Surendera Mishra Vs State
of Jharkhand
JUDGMENT
CHANDRAMAULI KR.
PRASAD, J.
1.
Sole
appellant was put on trial for commission of the offence under Section 302 of
the Indian Penal Code as also Section 27 of the Arms Act. The trial court held
him guilty on both the counts and sentenced him to undergo imprisonment for
life under Section 302 of the Indian Penal Code but no separate sentence was
awarded under Section 27 of the Arms Act. His conviction and sentence has been
upheld by the High Court in appeal and hence the appellant is before us with
the leave of the Court.
2.
According
to the prosecution, on 11th of August, 2000 the deceased Chandrashekhar Choubey
was going in a car driven by PW.1, Vidyut Kumar Modi and when reached Chas Nala
crossing, he asked the driver to stop the car and call Shasdhar Mukherjee
(PW.2), the owner of Sulekha Auto Parts. As directed, the driver called said
Shasdhar Mukherjee and the deceased started talking to him from inside the car.
According to the prosecution all of a sudden the appellant, the owner of the
Medical Hall came there with a country-made pistol, pushed Shasdhar Mukherjee
aside and fired at point-blank range at the deceased. The driver fled away from
the place of occurrence and informed the family members of the deceased, leaving
the deceased in the car itself. PW.4, Vinod Kumar Choubey along with the driver
came back and rushed the deceased to the Chas Nala Colliery Hospital, where he
was declared dead. On the basis of the aforesaid report a case under Section
302 of the Indian Penal Code and Section 27 of the Arms Act was registered
against the appellant. After usual investigation police submitted the
charge-sheet and ultimately the appellant was put on trial for commission of
the offence under Section 302 of the Indian Penal Code and Section 27 of the
Arms Act.
3.
In
order to bring home the charge the prosecutional together examined nine witnesses
besides a large number of documents were exhibited. Only plea of the appellant
during the trial was that by virtue of unsoundness of mind, the act done by him
comes within general exception under Section 84of the Indian Penal Code and,
therefore, he cannot be held guilty for the act done by him. The aforesaid plea
did not find favour with the trial court as also by the High Court, in appeal.
In this connection the High Court has observed as follows: "On the basis
of the evidence, adduced on behalf of both the parties regarding mental status
of accused Surendra Mishra, learned court below came to a safe conclusion that
accused was not suffering from mental instability even prior to the incident or
at the time of incident. I also find no ground to differ with such finding. I
have noticed the observations of the learned court below that although some
evidence were placed by the defence in support of the mental trouble of the
accused, in absence of specific finding by the doctor or degree and nature of
mental trouble, it cannot be relied upon to declare the accused Surendra Mishra
mentally unfit or that he was insane at the time of occurrence."
4.
Mr.
Tanmaya Agarwal, learned Counsel appearing on behalf of the appellant submits
that the appellant being a person of unsound mind at the time of the commission
of the offence, his act comes within general exception as provided under
Section 84 of the Indian Penal Code and hence the appellant deserves to be acquitted.
In support of the submission he has placed reliance on a judgment of this Court
in the case of State of Punjab v. Mohinder Singh, (1983) 2 SCC 274, in which it
has been held as follows: "The doctor had examined accused a little before
as also a little after the occurrence and he was found insane. The detailed
reasons given by both Dr. Harbans Lal and Dr. Ramkumar have been corroborated
by each other. From the evidence also it is clear that he was talking in a very
unusual manner saying things to the effect that he had seen Lord Shiva in front
of him and the alike. It cannot be said that the finding of the High Court was
wrong. In view of these circumstances we are not in a position to take a
different view particularly when the appellant was suffering from
schizophrenia."
5.
Another
decision of this Court on which reliance has been placed is in the case of
Shrikant Anandrao Bhosale v. State of Maharashtra, and our attention has been
drawn to the following passage from paragraph 20 of the judgment: "In the
present case, however, it is not only the aforesaid facts but it is the
totality of the circumstances seen in the light of the evidence on record to
prove that the appellant was suffering from paranoid schizophrenia. The
unsoundness of mind before and after the incident is a relevant fact. From the
circumstances of the case clearly an inference can be reasonably drawn that the
appellant was under a delusion at the relevant time. He was under an attack of
the ailment. The anger theory on which reliance has been placed is not ruled
out under schizophrenia attack. Having regard to the nature of burden on the
appellant, we are of the view that the appellant has proved the existence of
circumstances as required by Section 105 of the Evidence Act so as to get the
benefit of Section 84 IPC. We are unable to hold that the crime was committed
as a result of an extreme fit of anger. There is a reasonable doubt that at the
time of commission of the crime, the appellant was incapable of knowing the
nature of the act by reason of unsoundness of mind and, thus, he is entitled to
the benefit of Section 84 IPC. Hence, the conviction and sentence of the
appellant cannot be sustained."
