LexSTATE OF RAJASTHAN versus GULAB SINGH AND ORS.
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) [2008] 10 S.C.R. 649 STATE OF RAJASTHAN v. GULAB SINGH AND ORS. ' (Criminal Appeal No. 1049 of 2008) JULY 10, 2008 [DR. ARIJIT PASAYAT AND P. SATHASIVAM, JJ .. ] Penal Code, 1860 - ss. 302 rlw 34, 307: A B Murder..,. Conviction by Trial Court under s. 302 rlw 34 - High Court altered. conviction to s.307 observing that there C wa$ no injury on body of the deceased and 'mec~anica/' injµry was absent - On appeal, held: There was clear non-applica- tion of mind by High Court - It is not understandable as to what the High Court meant by tfie expression 'mechanical injury', particularly when evidence of the doctor and the post- D mortem report showed that there were 12 injuries on body of the deceased and each one of them wc,s described to be ante- mortem - Judgment of Trial Court restored. The prosecution case was that the. deceased was found lying dead with her hands and mouth/face tied with E cloth. Trial Court convicted the accused-Respondents under s.302 r/w s.34 IPC. On appeal, High Court altered the conviction to s.307 IPC primarily on the ground that ... there was no injury on the person of the deceased, as ' allegedly accepted by the Public Prosecutor. Hence the F present appeal. Allowing the appeal, the Court HELD: 1. On a bare reading of the High Court'~ or- der, it is clear that it is a classic case of non-application of G mind. [Para 7) [653-D] 2. From the evidence of the doctor and the post- mortem report, it is clear that -there were 12 injuries no- 649 H 650 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [2008] 10 S.C.R. A ticed on the body of the deceased and each one of them was described to be ante-mortem. It is not clear as to how the High Court observed that there was no injury on the body of the deceased. Still more surprising is the obser- vation of High Court that "mechanical" injury being ab- B sent, it would be unjust, if the arg'ument of the accused is 'f..- "- not given some weightage. It. is not understood as to what the High Court meant by the expression 'mechanical in- jury'. It is unfortunate that a Division Bench of the High Court came to such atrocious and fallacious conclusion. c The judgment of the trial Court is restored and the High · Court's order so far it relates to alteration of conviction from s.302 read with s.34 to s.307 IPC is set aside. [Para 8] [653-F, G & H; .654-A & B] CRIMINALAPPELLATE JURISDICTION: Criminal Appeal D No. 1049 of 2008 From the Judgment and final Order dated 15.7.2005 of the High Court of Judicature for Rajasthan at Jodhpur in D.B. Crl. Appeal No. 198/2002 E V. Madhukar, Rajesh Kumar and Aruneshwar Gupta for F the Appellant. · The Judgment of the Court was delivered by Dr. ARIJIT PASAYAT, J. 1. Leave granted. 2. Challenge in this appeal is to the order passed by a Division Bench of the Rajasthan High Court, Jodhpur, altering the conviction of the respondent for offence punishable under Section 302 read with Section 34 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 (in short the 'IPC') to Section 307 IPC. However, the con- G viction under Sections 458 and 460 IPC were maintained. The substantive sentences in respect of the offences were reduced to the period already undergone. 3. The trial Court i.e. learned Sessions Judge (Fast Track), H Rajsamand had convicted respondents 1 to 4 for offences pun- STATE OF RAJASTHAN v. GULAB SINGH 651 ) & ORS. [DR. ARIJIT PASAYAT, J.] ishable under Section 302 read with Section 34 and Sections A 460, 458 and 397 of IPC and various other sentences in re- spect of the other offences. 4. Prosecution version in a nutshell is as follows: ~ Sessions case in question arose from the first information B report (exhibit P-5) which was presented by the complainant Shri Prakash Chand (PW-4) before the police incharge of Arakshi Kendra, Rajsamand on 11.7.1999. It was stated therein that on 11.7.1999 in the morning at around 6.30 a commotion was taking place outside the house of Dali Chand father of Naval c Ram. The complainant went to the house of Dali Chand and saw that Smt. Jyoti wife of Dali Chand was lying dead there, whereas her hands and mouth/face were tied with cloth. Inside the room the hands and legs of Dali Chand were also found ~ tied. Thereafter, Roop Singh untied his hands and legs. Goods D were lying scattered inside the room. The children of Da~i Chand live in Bombay and Dali Chand was having a shop of controlled commodities. This incident was stated to have been commit- t
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