STOCK MARKET UPDATE

Ticker

6/recent/ticker-posts

SC: There must be a complete chain of evidence to show that within all human probability the act must have been done by the accused

 Supreme Court new.jpeg 

A three-judges Bench of the Supreme Court consisting of Justices L. Nageswara Rao, B.R. Gavai and B.V. Nagarathna held that there must be   a   chain   of   evidence   so   complete   as   not   to   leave   any reasonable   ground   for   a   conclusion   consistent   with   the innocence of the accused, and it must be such as to show that within all human probabilities, the act must have been done by the accused.

Facts

Gudiya Parveen (PW-1) w/o Mohd. Armaan (PW-2) resided years.  At about 10.00 am, on 24th February 2016, she had gone downstairs to wash clothes. At that time, she called her husband for bathing the victim.  Her husband told her that the victim had gone downstairs to play. PW­1 then went upstairs   and   told   her   husband   that   the   victim   was   not downstairs.  Thereafter, PW­2 and she started looking   for   the   victim, but   the   victim   was   not   found anywhere. Since the victim could not be found, PW­1 went to Jutemill Police Station and lodged a report of the victim going missing. They continued the search and ultimately returned to their house at around 03.00­04.00 am in the morning. Mohd. Sahid alias Raju Khan (PW­3) told her that appellant- Lochan Shrivas, a resident of D­15 in the same building had said that if they would allow him to conduct a worship, he could find their child in an hour.  Therefore, they agreed to conduct   the   worship.   After   the   worship, the appellant informed them that the child was tied and kept inside a sack in the bushes near a pole beside the road in Amlibhauna. On this, PW­1   and   other   prosecution   witnesses   developed   a suspicion, and as such, PW­3 informed the police. The police interrogated the appellant, who confessed his crime before them. Thereafter, on a memorandum u/s 27 of the Indian Evidence Act, 1872  (the “Evidence   Act”),   a   sack   from   the   bushes   was   recovered wherein the dead body of the deceased soaked in blood was found.

 

Procedural History


Based on the oral report of PW­1, an FIR came   to   be   registered   for   the   offence punishable under Section 363 of the IPC.  After completion of investigation, a charge­sheet came to be filed before the trial judge for the offences punishable u/s 363, 376, 377, 302, 201 of the IPC and Section 6 of the POCSO Act. Charges came to be framed for the offences punishable u/s   363, 376(2)(i), 377, 201, 302 read with Section 376A of the IPC and Section 6 of the POCSO Act. The accused pleaded to be not guilty and claimed to be tried. At the conclusion of the trial, the trial judge recorded the aforesaid order of conviction and sentence.  Being aggrieved thereby, an appeal was preferred by the appellant and a reference was made by the trial judge u/s 366 of the CrPC.  By the impugned judgment and order, the High Court   dismissed   the   appeal   filed   by   the   appellant   and confirmed the death sentence. So, the present appeals.

Contentions made

Appellant: The present case is based on circumstantial evidence. The prosecution utterly   failed to establish the incriminating circumstances thereby failing to establish the chain of   events which lead to no other conclusion than the guilt of the accused. There are many missing links in the prosecution case, and as such, the judgment and order of conviction as recorded by the trial judge and confirmed by the High Court is not sustainable in law. The recovery is from an open place accessible to one and all, hence of no assistance to the prosecution case. The Prosecution has failed to establish the link between the recovered materials and the crime. The constable had gone to the spot from where the body of the victim was alleged to have been recovered at around 06.00 am. It is thus clear that   the   police   were   already aware about the place   from where the body was alleged to have been recovered on a memorandum under Section 27 of the Evidence Act. He submitted that the alleged recovery (circumstance of finding human blood on the said nails) is at around 08.00 am which are not the business hours, and as such, the very evidence regarding photography and videography becomes doubtful. appellant   was   not   given   an   opportunity   of   meaningfully defending the case. the death penalty would not be warranted in the facts of the present case. the trial court as well as the High Court has not taken into   consideration   the   socio­economic   background   of   the appellant   so   also   the   possibility   of   the   appellant   being reformed or rehabilitated.