6.
Nobody
had appeared on behalf of the respondent. However, we have perused the records
and bestowed our consideration to the submission advanced by Mr. Agarwal and we
do not find any substance in the same. In view of the plea raised it is
desirable to consider the meaning of the expression" unsoundness of
mind" in the context of Section 84 of the Indian Penal Code and for its
appreciation, we deem it expedient to reproduce the same. It reads as follows:
"84. Act of a
person of unsound mind.-- Nothing is an offence which is done by a person who,
at the time of doing it, by reason of unsoundness of mind, is incapable of knowing
the nature of the act, or that he is doing what is either wrong or contrary to
law."Section 84 of the Indian Penal Code is found in its Chapter IV, which
deals with general exceptions.
7.
From
a plain reading of the aforesaid provision it is evident that an act will not
be an offence, if done by a person who, at the time of doing the same by reason
of unsoundness of mind, is incapable of knowing the nature of the act, or what he
is doing is either wrong or contrary to law. But what is unsoundness of mind?
This Court had the occasion to consider this question in the case of Bapu alias
Gujraj Singh v. State of Rajasthan, (2007) 8 SCC 66, in which it has been held
as follows: "The standard to be applied is whether according to the
ordinary standard, adopted by reasonable men, the act was right or wrong. The
mere fact that an accused is conceited, odd, irascible and his brain is not
quite all right, or that the physical and mental ailments from which he
suffered had rendered his intellect weak and had affected his emotions and
will, or that he had committed certain unusual acts in the past, or that he was
liable to recurring fits of insanity at short intervals, or that he was subject
to getting epileptic fits but there was nothing abnormal in his behaviour, or
that his behaviour was queer, cannot be sufficient to attract the application of
this section."
8.
The
scope and ambit of the Section 84 of the Indian Penal Code also came up for
consideration before this Court in the case of Hari Singh Gond v. State of
Madhya Pradesh,(2008) 16 SCC 109 = AIR 2009 SC 31 in which it has been held as
follows: "Section 84 lays down the legal test of responsibility in cases
of alleged unsoundness of mind. There is no definition of `unsoundness of mind'
in IPC. The courts have, however, mainly treated this expression as equivalent
to insanity. But the term `insanity' itself has no precise definition. It is a
term used to describe varying degrees of mental disorder. So, every person, who
is mentally diseased, is not ipso facto exempted from criminal responsibility.
A distinction is to be made between legal insanity and medical insanity. A
court is concerned with legal insanity, and not with medical insanity."
9.
In
our opinion, an accused who seeks exoneration from liability of an act under
Section 84 of the Indian Penal Code is to prove legal insanity and not medical
insanity. Expression" unsoundness of mind" has not been defined in
the Indian Penal Code and it has mainly been treated as equivalent to insanity.
But the term insanity carries different meaning indifferent contexts and
describes varying degrees of mental disorder. Every person who is suffering
from mental disease is not ipso facto exempted from criminal liability. The
mere fact that the accused is conceited, odd, irascible and his brain is not
quite all right, or that the physical and mental ailments from which he
suffered had rendered his intellect weak and affected his emotions or indulges
in certain unusual acts, or had fits of insanity at short intervals or that he
was subject to epileptic fits and there was abnormal behaviour or the behaviour
is queer are not sufficient to attract the application of Section 84 of the
Indian Penal Code.
10.
Next
question which needs consideration is as to on whom the onus lies to prove
unsoundness of mind. In law, the presumption is that every person is sane to
the extent that he knows the natural consequences of his act. The burden of proof
in the face of Section 105 of the Evidence Act is on the accused. Though the
burden is on the accused but he is not required to prove the same beyond all
reasonable doubt, but merely satisfy the preponderance of probabilities. The onus
has to be discharged by producing evidence as to the conduct of the accused
prior to the offence, his conduct at the time or immediately after the offence
with reference to his medical condition by production of medical evidence and
other relevant factors.
