Prem Thakur Vs. State of Punjab [1982]
INSC 83 (17 November 1982)
CHANDRACHUD, Y.V. ((CJ) CHANDRACHUD, Y.V.
((CJ) REDDY, O. CHINNAPPA (J)
CITATION: 1983 AIR 61 1983 SCR (1) 822 1982
SCC (3) 462 1982 SCALE (2)1057
CITATOR INFO :
R 1989 SC1890 (31) R 1990 SC 79 (10) R 1991
SC 917 (8)
ACT:
Evidence-Circumstantial evidence-How
evaluated- Circumstances relied upon as establishing involvement of accused
must clinch the issue of guilt.
HEADNOTE:
The prosecution case against the appellant
was that he, along with five workers migrated from Nepal and that at the time
of occurrence all of them were working in Punjab as agricultural labourers. Out
of a large sum of money earned by them as wages they spent a part and the
balance was left with one of the five deceased. On the evening prior to the day
of occurrence the appellant was found by the employer cooking food for himself
and his companions but when he went to his field the following morning he
noticed the five dead bodies of the co-workers were smouldering in the pit of
his tube well. Post-mortem examination of the dead bodies revealed several
ante-mortem injuries, most of which were lacerated wounds. Prom that day
onwards the apellant was found missing.
The trial Court, accepting the circumstantial
evidence, convicted and A sentenced the appellant to death. The High Court
affirmed the conviction on three grounds: (i) since the money was not found on
the person of the deceased with whom it was kept, the motive was theft; (ii)
the appellant was last seen in the company of all the deceased and (iii) the
appellant absconded thereafter to conceal his presence.
Allowing the appeal,
HELD: It is impossible to believe that the
crime was committed in the manner alleged by the prosecution or that the
appellant could possibly have committed it in the circumstances alleged. [826
C-D] In a case which depends wholly upon circumstantial evidence, the
circumstances must be of such a nature as to be capable of supporting the
exclusive hypothesis that the accused is guilty of the crime of which he is
charged. That is to say, the circumstances relied upon as establishing the
involvement of the accused in the crime must clinch the issue of Built. Very
often, circumstances which establish the commission of an offence in the abstract
are identified as circumstances which prove that the prisoner before the Court
is guilty of a crime imputed to him. An a priori suspicion that the accused has
committed 823 the crime transforms itself into a facile belief that it is he
who has committed the crime. Human mind plays that trick on proof of the
commission of a crime by resisting the frustrating feeling that no one can be
identified as the author of that crime. [826 G-H] In the instant case the
circumstances attendant upon the incident militate entirely against the
conclusion that the five murders were committed R by the appellant. The fact
that the assailant robbed the victims of the mopey cannot necessarily lead to
the conclusion that it was the appellant who robbed them of their money. That
the appellant and his co-workers were paid a fairly large sum of money was
known to others apart from the appellant and his Companions. No part of the
money was traced to the appellant and therefore be could not be connected with
the crime. [825 C-E] Assuming that the deceased were administered liquor,
medical evidence did not know that the liquor consumed would have induced such
stupor verging upon hypnosis It is also incredible that the five persons done
to death by a single individual were under such a heavy spell of sleep that
none of them woke up when the other or others were attacked. [826 D-F] The fact
that the appellant was last seen in the company of the deceased and that he was
not present at the place from which the dead bodies were recovered the next
morning are equivocal circumstances on which it is hazardous to base the
conviction. [827 D] The circumstance that the appellant absconded from the
place of occurrence does not lead to the conclusion that he had made himself
scarce in order to conceal his presence. If he was found by the team of
investigating officers in Nepal going about openly, it is difficult to hold
that he had absconded to Nepal. [825 G-H]
CRIMINAL APPELLATE JURISDICTION: Criminal
Appeal No. 187 of 1982.
Appeal by special leave from the judgment and
order dated 7.10.81 of the Punjab and Haryana High Court in Criminal
No.466-DB/81 .
N.R. Agarwala Amicus Curiae for the
Appellant.
Ashwani Kumar and D.D. Sharma for the
Respondent.
The Judgment of the Court was delivered by
CHANDRACHUD, C.J. The appellant, Prem Thakur, was convicted by the learned
Sessions Judge, Rupnagar, under sections 824 302 and 201 of the Indian Penal
Code and was sentenced to death for the former offence. The conviction and
sentence having been upheld by the High Court of Punjab and Haryana, the
appellant has filed this appeal by special leave.
The charge against the appellant is that he
committed the murder of five co-labourers on the night between the 8th and 9th
November, 1980 in the village of Rolu Majra. The case of the prosecution is
that the appellant came to India from Nepal in search of work along with his
companion workers and a few others. They worked with one Mohinder Singh for
about 14 days for which they were paid a sum of Rs. 2,900. The appellant and
his co-workers spent a sum of Rs. 800 therefrom and the balance of Rs. 2100 was
kept with Rama Nand who was one of the five coworkers of the appellant. The
appellant and his companions thereafter went to the village of Rolu Majra where
they worked in the field of Ujjagar Singh. On the evening of the day following
Diwali, Ujjagar Singh saw the accused cooking meals for himself and his five
companions. When Ujjagar Singh went to the field next morning at 8 00 a.m, he
noticed that smoke was coming out of the pit of his tubewell. When he peeped
into the well he saw five dead bodies smouldering. Ujjagar Singh lodged
information of the offence with A.S.I. Jarnail Singh. The post-mortem
examination on the five dead bodies revealed several ante-mortem injuries, most
of which were in the nature of lacerated wounds.
Since Ujagar Singh had seen the appellant in
the company of five deceased persons and the appellant was not to be seen
anywhere, the suspicion of the police naturally fell upon him. The case of the
prosecution is that on December 1, 1980, the appellant was arrested while he
was working near the tubewell of Sohan Singh.