Respondent: The prosecution proved all the incriminating circumstances beyond reasonable doubt and established the link of proved circumstances, which leads to no other conclusion than the guilt of the accused. The appellant committed a heinous act of rape on a minor girl and then brutally killed her, and as such, it for no other penalty than the death penalty.

Observations of the Court

The Bench observed that it has been held in a catena of decisions by the apex court in   a   case   of circumstantial evidence, before the case can be said to be fully established against an accused, it is necessary that the circumstances from which the conclusion of guilt is to be drawn,   should   be   fully   established,   and   all   the   facts   so established should be consistent only with the hypothesis of the guilt of the accused. They should exclude every hypothesis except the one to be proved. There must be a chain of evidence so complete   as   not   to   leave   any   reasonable   ground   for   the conclusion consistent with the innocence of the accused and must show that in all human probabilities, the act must have been done by the accused The Court then went on to consider the evidence provided. Regarding the defence on the ground that the same is from an open place, accessible to one and all, it was observed that this Court has held that what is relevant is not whether the place was accessible to others or not, but whether it was ordinarily visible to others. If the place at which the article hidden is such where only the person hiding it knows until he discloses to others, then   it   will   be   immaterial whether the concealed place is accessible to others. The said information regarding the location of the body was registered in the Rojnamcha at around 06.10 am.  What is stated by this witness is that she went to Amlibhauna which is a locality. However, that by itself would not be sufficient to conclude that the police already knew about the place from where the dead body was recovered. The Bench observed that:


“The evidence of a witness cannot be read in piecemeal.  The evidence must be read as a whole.  If the evidence of this witness is read as a whole, the attack on her evidence is not justified.”

The Bench went on to observe that:

“We   are   therefore   of   the   considered   view   that   the prosecution has proved beyond reasonable doubt that the recovery   of   the   dead   body   of   the   deceased   on   the memorandum   of   the   appellant   u/s   27   of   the Evidence   Act,   was   from   a   place   distinctly   within   the knowledge of the appellant. It is the first offence committed by the appellant. No doubt, a heinous one.  The appellant is not a hardened criminal.  It therefore cannot be said   that   there   is   no   possibility   of   the   appellant being reformed and rehabilitated foreclosing the alternative option of a lesser sentence and making imposition of death sentence imperative.”


Judgment

The   judgment   and   order   of   conviction   for   the   offences punishable u/s 363, 366, 376(2)(i), 377, 201, 302 read   with   Section   376A  of   the  IPC   and  Section   6  of   the POCSO   Act   was   maintained.     However,   the   death   penalty imposed   on   the   appellant   under   Section   302   IPC   was commuted to life imprisonment.

Case Name: Lochan Shrivas vs The State of Chhattisgarh


Citation: Criminal Appeal Nos.  499-500 of 2018

Bench: Justice L. Nageswara Rao, Justice B.R. Gavai, Justice B.V. Nagarathna

Decided on: 14th December 2021


Read Judgment  

Social media is bold.


Social media is young.

Social media raises questions.

 Social media is not satisfied with an answer.

Social media looks at the big picture.

 Social media is interested in every detail.

social media is curious.

 Social media is free.

Social media is irreplaceable.

But never irrelevant.

Social media is you.

(With input from news agency language)

 If you like this story, share it with a friend!  


We are a non-profit organization. Help us financially to keep our journalism free from government and corporate pressure


Post a Comment

0 Comments

Custom Real-Time Chart Widget

'; (function() { var dsq = document.createElement('script'); dsq.type = 'text/javascript'; dsq.async = true; dsq.src = '//' + disqus_shortname + '.disqus.com/embed.js'; (document.getElementsByTagName('head')[0] || document.getElementsByTagName('body')[0]).appendChild(dsq); })();

market stocks NSC