LexATTAR SINGH versus STATE OF MAHARASHTRA
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[2012] 13 S.C.R. 1213 ATIAR SINGH A '-~ v. STATE OF MAHARASHTRA (Criminal Appeal No. 1091 of 2010) DECEMBER 14, 2012 B [SWATANTER KUMAR AND GYAN SUDHA MISRA, JJ.] Penal Code, 1860: s. 304 (Part I) - Prosecution u/s. 302 and 49BA - Of the c accused for killing his wife - Conviction u/s. 302 by trial court relying an evidence of daughter of the accused - However, accused acquitted uls. 498A - Order Confirmed by High Court - On appeal, held: The prosecution has proved that accused was responsible for causing the death of the D . deceased - The evidence of the daughter of the accused is reliable even though she turned hostile, as the same is corroborated by other evidence - But since it is not proved that the accused had pre-meditated intention to kill the deceased, the case would fall u/s. 304 (Part I) and not uls. 302 E - Conviction altered u/s. 304 (Part I) and sentence reduced to 10 years RI from life Imprisonment. Witness - Hostile witness - Evidentiary value - Held: Merely because a witness turns hostile, would not result in throwing out the prosecution case - Evidence of such witness F is acceptable to the extent, it is co"oborated by that of a reliable witness. Appellant-accused was prosecuted ulss. 302 and 498A IPC for having killed his wife by hitting her with a G wooden log on her head. The prosecution case was that the accused and the deceased, with their nine children, were living together. The complalnant-village Kotwal received Information about the Incident. He went to the 1213 H 1214 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [2012] 13 S.C.R. A house of the accused alongwith village Sarpanch. On his querry, the accused hold him that he killed his wife because she was of loose character. Defence case was that she sustained the injury as she had fallen down on the floor. 8 Trial court disbelieved the defence version on the basis of medical evidence which categorically stated that the injury was not possible due to fall on the ground. It convicted the accused u/s. 302 IPC relying on the testimony of the daughter of the accused and the · C deceased. However, the accused was acquitted u/s. 498A IPC on the ground that prosecution failed to prove that the accused used to subject the deceased to cruelty from time to time. In appeal, High Court confirmed the judgment of High Court. D In appeal to this Court, appellant-accused contended that his conviction could not have been based on the evidence of the daughter of the accused as she was a hostile witness and did not support the prosecution E version fully. In the alternative, he contended that even if the offence is proved, the same should be brought down within the ambit of s. 304 (Part II) IPC, as only a single blow was inflicted; that the incident took place in a fit of anger and that there was no pre-plan or pre-meditation F to kill. Partly allowing the appeal, the Court HELD: 1.1 Merely because a witness becomes hostile, it would not result in throwing out the prosecution G case, but the Court must see the relative effect of his testimony. If the evidence of a hostile witness is corroborated by other evidence, there is no legal bar to convict the accused. Thus testimony of a hostile witness is acceptable to the extent it is corroborated by H that of a reliable witness. It is, therefore, open to the Court ATTAR SINGH v. STATE OF MAHARASHTRA 1215 to consider the evidence and there is no objection to a part of that evidence being made use of in support of the prosecution or in support of the accused. [Para 13] [1224- B-D] 1.2 In the instant case, the support rendered by the daughter approving the incident should be accepted as reliable part of evidence, in spite of she being a hostile witness. Evidence of this witness shows that the accused was the only person in the company of the deceased soon before the d,eath. The defence of the accused that injury on the deceased was a result of fall is ruled out by medical evidence and the details available of the location in the panchnama of offence. The courts below thus have rightly drawn some support from the reports of the chemical analysis since all the articles of the victims and clothes of the accused are found having blood stains of human blood group A. This was in view of the fact that the results of the analysis for determination of the blood group of the victim and accused were conclusive when blood sent to phial was analysed. Thus
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