MOHAN SINGH versus STATE OF RAJASTHAN

Citation: [1980] 1 S.C.R. 148 · Decided: 30-07-1979 · Supreme Court of India · Bench: R.S. SARKARIA · Disposal: Appeal(s) allowed

Judgment (excerpt)

A 
JI 
c 
D 
E 
F 
G 
B 
MOHAN SINGH 
v. 
STATE OF RAJASTHAN 
July 30, 1979 
[R. S. SARKARIA AND V. D. TULZAPURKAR, JJ.] 
Penal Code, 1860 (Act 45), Section 201-Causing disappearance 
of 
eviw 
dence of offence to screen offender legal punishment-Absence of legal eviw 
dence or any material on the record of the factual ingredients of an 
offence 
under Section 201 l.P.C. entitled the discharge of the accused under Section 
227 Cr/. P.C. therefore the charge framed as per Section 228 Cr/. P.C. 1973 
is illegal. 
On the allegations that one Padam Singh was shot dead in the farm of the 
appellant by Doongar Singh and two others on 4-3-1978, that the appellant'& 
car No. R.J.F. 2118 was made us'e of in carrying the dead body to be· thrown 
into a well on the boundMy of village Ramasani by Doongar Singh Who latter 
brought the car back on the same day to the appellant's bungalow where it 
was washed the same day and thereafter the appellant got his car washed on 
8-3-1978 at the Petrot Pump of one Umrwkhan, the Sessions Judge framed 
a charge against the appellant of an offence under Section 201, Penal Code 
merely on the ground that there was material to show thaJt the appellant got 
his car washed on 8-3-1978 at a petrol pump. 
The High Court refused t<> 
set aside the said order in revision under Section 482 Crl. P.C. 1973. 
Allowing the app'eal by ipecial leave, the Court, 
HELD : 1. Th'e impugned order of Sessions Judge being based on no 
evidential material whatever was manifestly illegal. 
[150A] 
(a) The mere washing of the car on 8th March could not be printa facie 
evidence of the factual ingredients of an offence und'er Section 201, PenaiJ: 
Code. (150A] 
' i 
(b) lbe presence of blood stains on the car on the 8th March stood· 
negatived 
by the Prosecution's 
own 
assertion 
(in the Police Challan) that 
Doongar' Singh had got the blood on the car washed on the day of the murder~ 
itself, and [194G-H] 
(c) there was nothing in the statements of the Petrol Pump de~l'er ind 
his servant that there was any blood on the car which was washed. 
There 
was not an iota of material on the record to furnish basis even for a grave 
suspicion that by getting the car washed on the 8th March, 1978, the appellant 
caused any blood or other evidence concerning the murder of Padam Singh te> 
disappear. [149F-GJ 
C'RIMINAL APPELLATE JURISDICTION 
of 1979. 
(148) 
Criminal Appeal No. 363 
f 
' -
~--· 
. > 
f • 
MOHAN SINGH v. RAJASTHAN (Sarkaria, J.) 
149 
• 
•Appeal by Special Leave from the Judgment and Order dated 
. A 
28~3-.1979 of the Rajasthan High Court in S.B. Cr!. Misc. Application 
No; 128/78 . 
Ram Jethmalani and N. H. Hingorani for the Appellant. 
·Badridas Sharma for the Respondent. 
The Order of the Court was delivered by 
SARKARIA, J. This appeal by special leave is div"cted against an 
order, dated March 28, 1979, whereby the High Court of Rajasthan 
dismissed the· appellant's application under Section 
482, 
Criminal 
Procedure Code and r~fused to set aside an Order dated August 14, 
1978 of the Sessions Judge framing a charge under Section 201, Penal 
Code against the appellant. 
The pros·"cution case as put in Court is that on March 4, 1978, 
one Padam Singh was shot dead at the farm of the appellant by the 
accused, Doongar Singh, in conspiracy with the accused, Hanif ahd 
Shambhoo Singh. 
Padam Singh's deadbody was first put in a jeep 
for removaL After going some distance the jeep went out of order. 
Thereafter, Doongar Singh brought the car of 
the 
appellant. 
The 
deadbody was then transhipped into the car (RJF 2118) and was 
taken to a distance and thrown into a lonely well on the boundary of 
village, Ramasani. 
Doongar Singh then brought the car 
back to 
Mohan Singh's bungalow where it was washed [ vide the Police report 
of A.S.P. City (West) Jodhpur]. It i~ not alleged that the appel-
lant was in any manll'~r concerned as an abettor or accomplice in The 
murder or participated or abetted the removal and disposal of the 
deadbody of Padam Si'ngh. 
The only allegation on the 
basis 
of 
which a charge under Section 201, Indian Penal Code has been framed 
against the appellant is that on March 8, 1978, that is, five days 
·after the murder of Padam Singh, he got his car washed at the Petrol 
Pump of one Umrao Khan. 
In this connection, 
the 
investigating 
Police Officer examined Sardar Kha'n sou of Umrao Khan, Petrol 
Pump dealer and his servant, Mangilal. 
There is nothing in their 
statements that

Excerpt shown. Read the full judgment & AI analysis in Lexace.