Majid Vs.
State of Haryana [2001] Insc 647 (11 December 2001)
K.T.
Thomas & S.N. Phukan Phukan, J
WITH CRIMINAL
APPEAL NO.1173 OF 1998
Four
brothers were booked for trial under Section 302 read with Section 34 and other
lesser offences of the Indian Penal Code. The Sessions Judge acquitted one
accused namely, Aas Mohammed and the High Court acquitted another accused (Sher
Mohammed). The High Court affirmed the conviction of two other brothers,
namely, Majid and Bashir who have filed these two appeals by special leave and
we are disposing of the appeals by this common judgment.
On the
intervening night of August 11/12, 1995 in the wee hours i.e. about 4 a.m. Smt.
Hamidi and her husband Abdul Rahim (PW-7) were subjected to murderous assault
and at that time their minor son Hasham (PW-6), aged about 11 years, was the
only person present. Both Smt. Hamidi and her husband Abdul Rahim became
unconscious and fell down. Hasham saw the assault, raised an alarm and persons
from nearby houses came to the house of Abdul Rahim. At about 5.50 a.m., Hasham (PW-6) was taken to the Police station by Jamaluddin,
Shaurab and Tahir where Hasham was purported to have made a statement on the
basis of which the First Information Report was recorded. In this statement, Hasham
was alleged to have made a statement that there was a quarrel between his
parents followed by assaults and as a result both of them were injured. Tahir
was the nephew of the accused. Hamidi who was taken to the hospital remained
unconscious till her death on August 14, 1995.
Abdul Rahim (PW-7) who became unconscious after the assault was also taken to
the hospital and he regained consciousness only after more than ten days. After
Hamidi succumbed to her injuries, on August 15, a supplementary statement of Hasham
(PW-6) was recorded by a Police officer of the rank of the Dy.Superintendent
and in this Hasham stated that all the four accused assaulted his parents.
After further investigation, police submitted charge sheet against the four
accused and they were convicted as stated earlier. According to the
prosecution, four years prior to occurrence, all the four accused assaulted
Abdul Rahim (PW- 7), as his eldest son Sher Mohammed was suspected of having
illicit relationship with Mehmooda, sister of the accused. Abdul Rahim and his
deceased wife with their two sons left the village out of fear of the accused
and on their return to the village after more than four years, the present
occurrence took place.
The
plea of the accused was total denial and to prove the alleged statement of Hasham
(PW-6) made on August
12, 1995 before
police, D.W.1 Jamalludin - ex-Sarpanch of the Village, was examined as defence
witness.
The
crucial question to be determined in this case is as to whether eye-witness Hasham
(PW-6) minor son of the deceased made any statement to the police on August 12,
1995 or not and in the alternatively his alleged statement was under the
influence of Jamaluddin, Shaurab and Tahir. If this statement is discarded, the
statement recorded by police under section 161 on August 15, 1995 on the line on which Hasham deposed before the court fully
supports the case of the prosecution and in addition the evidence of his
father- PW-7 also supports the said statement.
We may
now refer to both the statements made by Hasham (PW-6) on 12/15 August, 1995.
This witness was examined in court with reference to his statement recorded by
the Dy. Superintendent under Section 161 Cr.P.C. on August 15. He stated before
the trial court that on August 12, at about 4 a.m. he woke up on hearing noise and saw all the accused inside their house;
accused Majid armed with Kulhari (axe) and remaining three accused with lathies.
Accused Aas, Bushir and Sher inflicted lathi blows on the head of his mother Hamidi,
who became unconscious and fell down. Thereafter, accused Majid inflicted Kulhari
blow on the neck of his father Abdul Rahim (PW-7), who also fell on the ground
and became unconscious. Thereafter, accused ran away. On alarm being raised by
him, people from nearby houses came to their house.
Thereafter,
Jamaluddin, Shaurab and Tahir took him to the police station and obtained his
signatures on a blank piece of paper. He admitted his signature but denied
making of any statement before the police on August 12.
His
alleged statement made to the police on August 12 when he was taken to the
police by Jamaludin, Shaurab and Tahir was put to him in cross examination and
he denied to have made any such statement. This statement formed part of the
FIR where Hasham (PW-6) was supposed to have stated that in the evening of the
date of occurrence, his mother demanded money for buying vegetable from his
father who declined the request, as he had no money. As his mother refused to
prepare meals, his father gave slaps and fist blow on his mother. Thereafter,
his mother prepared 'dry meals'. After taking meals, all of them went to sleep
and in the morning at about 4.00 a.m. on
hearing noise he woke up and saw his father giving two-three blows to his
mother by the handle of an axe, which he was holding. Thereafter, his father laid
down on the ground.
His
mother took the axe and gave a blow on the front side of the neck of his father
who took away the axe and threw it. Thereafter, he got nervous, raised the
alarm and many persons including Jamaluddin Sarpanch, Shaurab Ex.Sarpanch, Tahir
and other neighbours came to their house and Jamaluddin, Shaurab and Tahir took
him to the police station.
