STATE OF M.P. versus MUNNIBAI & ANR.

Citation: [2008] 13 S.C.R. 6 · Decided: 28-08-2008 · Supreme Court of India · Bench: ARIJIT PASAYAT · Disposal: Dismissed

Judgment (excerpt)

A 
B 
[2008) 13 S.C.R. 6 
STATE OF M.P. 
v 
MUNN I BAI & ANR. 
(Criminal Appeal No. 1298 of 2002) 
AUGUST 28, 2008 
[DR. ARJIT PASAYAT, P. SATHASIVAM AND AFTAB 
ALAM, JJ] 
Penal Code, 1860: 
C 
ss. 302134 and 328134 -
Murder by poisoning -
Conviction by trial court - Acquittal by High Court - HELD: 
High Court was right in holding that there was no evidence to 
show that any of the accused persons administered poison -
The witness who, along with the deceased, shared the food 
D item stated to have contained poison did not know from where 
it came -
There was no forensic examination of food item 
shared by witness and the deceased - Besides, motive for 
crime seemed to be improbable - Judgment of acquittal 
E 
passed by High Court upheld. 
CRIMINALAPPELLATE JURISDICTION : Criminal Appeal 
No. 1298 of 2002 
From the final Judgment and Order dated 25.1.2001 of 
the High Court of Madhya Pradesh at Jabalpur in Cr!. Appeal 
F No 361 of 1989 
G 
H 
Vishwajit Singh, Siddharth Sengar, Sunny Choudhary. 
Vairagya Vardhan, Aditya Singh and C.D. Singh for the 
Appellant. 
B.K. Satija for the Respondents. 
The Order of the Court was delivered by 
Dr.ARIJIT PASAYAT, J. Heard learned counsel for the 
pa -:,es. 
6 
.. 
STATE OF M.P v. MUNNIBAI & ANR. 
[DR.ARIJIT PASAYAT, J.] 
7 
Challenge in this appeal is to the judgment of a D:vision 
. , 
Bench of the Madhya Pradesh High Court directing acquittal ot 
the respondents Munni Bai and Gendalal. The accused persons 
faced trial for alleged commission of offences punishable under 
Section 302 and Section 328 read with Section 34 of the Indian 
Penal Code, 1860 (in short 'IPC'). The accused persons were 
0, 
found guilty and sentenced to undergo imprisonment for lite 
and five years by learned Additional Sessions Judge, 
Gadarwara. 
The prosecution version as unfolded during trial is as 
follows:-
t, 
Munni Bai (PW.3) is a professional dancer and prior to 
the date of incident, she used to reside with the Tirath Sin~Jh 
(hereinafter referred to as 'deceased') as his keep. Accused 
Gendalal and accused Mulayam Singh (since absconding) 
" 
wanted that Munni Bai should live with them as keep, but she 
·-
was not willing. While Munni Bai was staying with deceas-::d 
Tirath Singh accused Gendalal and accused Mulayam Sii1gh 
came to the village and invited them for dance function 1n the 
village. On their invitation, the deceased and Munni Bai came 
r· 
to village Sirsiri, where they were kept at the residence of one· 
Shankar Barua. There they ate Roti and Dal; brought by Cr~1dal1! 
and accused Mulayam Singh spent the night in the h0\1u: c' 
Shankar Barua. In the morning, (Munni Bai) PW3. 1~,'.C,'.·J"-'c 
going to village Oriya but was stopped by accused Mu: .. ' ;d· .• 
Singh and he stated that dance and song programme "O; ·u" tJ, 
held. Around noon time accused Mulayam Singh took h21 ,_.·.·, 
deceased Tirath Singh for taking food at the resiae,1 ..:" o· 
Gendalal. Munni Bai and deceased Tirath took food ·it th. 
residence of Gendalal and slept there. When they WOK•" u;J •, 
the evening, deceased and accused persons smokeei '\..,cui.• 
and took 'Thandai'. Thereafter, accused Mulayarn Si: 1~;. , .. 
Gendalal Singh brought two plates containing food 3, i'C•,,; · 
including 'Halua'. While P.W.3 Munni Bai ate Halua, stk u"r: .. 
the taste to be pungent and thereafter she did not further t<Jt the; 
Halua. After taking the food, deceased Tirath Singh and ;,,,1unn: 
. 
• 
It 
.......... 
8 
SUPREME COURT REPORTS 
[2008) 13 S.C.R. 
A 
Bai became unconscious and thereafter they were taken by 
Gendalal and accused Mulayam Singh to the residence of 
Shankar Barua and thereafter to the house of (Bhagwat Singh) 
P.W.13 From there, the deceased was taken to village Oriya 
Ghat in a bullock cart . While he was being taken to Udaipur 
B hospital by his brother (Khet Singh) PW.12 . he died and the 
dead body was taken to the Udaipur Police Station. Information 
was recorded at the village and the same was forwarded to 
Saikheda Police Station on the basis of which offence under 
Sections 328 and 302 of the Indian Penal Code was registered. 
C 
During the course of investigation, dead body of Tirath 
Singh was sent for post-mortem examination which was 
conducted by Dr. Narendra Kumar Palod (PW.19). According 
to the post mortem report, death of Tirath Singh had occurred 
because of respiratory and circulatory failure and may be 
D because of poison. The viscera of deceased was sent to the 
State Forensic Sci

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