Brothers convicted of murdering their sister; appeal on retracted witness evidence recorded under Section 288 CrPC and Section 164 statements. Supreme Court upheld admissibility but acquitted the second appellant for want of overt act, confirming the first appellant's conviction.
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.
491
DHANABAL AND ANR.
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v.
STATE OF TAMIL NADU
December 13, 1979
[S. MURTAZA FAZAL ALI, P. s. KAILASAM & A. D. KosHAL, JJ.J
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Benffit of doubt-When there 11 110 legal evld~nce to show tht ~Vert llCt •f the accused the benefit of doubt must necessarily follow.
Evidence-Transposi1io11 of the evidence given in the commilal Court ff> tlic ..,. record of Sessions Court, admissibility of-Whether attention of wftnes.rrr should be brought to the contrary statement paJsage by passage a.r rtfuire« u11der Section 145 of the Evidence Act-Code of Criminal Procedure, 1198, Secrion 288.
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Recording of statement!J by Magistrate:J.-Mere fact that the policfJ h«ti reasons to suspect that the witness might be gained over and that it was ex,e .. dient to have their statements recorded by the Magistrate would not ma~ the stati:ments of the: witnesses thus recorded tainted-Criminal Procedure Cade, sectio11 164.
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The appellants and the third accused were brothers of the deceased RaMyaL They were charged for the offence of committing the offence of murder and were found guilty and sentenced under section 302 read with section 149 I.P.C. to imprisonment for life by the Sessions Court. In appeal the High Court, acquitted the third accused but con.firmed the conviction and aentence CJf tho two appellants.
I.~ appeal by special lea.ve, threo contention& were raised namely (i) tho conviction of the two appellants based entirely on the retracted evidence of PWs. 1, 2, 3 and 5 marked in the Sessions Court was wrong (ii) the e'Yidettccr marked under section 288 was inadmissible as it was only read in full to th·~ witnesses and had not been put to them passage by passage as required in. l. 145 of the Evidence Act and (iii) the case of the second apJY'llant was similar to that of the third accused and ought to have been acquitted giving him tho beaefa of doubt.
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Accepting the appeal of tho 2nd appellant and dismissing the appeal cl' tho first, the Court
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HELD: l. T!king into a.ccount the facts and the probabilities of the case it ii cle1r that it was the first appellant who caused the fatal injury and neded- no in!tigation from the second appellant. There was no evidencl" as to anv ovl".rt 'I.Ct, except the presence of the second appellant a1ong with the third accued. It wa most unlikely that the second appeltant instigated the first accu,ed as a rcou!t of which the first accused caused the fatal injury. Tho 1econJ appe!laat io ent:tled to the benefit of doubt. [495 E-0]
!. The requirements ot section 288 of the Criminal Proccduro Code would be fulfy complied with if statement• of the witnette. ire rcMi in exten~• t<"t them
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[1980] 2 S.C.R.
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SUPREMB COURT REPORTS
A ad they admit that they have made those •tatemeni. in the Committal Court. The required procedure has been followed in tW. Case. (497 F-0]
Tara Singh v. State of Punjab, [1951] S.C.R. 729, Bhagwan Singh v. Stllf• ~! Punjab, [1952] S.C.R 812 State of &jastha11 v. Kartar Singh, [1971] 1 SC1l ~6; referred to.
~ 3. During the investigation the police officer, sometimes feels it expedie•t to have the statement of a witness recorded under section 164 Code of Crimi•al Procedure. This happens when the witnesses to the crime are closely connected with the a.ccused or where the accused are very influential which may result in the witnesses being gained over. The 164 statement that is recorded bas the tndorement Of the Magistrate that the statement bad been made by the witnes. (499 A-Cl
c 4. The n1ere fact that the police had reasons to suspect that the \vitne~s might be gained over and that it Vias expedient to have their statements record· ed by the Magistrate, would not make the· statements of the witnesses thus recorded tainted. If the witness sticks to the statement given by him to the Magistrate under section 164 Code of Criminal Procedure, no problem arises. If the witnes& resiles from the statement given by him under section 164 in the committal court, the witness can be cross-examined on his earlier statement. D But if he sticks to the statement given by him under section 164 before com· mittal enquiry and resiles from it in the Sessions Court, the procedure prescribed Under e:ection 288, Code of Criminal Procedure will have to be observed. It is for the Court to consider taking into account all the circumstances including the fact thai the witness had resiled, in coming to the conclusion as to whether the witness should be believed or not. The fact that the Police had sectio• 164 11tatement recorded by the Magistrate would not by itself makC his evidence E tainted. (499 C-F]
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Ram Chandra & OrJ. v. Stat• of U.P. (1968] 3 SCR 354; explained and relied on.
5. Section 157 of the Evidence Act makes it clear that the statement record· cd under section 164 of the Code of Criminal Procedure can be relied on for F corroborating the statements made by the witnesses in the committal court. Thoueh the statements made under section 164 of the Code of Criminal Pro· cedure, Ui not evidenced, it is corroborative of what has been stated earlier in the committal court. [499 F-GJ
State of Raja,than T. Kartar Singh, [1971] 1 SCR 56; followed.
