shrouded in doubt. In addition thereto is the defence evidence suggesting

that both police stations i.e. at Malerkotla and

Sunam where the father and

B uncle of the deceased lived respectively were frantically being attempted

to be contacted on police station to police station connection. All these

facts lend credence

to the defence version that the

P.Ws had come to know

of the crime because the matter had been reported at the police station in

the first instance by P.w. 6 followed by the appellant.

c

D

Lastly no one from the neighbourhood has come forward to support

the prosecution even though the investigating officer says that he ques­

tioned some people in the neighbourhood. It was for him to say as to whom

he had questioned and not for the defence to elicit those names so as to

call those persons in defence, as expected by the learned

Sessions Judge.

Thus on the totality of circumstances we have come to entertain the

doubt that neither of the two supposed eye-witnesses were present at the

scene

of the occurrence, nor have they witnessed the same. We have also

entertained the doubt about the time of the occurrence and the manner in

E which the prosecution would have us believe that it look place. It could

well be that it had taken place

as suggested by the defence. The dress of

the deceased and the contents of his abdomen suggest that he was mur­

dered much before 2.00

PM, the time positively asserted by the prosecu-

tion.

F For the foregoing reasons, we allow this appeal, set aside

th..: im-

pugned judgment and order of the High Court as also that of the Court of

Session and acquit ihe appellant of all charges. The appellant is on baiL

His bail bonds are discharged. Fine, if paid by him be refunded to him.

R.K.S. Appeal allowed.