There is no direct evidence to connect the
appellant with the five murders. In support of the charges levelled against
him, the prosecution relied upon circumstantial evidence which consisted of:
(i) motive for the offence;
(ii) the fact that the appellant was seen
last in the company of the deceased on the evening preceding the discovery of
the dead bodies; (iii) the fact that the accused had absconded; (iv) the
extra-judicial confession of the appellant; (v) the recovery of a 'Tangli' in
pursuance of the statement made by the appellant; (vi) the recovery of the dead
bodies from the pit near the tubewell of Ujjagar Singh; and (vii) 825 false
statement made by the appellant to Ram Ishar, the son of one of the deceased,
Rama Nand, that the latter would return to the village after Puran Mashi.
The learned Sessions Judge accepted some of
these circumstances as proved and convicted the appellant for the five murders
on the basis of those circumstances. The High Court has relied upon three
circumstances, namely, (i) motive, (ii) the fact that the appellant was seen
last in the company of the deceased and (iii) the conduct of the appellant after
the occurrence.
As regards motive, the High Court observes in
its judgment that since no money was found on the dead bodies, theft was
obviously the motive for the crime. That may be so, but we are unable to
understand how the fact that theft was the motive for the crime can connect the
appellant with the crime. It is quite likely that whosoever committed the five
murders robbed the victims of the money which they had on their person, but
that cannot necessarily lead to the conclusion that it is the appellant who
robbed the deceased of their money. The fact that a fairly large sum was paid
to the appellant and his co-workers by way of their wages would be known to
others apart from the appellant and his companions. No part of the money was
traced to the appellant and therefore, we are unable to accept that the accused
can be connected with the crime merely because the motive for the crime was
theft.
The circumstances that the appellant was last
seen in the company of the deceased can be accepted as proved but no inference
can arise there from that the appellant had committed their murder. The
appellant was working with the deceased and others and there was nothing
unnatural. in the appellant being in the company of his companions on the
evening before the murders were committed.
In so far as the allegation that the accused
had absconded is concerned, it is not easy to rely upon that circumstance as
leading to the conclusion that he had made himself scarce in order to conceal
his presence. The story of the prosecution that he was 3 arrested in Punjab
itself has been disbelieved by the High Court according to which, the appellant
was brought from Nepal by the team of Investigating officers. The appellant
belongs to Nepal and if he was found in Nepal going about openly, it is
difficult to accept the charge that he had absconded to Nepal.
826 The circumstance that the appellant told
Ram Ishar that the latter's father Rama Nand would return to the village after
Puran Mashi cannot clinch the issue unless one stars with the presumption that
the appellant had committed the crime. But then one cannot put the cart before
the horse. At the highest, what the appellant said to Ram Ishar may raise a
cloud of suspicion but nothing more.
We have considered carefully the entire
evidence in the case and the various facts attendant upon the five murders.
It seems to us quite impossible to believe
that the crime was committed in the manner alleged by the prosecution or that
the appellant could possibly have committed it in the circumstances alleged. It
is said that the five deceased persons were administered liquor, that after
drinking liquor they lapsed into a deep spell of sleep, that while they were
asleep they were killed, that they were carried one by one to A the bottom of a
35 ft. tube well and that thereafter, they were set on fire. The post-mortem
notes and the medical evidence show that the liquor consumed by the deceased
could not have produced unconsciousness How it could induce such stupor verging
upon hypnosis is more than one can reasonably imagine. The prosecution case
requires for its success the incredible assumption that the five persons done
to death by a single individual were under such a heavy spell of sleep that
none of them woke up when the others were attacked.
When the first of the five victims was
attacked, he would have shrieked or shouted and thereby the others would be
aroused from their sleep. They were young, able-bodied labourers. It puts quite
some strain on our credulity to accept that a single person could have finished
off his five companions in the fiction-like manner alleged by the prosecution.
The High Court could not but be aware of the
principle that in a case which depends wholly upon circumstantial evidence, the
circumstances must be of such a nature as to be capable of supporting the
exclusive hypothesis that the accused is guilty of the crime of which he is
charged. That is to say, the circumstances relied upon as establishing the
envolvement of the accused in the crime must clinch the issue of guilt. Very
often, circumstances which establish the commission of an offence in the
abstract are identified as circumstances which prove that the prisoner before
the court is guilty of the crime imputed to him. An a priori suspicion that the
accused has committed the crime transforms itself into a facile belief 827 that
it is he who has committed the crime. Human mind plays that A trick on proof of
the commission of a crime by resisting the frustrating feeling that no one can
be identified as the author of that crime. In the case before us, there is no
doubt that five persons were murdered.
Unquestionably, every effort had to be made
to find out who committed those murders. But the duty is not done by holding
someone or the other guilty somehow or other. In the instant case, the
circumstances attendant upon the incident militate entirely against the
conclusion that the five murders were committed by the appellant. The very
pattern of the crime belies that conclusion. We are unable to share the High
Court's view that the evidence showing "that the appellant was present
with the deceased persons on the evening of November 8, 1980 and he was then
missing from there on the next morning proves the offences alleged against the
appellant beyond any shadow of doubt". In support of its conclusion that
the appellant had committed the murders, the High Court has even pressed into
service the circumstances that the appellant was not present 'at the place
from-which the dead bodies were recovered" the next morning. These are
equivocal circumstances on which it is hazardous to base the conviction.
In the result we allow the appeal, set aside
the conviction of the appellant on all the counts and the sentences imposed
upon him including the sentence of death and acquit him of all the charges. He
shall be released forthwith.
P.B.R. Appeal allowed.
S. R. Petitions dismissed.
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