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ft. A statement recorded under section 288 of the Code of Criminal Procc~ G dure of one witness can corroborate the statement of another witness under section 288. The statements are treated as substantive evidence in · law and there i!5 no flaw in treating the statement of one witness as corroborative of the et!P.er. [500 A-Bl
CP-IMINAL APPELLATI!. JURISDICTION : Criminal Appeal No. 406 of 1976. H Appeat by Special Leave from the Judgment and Order dated 1·'·1975 of the Madraa High Court in Criminal Appeal No. 823174.
DHANABAL v. TAMIL NADU (Kaila.ram, !.) ~~l
A. N. Mui/a, A. T. M. Sampath and P. N. RamaUngam for tho Appellant.
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A. V. Rangam for the Respondent.
The Judgment of the Cpurt was delivered by
KAILASAM, J. This appeal is by Special Leave by accused 1 and 2 in S.C. 26 of 1974 on the file of Sessions Judge, South Arcot Divi- J iion, against their conviction and sentence imposed by the High Court of Judicature at Madras in Criminal Appeal No. 823 ot 1974 dated ~'- ... ht September, 1975.
The twp Appellants and Muthuthamizaharasan were accused Noi. 1-3 in the Sessions Court. The first appellant was found guilty under S. 302 I.P.C. and sentenced to imprisonment for life. Tho second appellant and the third accused were found guilty ol 111. offence under S. 302 read with S. 149 I.P.C. and sentenced to imprisonment for life. On appeal by the two appellants and the third accused, the third accused was acquitted by the High Court and the appellants Nos. 1 and 2 are before us.
The deceased Rasayal is the sister of appellants and tho thind accused. The first accused Dhanabal is the eldest and t'he aecond appellant and the third accused are his younger brothers. The aecon<f appellant married Laxmi, the daughter of Rasayal. Rasayal owned about 5 acres of land in Keelakkarai village. She executed a general power of attorney Exh. P. 15 on 31st August, 1970 in favour ()f tho second appellant. Rasayal, after she lost her husband, started leading an immoral life which was disliked by her brothers. A& a reiult, Rasayal began to cultivate her own land inspite of the power of attorney executed in favour of the second appeVant. There wu misunderstanding between the parties and Rasayal had complained to the Police stating that her brothers had threatened to do away with lter.
On the date of the occurrence at about 1.30 p.m. on 5th DecMlber, 1973, when Rasayal and her farm servant Parmasivam, P.W. ~ were working in her field removing weeds, the two appellants and tho third accused converged to the place where Rasayal was workin:. The first appellant was armed with V eecharnval, the second appel· lant was armed with a spade and the third was unarmel:l. On aeeia,c them, Rasayal ran towards the channel rnnning adjacent to her fielda. The third accused insligated the first appellant to cut her saying that •he was leading an immoral life and that she should not be Jett. Thereupon, the first appellant cut Rasayal on the right sido of her neck witll. the Veecharuval and she fell down in the channel, raiaini: an alal'lll.
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SUPlJ.EMI! COU!T lJ.EPORTS
(1980) 2 S.C.lt.
A The &econd appellant stated that she should not be left at that UGI that her head should be severed from her body, she being an immoral woman. Thereupon, the first appellant caught hold of her hair by th• left hand and cut her neck with the Veecharuval, severing the head from the trunk. The occurence was witnessed by Ramalingam P.W. 1 and Ramakrishnan, P. W. 2 who were returning at that time atltr B spraying insecticides in the fields of P.W. 1 Chelladurai, P.W. 3 "ho was coming to the field of Rasayal with fpod for P. W. 4 al~o \ saw the occurrence. Nagappan P.W. 5 who was going towards tlle sccnce of occurence ((> meet Ramakrishnan P.W. 2 for getting arrears~~/ cf wages also saw the occurrence. Soon after the occurrence, the first appellant left taking away the Veecharuval with him and second c appellant leaving the spade near the feet of the deceMed Rasayal.
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P. W. 4 gave a report Ext. P. 7 to the Sub-Inspector of Polico, JCamaratchi at 3 p.m. on the same day. The Sub-Inspector recorded lhe narration of P. W. 4, read it over t{i him and obtained his signaturN. After registering a case under S. 302 I.P.C. he took up th• D investigation and proceeded to the scene of the occurrence and held the inquest. The Doctor who conducted the post-mortem was of th• view that the deceased appeared to have died of severance of ths head from the trunk. During investigation, the Police had S. 1 ()4 Cr. P. C. Statements recorded from P.Ws. 1 to 5 before the SubE Magistrate, Chidambaram on 24-12-1973. During the commitlal proceedings, P.W. 4 turned hostile but P.Ws. 1, 2, 3 and S gave evidence supporting the prlJl!ecution. After committal, P.W. 1, 2, 3 and 5 resiled from the evidence they gave in the Committing Court. They were treated as hostile by the Prosecution and their evidence before the Committing Court was admitted in evidence under S. 28& F of the Code of Criminal Procedure. The High Court relying on tbs evidence of P.Ws. I, 2, 3 and 5 which was marked under S. 288 of the Criminal Procedure Code, found that it was satisfactorily establi1lted that the first appellant cut the deceased on the right side pf th• 1teck, that the second accused instigated the first accused to cut her Mying that she was an immoral woman and the first appellant caught G hold of her hair by the left hand and cut her neck with the Veechrunl, severing the head from the trunk and left the place alongwitli other accused. The High Court acquit.led the third accused on tbs ,ound that in the F.I.R. it was n,ot mentioned that the third accu1ed i•!tipmd the first accused to cut the neck of the deceased. He was 8ina t11e benefit of doubt and was acquitted.