Even if the accused
establishes unsoundness of mind, Section 84 of the Indian Penal Code will not
come to its rescue, in case it is found that the accused knew that what he was
doing was wrong or that it was contrary to law. In order to ascertain that, it
is imperative to take into consideration the circumstances and the behaviour
preceding, attending and following the crime. Behaviour of an accused
pertaining to a desire for concealment of the weapon of offence and conduct to avoid
detection of crime go a long way to ascertain as to whether, he knew the
consequences of the act done by him. Reference in this connection can be made
to a decision of this Court in the case of T.N. Lakshmaiah v. State of Karnataka,
(2002) 1 SCC 219, in which it has been held as follows: "
Under the Evidence
Act, the onus of proving any of the exceptions mentioned in the Chapter lies on
the accused though the requisite standard of proof is not the same as expected
from the prosecution. It is sufficient if an accused is able to bring his case
within the ambit of any of the general exceptions by the standard of
preponderance of probabilities, as a result of which he may succeed not because
that he proves his case to the hilt but because the version given by him casts
a doubt on the prosecution case. 10. In State of M.P. v. Ahmadull, AIR 1961 SC 998,
this Court held that the burden of proof that the mental condition of the
accused was, at the crucial point of time, such as is described by the section,
lies on the accused who claims the benefit of this exemption vide Section 105 of
the Evidence Act [Illustration (a)]. The settled position of law is that every
man is presumed to be sane and to possess a sufficient degree of reason to be responsible
for his acts unless the contrary is proved. Mere ipse dixit of the accused is
not enough for availing of the benefit of the exceptions under Chapter IV.
In a case where the
exception under Section 84 of the Indian Penal Code is claimed, the court has
to consider whether, at the time of commission of the offence, the accused, by
reason of unsoundness of mind, was incapable of knowing the nature of the act
or that he is doing what is either wrong or contrary to law. The entire conduct
of the accused, from the time of the commission of the offence up to the time
the sessions proceedings commenced, is relevant for the purpose of ascertaining
as to whether plea raised was genuine, bona fide or an afterthought."
11.
In
the background of what we have observed above, we proceed to consider the facts
of the present case. The first evidence in regard to the unsoundness of mind as
brought by the appellant is the medical prescription dated 18th October,1987
(Ext. A-1) in which symptom of the appellant has been noted as psychiatric with
paranoid features and medicine was advised for sleep. Other prescriptions are
dated 9th January,1988 (Ext. A) and 5th of September 1998 in which only medicines
have been prescribed. Other prescriptions (Exts. A-5 to A-7) also do not spell
out the disease the appellant was suffering but give the names of the
medicines, he was advised to take. The occurrence had taken place on 11th of
August2000. From these prescriptions, the only inference one can draw is that
the appellant had paranoid feeling but that too was not proximate to the date
of occurrence.
It has to be borne in
mind that to establish that acts done are not offence and come within general
exception it is required to be proved that at the time of commission of the
act, accused by reason of unsoundness of mind was incapable of knowing that his
acts were wrong or contrary to law. In the present case the prosecution has
proved beyond all reasonable doubt that immediately after the appellant had
shot- dead the deceased, threatened his driver PW.1, Vidyut Kumar Modi of dire consequences.
Not only that, he ran away from the place of occurrence and threw the
country-made pistol, the weapon of crime, in the well in order to conceal
himself from the crime. However, it was recovered later on.
The aforesaid conduct
of the appellant subsequent to the commission of the offence clearly goes to
suggest that he knew that whatever he had done was wrong and illegal. Further,
he was running a medical shop and came to the place of occurrence and shot dead
the deceased. Had the appellant been a person of unsound mind, it may not have
been possible for him to run a medical shop. We are of the opinion that the
appellant though suffered from certain mental instability even before and after
the incident but from that one cannot infer on a balance of preponderance of probabilities
that the appellant at the time of the commission of the offence did not know
the nature of his act; that it was either wrong or contrary to law. In our opinion,
the plea of the appellant does not come within the exception contemplated under
Section 84 of the Indian Penal Code.
12.
As
regards the decisions of this Court in the cases of Mohinder Singh (supra) and
Shrikant Anandrao Bhosale (supra), relied on by the appellant same are clearly distinguishable.
In those decisions, this Court on fact found that the accused at the time of
commission of crime was suffering from Schizophrenia and in that background
held that accused is entitled to the protection under Section 84 of the Indian
Penal Code. Here on fact, we have found that the appellant was not suffering
from unsoundness of mind at the time of commission of the crime and therefore
the decisions relied on in no way advance the case of the appellant.13. We do
not find any merit in the appeal and it is dismissed accordingly.
................................................J
[HARJIT SINGH BEDI]
................................................J
[P. SATHASIVAM]
................................................J
[CHANDRAMAULI KR. PRASAD]
NEW
DELHI
JANUARY
6, 2011.
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