To
appreciate the statement made by this witness on August 12, we may extract the
injuries sustained by deceased Hamidi and Abdul Rahim (PW-7). Dr. (Mrs.) Santosh
Jain (PW-3) examined Abdul Rahim on August 12, 1995 and found the following injuries: -
"Incised wound of size 13 x 13 x 5 cms x deeply placed trachea seen. Fresh
bleeding was coming from the wound. The patient was unconscious. The wound was
present on front side of neck".
On the
same day, she examined deceased Hamidi and found the following injuries: -
"1.
Lacerated wound of size of 5 x ½ x bone deep at the left side of skul, 5 cms
above the left eye brow. Fresh bleeding was present".
2.
Lacerated wound of size 3 x ½ cms x bone deep on the left side of skull, 1 cm
above injury No.1.
3.
Lacerated wound of size 6 x ½ cms x bone deep on the left side of skull, 4 cms
above injury No.2 and 9 cms above the left ear and 4 cms away from the midline.
Fresh bleeding was present." Dr. Saxena (PW-2) treated Abdul Rahim in the
hospital from August 12 to August 30, 1995
and deposed that he was admitted with respiratory distress, bleeding from the
mouth and open neck and was operated for tracheostomy and repair of the injured
wound on neck was done.
Dr. Amar
Singh Rathore (PW-10) conducted post- mortem on the dead body of deceased Hamidi
on Augst 14, 1995 and on opening the skull, he found sub-scalp haemotoma
greenish brownish in colour all over the skull; there was fracture of left tempro
parietal bone which was depressed in nature and was of size of 6 X 5 cms;
another fracture of left side fronto pareital bone going towards right side mid
pareital bone with tissue staining present on the fractured site and extra sub-dural
haemorrhage left side fronto parietal area sub-dural haemorrhage all over both
hemisphere more on occipital side.
According
to Hasham PW-6, his father - Abdul Rahim gave 2-3 blows by the handle of the
axe on the body of his deceased mother Hamida and thereafter he laid on the
ground in the room.
His
mother took the axe and gave one axe blow on the neck of his father from the
front side. Both the above external and internal injuries found by Dr. Rathore
on the body of the deceased Hamida could not have been caused by two-three
blows of the handle of the axe and moreover with the above injuries she would
not have been able to get up and gave blow with the axe on the neck of her
husband. At the time of the occurrence, Hasham was all alone in the house.
After the incident, he raised alarm and people from the neighbourhood including
Jamaluddin, Shaurab and Tahir came.
Taking
advantage of the helpless condition of Hasham, the above three persons took him
to the police station and got his statement recorded on 12th August. After the
death of Hamida police realized the gravity of the occurrence and a superior
Police Officer took up investigation and recorded the statement of Hasham on
August 15 which was the correct version of the incident as it was supported by
medical evidence and also the evidence of his father, Abdul Rahim (P.W.7).
Another important factor, which the High Court correctly noticed, was that
though in the statement of August 12, Hasham stated that the axe was thrown
away but the Investigating Officer did not find any axe at the place of
occurrence.
Learned
counsel for the appellant has strenuously urged that the courts below ought not
to have discarded the evidence of defence witness Jamaluddin D.W.1. Jamaluddin
deposed before the court that on hearing alarm coming from the house of Abdul Rahim,
he went there and found Hasham weeping and on being asked Hasham told him that
his parents quarrelled over meals and thereafter his father gave Kulhari blow
on the head of his mother deceased Hamidi, who at the same time gave Kulhari
blow on the neck of his father.
What
is the utility of the evidence of DW-1 in the case? All that the defence can
possibly contend is that his evidence could be used to discredit the testimony
of PW-6 Hasham. Of course it is a method recognised by law under Section 155(3)
of the Indian Evidence Act (for short 'the Act') that the credit of a witness
can be impeached by proof of former statements inconsistent with any part of
his evidence which is liable to be contradicted. Can the evidence of PW-6 be
contradicted with the evidence of DW-1 unless at least the attention of PW-6
has been drawn to the fact that he had made such an inconsistent version to
DW-1? If the former statement was in writing or was reduced to writing, Section
145 of the Act requires that attention of the witness must be called to those
parts of it which are used for the purpose of contradicting him. Here the
statement allegedly made by PW-6 to DW-1 was not in writing, nor was it reduced
to writing. Nonetheless, if the object of examining DW-1 as a witness was to
discredit PW-6 it is only fair to insist that PW-6 himself should have been
given an opportunity to explain it. Without PW-6 being asked about that aspect,
it is unreasonable to expect PW-6 to explain about it. Hence it is immaterial
that the statement claimed by DW-1 as made to him by PW-6 was not reduced to
writing.
When
PW-6 was cross-examined by the defence counsel he was not asked anything about
the alleged statement made by him to DW-1. In such a situation we cannot give
any credence to the evidence of DW-1.
Both
the courts below have also recorded a clear finding that previous enmity
between the parties was duly proved which was the motive of the crime. We do
not find any material to disturb the concurrent findings recorded by the trial
court as well as by the High Court that the appellants were the perpetrators of
the crime and accordingly we do not find any merit in these appeals.
Before
parting, we record our appreciation for valuable assistance rendered by the
learned counsel Mr. V.K. Mehta, Amicus Curiae appointed by this court.
In the
result, the appeals fail and are dismissed.
..J.
[K.T.
Thomas] J.
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