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REPORTABLE

IN THE SUPREME COURT OF INDIA

CRIMINAL APPELLATE JURISDICTION

CRIMINAL APPEAL NOS. 1793-1794 OF 2011

RAM SUNDER SEN APPELLANT

VERSUS

NARENDER @ BODE SINGH PATEL RESPONDENT

WITH

CRIMINAL APPEAL NOS. 1795-1796 OF 2011

STATE OF MADHYA PRADESH APPELLANT

VERSUS

NARENDER @ BODE SINGH PATEL RESPONDENT

J U D G M E N T

Pinaki Chandra Ghose, J.

1.These appeals, by special leave, are directed against the

judgment and order dated 23.07.2008, passed by the High Court

of Madhya Pradesh at Jabalpur in Criminal Appeal No.11 of 2008

along with Criminal Reference No.4 of 2007, whereby the High

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Court allowed the criminal appeal filed by the respondent herein

and acquitted him and disposed of the Criminal Reference No.4 of

2007 filed by the State of Madhya Pradesh.

2.The case of the prosecution, stated briefly, is that on

19.05.2004 at 8.30 A.M., the complainant Ram Sunder Sen lodged

a report at Police Chowki Kotar stating that there was a function in

his house on 18.05.2004 in which his relatives and family

members had gathered. His daughter Anita, aged about 12 years,

after eating meal, had gone to sleep at 7.00 P.M. in front of the

main gate of his house as there was no electricity in the house

then. After the function was over, at about 11.00 P.M., he and his

family members also slept there. Next morning i.e. on 19.05.2004

at 6.00 A.M., the wife of Sarpanch Vansbahadur informed that the

dead body of Anita was lying in Bari near the house of the

Sarpanch. She was not wearing underwear and skirt. There were

abrasions on her forehead, nose and face. Abrasions were also

found on the neck as well as nearby navel region. Blood was

oozing out of private part, cut on the face and ankles of both the

legs. FIR against an unknown person was lodged, the dead body

was sent for post-mortem and investigation was thrown open. The

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Investigating Officer recorded the statements of the witnesses. On

the basis of the statement of the witnesses, accused Narendra @

Bode Singh Patel was arrested who admitted his guilt and at his

instance, blood-stained underwears of the deceased as also the

accused were recovered from a pitcher kept behind his house.

3.After investigation was complete, Police filed challan before

the Court against accused Narendra and the case was committed

to the Sessions Court for trial. After considering the material on

record and hearing the counsel for the accused, charges were

framed against accused Narendra for offence punishable under

Sections 302, 376(2)(f) and 201 of the Indian Penal Code, 1873

(“IPC” for short). The charges were read over and explained to the

accused to which he pleaded not guilty and claimed for trial.

4.The Trial Court by its judgment and order dated 18.12.2007,

convicted the respondent accused and awarded capital

punishment to him for offence punishable under Section 302 IPC.

The Trial Court further sentenced him to rigorous imprisonment

for life for offence punishable under Section 376(2)(f), and rigorous

imprisonment for seven years and a fine of Rs100, with default

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clause, for the offence punishable under Section 201 IPC.

Thereafter, the matter was referred to the High Court of Madhya

Pradesh for confirmation of death sentence vide Criminal Reference

No.4 of 2007. The accused also filed an appeal before the High

Court, being Criminal Appeal No.11 of 2008. The High Court by the

impugned judgment allowed the appeal filed by the accused on the

ground that the prosecution failed to prove the chain of

circumstances sufficient enough to connect the accused with the

alleged offence and, consequently, the respondent accused was set

at liberty.

5.Aggrieved by the judgment of acquittal passed by the High

Court of Madhya Pradesh, the complainant, who is the father of

the deceased, has approached this Court by filing Criminal Appeal

Nos.1793-1794 of 2011. The State of Madhya Pradesh has also

challenged before us the judgment of acquittal passed by the High

Court vide Criminal Appeal Nos.1795-1796 of 2011. Learned

counsel for the complainant-appellant has inter alia submitted that

the judgment of the Trial Court is well reasoned and well

considered. Both the counsel for the complainant-appellant and

counsel for the State have assailed the reasoning given by the High

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Court in arriving at a wrong conclusion i.e. the innocence of the

accused.

6.The Trial Court convicted the accused respondent on the

basis of the prosecution story relying upon the circumstantial

evidence. The law is well settled in deciding a case based upon

circumstantial evidences. The prosecution tried to establish the

following facts before the Trial Court :

(i)Motive : in order to satisfy the lust,

(ii)The recovery of underwear of the deceased as also the

underwear of the accused was made at the instance of the

accused in his own house,

(iii) Human blood was found on the underwear of the

accused,

(iv) The accused came to the house of the deceased at

11.00pm on 18.05.2004 under the pretext of a Bidi but was

turned back by the mother of the deceased.

(v)Previous acts of the accused to make the deceased sit in

his lap and to kiss her for which he was rebuked by the

deceased's father reveals his ill-intentions.

