The High Court of Chhattisgarh dismissed an appeal against conviction and sentence for murder under Section 302 IPC. The court relied on witness statements, recovery of blood-stained weapons, and FSL reports to uphold the lower court's finding.
The appeal was dismissed; the conviction and sentence under Section 302 IPC were affirmed.
This page shows the compact analysis of this judgement. The full analysis — procedural history, issue-by-issue holdings with ratio and obiter, advocates, and paragraph-level evidence for every claim — is being added to the record in batches and will appear here when this judgement has been through it.
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AFR
HIGH COURT OF CHHATTISGARH, BILASPUR
CRA No. 51 of 2020
Durga Prasad S/o Baisakhu Ram @ Kocho Aged About 35 Years R/o Bala Chhapar Jashpur, Police Station Jashpur, District Jashpur, Chhattisgarh ---- Appellant
Versus
State of Chhattisgarh through the Station House Officer, Police Station Jashpur, District Jashpur, Chhattisgarh. --- Respondent
| For Appellant | : Shri Jeet Patel, Advocate |
|---|---|
| For Respondent/State | : Shri Vikram Sharma Dy. G.A |
Hon'ble Shri Justice Goutam Bhaduri,J & Hon'ble Shri Justice Sanjay S. Agrawal,J
Judgment on Board
Per Goutam Bhaduri, J,
04.08.2023
Heard.
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Police Station-Jashpur by Kartik Ram (PW-3), on the basis of information received from Shivcharan Ram, Sandeep Ram and Sankar Ram that the Suganti Bai (since deceased) along with her husband Durga Prasad had gone to graze goats towards Kumbhighat Hill on 5.03.2019 at about 2:00 p.m. but, deceased did not return till late night. So when they went to search for them, Suganti Bai was found dead on the road, she had injuries on her neck; back; and right arm by way of axe which caused profuse bleeding. They stated that the appellant accused Durga Prasad suspecting the fidelity of his wife, as such, he has killed his wife. After such report, inquest was prepared and during inquest, map was also prepared and subsequently post-mortem was conducted wherein the death was found to be homicidal in nature. The appellant/accused was apprehended and on his memorandum, the concealed axe near the incident along with the broken handle was recovered. Another axe was also recovered on the basis of memorandum of accused. On a query being made, the Doctor confirmed that the injury could have been caused by such weapon i.e., axe and since the axe was stained with blood it was sent to F.S.L, along with plain soil, clothes of deceased. for examination. According to the FSL report, human blood was found in all items i.e., blood stained weapon recovered at the instance of accused and the clothes of deceased and the blood group on weapon matched with that of deceased. On the basis of medical evidence, FSL report apart from the evidence of last seen theory along with the other evidence, the charge sheet was filed. During the course of trial, the appellant denied his guilt and prayed for trial.
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and evidence convicted and sentenced the accused/Appellant as stated above.
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statement is also made by PW-6 (Kaleshwar Ram) that the axe used for the offence was concealed at nearby the place of the incident. Subsequently, on the basis of memorandum, from concealed place, seizure was made by Ex.P-12. Apart from the said recovery, another axe, which was pressed under the neck of the deceased was also recovered by Ex-P-14. The witnesses PW-5 (Raviprakash Ram) and PW-6 (Kaleshwar Ram) have also proved such recovery. In this case, there were 2 recoveries of the Axe, which are shown to be made, one by Ex.P-12, which was recovered at the instance of the accused from a concealed spot nearby the place of incident and other one by Ex.P14, which was pressed under the body of the deceased. The statements of Raviprakash Ram (PW-5) and Kaleshwar Ram (PW-6) appear to be reasonable and logical that the recovery of axe of Ex.P12 was made at the instance of the accused which was concealed near the crime scene is corroborated by the fact of Inquest Report Ex.P-10 and the Crime Detail Form Ex.P-8, which do not show the presence of said axe near the dead body. Therefore, the recovery of the axe which was alleged to be used in the crime by the accused was recovered, has been proved by the prosecution that it was recovered from the concealed place near the place of incident.
c) Incised would over just below of mandible right side size about (6x3x3 cm) deep.
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d) Incised wound about 4x3 cm just back of neck region (Deep wound).
e) One incised/below wound 5x3x2 cm about seen in right side of mid temporal region.
f) Right temporal bone fracture seen/feel (compressed fracture).
g) Some small multiple scratches seen in (lt) cubital region (elbow region).
h) Minor injury seen in inguinal region (scratches seen in right thigh region.
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blood as also the clothes of the deceased were recovered, which is proved by Ex.P-15. The garments of deceased including the Saree, Blouse, one Peti Coat and one Sal were found having blood of deceased Suganti Bai. The same was sent to F.S.L. vide Ex.P-23. The F.S.L. report would show that the axe which was recovered from the spot was pressed under the body of the deceased and was marked as 'G' and the axe which was recovered at the instance of the accused was marked as 'H' and the blouse of the deceased marked as 'C', which contain the human blood, were having the same blood group of ‘B’, whereas, the human blood was also affirmed on the ‘Saree’, ‘Blouse’, ‘Petti Coat’ and ‘Sal’ except the group as it.
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instance of accused. After arrest of appellant, the subsequent recovery of the weapon vide Ex.P-12 was made on 07.03.2019, which shows that the weapon which was having same blood group of the deceased would have a nexus to the crime. The statement of PW-7, the father of the deceased, who was in his house on that day stated that his daughter and son-in-law had gone to graze the goats on the date of incident, however, the accused appellant came back but daughter did not came. As such, this absence of his daughter was disclosed to the villagers. Certain suggestion though was made to him that he has not seen as to which direction both of them had gone but in a daily routine of household activities when such statement is made that daughter and the son-in-law had gone to graze the goats together, it would be a normal circumstance and human behaviour to depose such fact. The statement of (Mathura Ram) PW-7 states that when the accused came back has made extra judicial confession before his daughter Muskan that he has killed his wife, but, Muskan has not been examined. The conduct of the appellant, further becomes doubtful when his past antecedents inasmuch as the statement of Tekram Sarathi (PW-11) would show that he was involved in ‘6’ major criminal cases and all are relating to major offences including Sections 376, 392, 384, 302 and Arms Act, which are proved as Ex.P-29, Ex.P-30, Ex.P-31, Ex.P-32, Ex.P-33 and Ex.P34.
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at all.
Sd/-
Sd/-
(Goutam Bhaduri) (Sanjay S. Agrawal) Judge Judge
vivek
2 issues framed by the court
Whether the Session Judge's conviction under Section 302 IPC for murder resulted from presumption rather than full proof evidence?
Whether the recovery of the weapon and FSL report matched with human blood establishes criminal nexus requiring interference?
Colour shows how this judgement treated each authority
Ganga Bai Versus State of RajasthanReferred¶12
Ganga Bai Versus State of Rajasthan (2016) 15 SCC 645 · Who else cites this
2 provisions across 2 enactments
Durga Prasad
State of Chhattisgarh
Goutam Bhaduri
Sanjay S. Agrawal
As recorded by the court registry
Judgements on the same questions, provisions and authorities, from every court