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(vi) Accused made an attempt to rape the daughter of one

Kallu Prajapati of Village Golhata prior to the incident,

(vii) In the morning of 19.05.2004 the accused was not

found in the village,

(viii) Accused was seen around the place of incident at night

within close proximate time when the incident occurred,

(ix)Accused failed to give reasonable explanation about the

injuries suffered by him.

The Trial Court held that the above facts proved the prosecution

case beyond reasonable doubt and hence the accused was

convicted for the offence charged. However, the High Court pointed

out serious lacunae in the above-mentioned evidences and hence

the conviction order was set aside by the High Court giving benefit

of doubt to the accused.

7.We shall now examine each and every contention in light of

the arguments advanced before us. It is settled law that motive is

not a necessary element in deciding culpability but it is equally an

important missing link which can be used to corroborate the

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evidence where conviction is based on circumstantial evidence. In

the present case, the motive of the accused was stated to be 'to

satisfy his lust'. For this purpose the prosecution argued that

although the accused was married and had children, but his wife

was living at her parent's house. The same fact was deposed by

Lalli Bai, mother of the prosecutrix (PW4). The Trial Court accepted

the said argument. However, the High Court rightly refused to rely

only on the statement of PW4 to establish the said fact. Further, it

is not adequately established as to for how long the wife of the

accused was not living with him. The burden to prove this fact is

on the prosecution and not on the accused. The prosecution also

tried to impute bad character upon the accused. The High Court

rightly held that such evidences are not relevant. Sections 53 and

54 of the Indian Evidence Act, 1972 were discussed at length by

the High Court and it was held that the accused neither tried to

prove his previous good character, nor the said fact was in

question. An earlier instance of attempt to rape by the accused, as

deposed by the mother of the prosecutrix (PW4), Savitri, aunt of

the deceased (PW5) and Rajendra Kumar Sen, brother of the

deceased (PW6), is not established at any stage of the trial. These

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witnesses are not only interested witnesses but they themselves

stated that their evidence is hearsay. The prosecution neither

produced any complaint/FIR nor any record was shown that any

such incident occurred. Thus, the prosecution squarely failed to

impute bad character upon the accused. Further, the motive is

also not firmly established against the accused.

8.The next aspect for consideration before us is the

non-explanation by the accused of the injuries sustained by him.

As per the medical examination, the accused had certain abrasions

on his wrists and ankles and also some injuries on private part.

PW24 - the doctor who examined the accused, deposed that he

examined one Narendra S/o Ram Babu. But this doctor failed to

identify the accused before the Court. The prosecution also failed

to produce any evidence in order to prove that the name of the

father of the accused is Ram Babu. The name of accused's father is

Ram Bahore and it is nowhere shown that Ram Bahore is alias of

Ram Babu. With these discrepancies, the High Court refused to

accept that the accused was the same person who was examined

by the doctor PW24. However, even if it is presumed that there

could have been error in writing down the name of the father of the

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accused and due to long time, the doctor failed to identify the

accused, yet the medical evidences are not clinching enough. The

accused is a young man, certain abrasions can be regularly

sustained during the day while working in and around. Moreover,

the accused having worked in his cousin's wedding might have

received the abrasions. Medical opinion for explanation to such

abrasion is that such abrasion can occur due to itching also. The

other injuries on private part, in medical opinion, could be a result

of sexual intercourse with his wife. The accused is a married man

having children and it is not established that his wife was living

away from him. Hence, non-explanation of the above said injuries

is not an incriminating circumstance so as to attribute any

criminality upon the accused.

9.The next incriminating fact is the recovery of the

blood-stained underwear of the deceased made at the instance of

the accused, from the house of the accused. However, upon careful

examination, serious doubts are cast upon the incident of recovery.

The witnesses to this seizure memo are Lalit Kumar Sen (PW9) and

Dayanand (PW22). As per the deposition of PW9, many doubts are

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created. He deposed that red colour underwear as well as an

underwear of accused were seized. However, he did not state as to

whom did the red colour underwear belong. He also did not

mention the place from where it was recovered nor did he mention

the manner in which the articles were seized. PW22 further made

certain doubtful revelations stating that at the time of recovery,

only he, accused and the police were present. However, he only

confirms the recovery of a red colour underwear, but the place and

surrounding of the place of recovery were not deposed by PW22.

The deposition of the above two witnesses raises various doubts

about recovery of material facts. Therefore, the High Court

correctly raised doubt that it is highly unnatural that the accused

will keep the underwear in a pitcher in his own house.

10.The prosecution failed to prove its case on one more aspect.

Upon recovery of the underwear of the accused and the deceased,

although the same were sent for Serological examination and it

was proved that blood was found on the underwear of the accused,

but no blood was found on the undergarments of the deceased.

During investigation, the blood sample and soil samples were

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collected from the place of incident. However, it is shocking to note

that none of these samples were sent for FSL examination. The

said examination could have been very useful to establish the

identity of the accused. There is thus a serious lacunae in the

investigating procedure that a necessary test was not conducted.

11.The underwear of deceased vide identification memo Ex.P/14

was put for test identification. PW4 deposed that she identified the

underwear as the same was torn from the bottom. However, when

this witness was put to cross-examination, she deposed that none

of the underwears which were put for identification, was torn from

the bottom. PW4 also stated that the underwear was blood-stained.

However, it is proved by serological report that no blood was found

on the underwear of the deceased. Upon perusal, numerous

contradictions appear from the statements made by PW4, and

serious doubt is raised not only on recovery of the undergarments,

but also upon the identification test.

12.The next evidence is the presence of the accused in the village

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at and around the time of the incident against which the accused

has pleaded alibi. The prosecution placed on record the testaments

of Ram Sunder Sen, father of the deceased (PW3), stating that the

accused came to his house 3-4 times during the night of

18.05.2004. He also deposed that on 18.05.2004 at 11.00 P.M. the

accused came to his house and asked for bidi, but he was turned

back by his wife PW4. PW4 also made deposition to this effect.

However, upon cross-examination both these witnesses stated that

this fact was told to the police officer upon examination. But no

such fact is present in their statements made to the police during

investigation. The High Court disbelieved the said fact as there was

a deviation from the earlier statement. Further, the High Court

examined the statements of the defence witnesses, who deposed

that on the date of incident, the accused was present in another

village to attend the marriage function of his cousin. The defence

witnesses specifically deposed that the accused was present during

and after the function on 18.05.2004 and the accused stayed there

at night. It was further deposed that the accused left for his home

only after breakfast. This also explains the absence of the accused

in his village in the morning of the incident. The High Court rightly

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relied upon the statement of an independent witness, namely,

Kalawati (PW1) who deposed that the accused was not in the

village on the fateful night as he had gone to the marriage

ceremony in other village. The said factum of marriage ceremony

and function in other village has been admitted even by the family

members of the deceased.

13.The prosecution also placed on record an incident alleged to

have occurred a few days prior to the fateful day, when the accused

made the deceased sit on his lap and kissed her, for which the

accused was rebuked and beaten by the father of the deceased.

However, in their statement to the police, no such fact was deposed

by PW3 or PW4 and it was only before the Court that the above

witnesses stated this fact. Even if the said fact is presumed to be

true, we concur with the reasoning of the High Court that mere

snugging the deceased once, in itself, is no ground to connect the

accused with the alleged incident.

14.The prosecution also adduced the testimony of Sanjeev

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Kumar Sen (PW28), cousin of the deceased, who alleged that in the

night intervening between 18

th

and 19

th

May, 2004 at about 4:30

A.M., he woke up to attend the call of nature when he saw the

accused coming towards his house from the Badi of the house of

Vanshgopal Sarpanch. Very close to that place, the deceased was

found dead in the morning. However, upon careful examination, it

can be gathered that this witness did not state such an important

fact to the police officer. Although he alleged that the said fact was

known to him yet the report was lodged against an unknown

person. Further, if the veracity of this statement is tested, it fails

to adduce confidence. PW28 himself stated that he saw the

accused at 4:30 A.M., however, none of the details as to the

distance, surrounding, etc. were given. The source of light in

which the witness saw the accused is also not stated. Therefore,

the High Court correctly rejected the testimony of PW28.

15.The present case is, thus, based purely on circumstantial

evidence. It is a settled law that when prosecution relies on

circumstantial evidence, the following tests to be clearly

established:

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(i)The circumstances from which an inference of guilt

is sought to be drawn, must be cogent and firm;

(ii)Those circumstances should be of a definite

tendency unerringly pointing towards guilt of the

accused;

(iii)The circumstances taken cumulatively should form

a chain so complete that there is no escape from the

conclusion that within all human probability the crime

was committed by the accused and none else; and

(iv)The circumstantial evidence in order to sustain

conviction must be complete and incapable of

explanation of any other hypothesis than that of the guilt

of the accused and such evidence should not only be

consistent with the guilt of the accused but should be

inconsistent with his innocence.

The prosecution, however, in the present case, has failed at the

foremost to link the accused with the incident. The prosecution

has the responsibility to present a chain of events. The accused's

culpability could have been established if the blood samples were

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tested and matched, the recovery of underwear is not proven to be

that of the deceased. Otherwise, the recovery was unnatural and

did not adduce confidence. One prosecution witness who is an

independent witness has stated that the accused had gone to

another village on the date of incident. There were material

discrepancies in the statements of the prosecution witnesses. The

testimonies of the interested witnesses, namely, PW3, PW4, PW5

and PW28 clearly show that they materially improvised from their

earlier depositions. The accused also examined two defence

witnesses who stated that the accused was attending function in

some other village on the fateful night. The High Court went into

each and every material aspect of the case, examined at length the

deposition of the witnesses and rightly held that the links which

are collected by the prosecution have not at all been proved by any

cogent evidence and, therefore, it is difficult to hold that it was the

accused who committed rape upon the deceased and thereafter

killed her.

16.Thus, in the light of the above discussion, we do not find any

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ground to interfere with the judgment passed by the High Court.

The appeals are, accordingly, dismissed.

…....................................J

(Pinaki Chandra Ghose)

…...................................J

(R.K. Agrawal)

New Delhi;

October 15, 2015