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H Mr. Mulla, learned counsel for the appellant1, submitted tbd tlte .eavic~'m or the two appellants based, ~ntirely on the retracted •vi-
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DIU.NA11Al v. TAMIL NADU (Kailasam, /.)
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dence of P.W. 1, 2, 3 and 5 marked in the Sessions Court undtr S. 288 cannot be mstained. Secondly, the Learned Counsel submitted that the High Court was in error in taking into account the statementl! recorded from the witnesses under S. 164 of the Code of Criminal Procedure in coming tp the conclusion that the evidence given in the Committal Court c,ould be relied upon. Lastly, the Learned Counsel 'ubmitted that in any event the case of the second appellant is similar to that of the third accused and that the second appellant ought to hove been acquitted.
We have been taken through the relevant evidence of the witnesses, their statements under S. 164 of the Code of Criminal Procedure and the evidence given by them in the Colllmittal Court which wa! transpo\ied to the record of the Sessions Court under S. 288 of the Cod• of Criminal Procedure. Before considering the questions of law raised by the Learned Counsel, we find that the plea of the learned counsd on behalf of the second appellant bas to be accepted. The case for tl1e pl'Ol'!ecution is that the two appellants and the third accused went to the m:ene of occurrence-the first appellant armed with Veecharuval, the second appellant with a spade and the third accused unarmed ---converged on Rasayal and the first accused gave a cut which resulted in severance of her head. We feel that when the three brothers went to the scene determined to do away with Rasayal, any instigauon was most unlikely. The first accused who actually caused injury is the eldest brother. It is difficult for us to accept that before he actually caused the injury, be needed the instigation of the second appellant. In the deposition of Ramalingam P. W. 1, which was marked under S. 288, Code of Criminal Procedure, Ext. P. 2, he stated that first accused came with A.ruval, A-2 with a spade and alongwi!A A-3 went towards Rasayal Ammal. A-1 with the Veecharuval cut Raiayal Ammal on her right neck. The other persons were standinJ tl1cre. Thus the instigation attributed by the prosecution to the secpnd appellant is not found in the evidence of Ramalingam. Taking int,o ao:count the facts and the probabilities of the case, we feel it is mosl u n!ik:ely that the se<:ond appellant instigated the first accused as a r1s·.ilt of which the first accused caused the fatal injury. The secpnd appellant is entitled to the benefit of doubt. His appeal is allowed aad his conviction and sentence aro set aside. He i1 llirected to be set at liberty.
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We will now take up the first contention of the learned counsel liilat the conviction based on statements marked •nder s. 28! .t>!
[1980] 2 S.C.ll.
4116
6UPllEMI! COU.T HPOllTS
"The evidence of a witness duly recorded in the presence of the accused uuder Chapter XVIII may, in the discretion of the Presiding Judge, if such witness is produced and examined be treated Iii evidence in the case for all purpose11 subject to the provisions of the Indian Evidence Act, 1872".
The plea of the Learned Counsel is that the evidence marked uuder i. 288 is inadmissible Iii it was only read iu full to the witne11sos c and had not been put to them passage by passage as required by Ii. 145 of the Evidence Act. The procedure that was adopted in ths lie1111ions Court was that when the witnessea started giving a versio .. l1011tile to the prosecution, he was asked whether he was examined Ori the Committal Court. The evidence marked as given by hint ia the Committal Court was read over to the witnesses by the Public D Prosecutor. The witness admitted that he had given evidence as found in the Exh. and that he had signed it. The evidence given in the Committal Court was transposed to the record of the Sessions Court uuder S. 288 of the Code of Criminal Procedure.
The procedure adopted was challenged on the ground that S. 28S E contemplates that the evidence given during Committal proceedings e«n be treated as evidence in the case subject to the provision9 of the Indian Evidence Act, and, therefore, ea,ch and every passage on which the prosecution relies on should have been put to the witneases before the passages can be marked and treated as substantive evidence. S. 145 of the Evidence Act, runs as follows :-
"A witne11 may be cross-examined as to previous 11tatements mado by him in writing or reduced into writing, and relevant to matters in question, without such writing being shown to him, or being proved; but if it is intended to contradict him by the writing, his attention must, before G the writing can be proved be called to those parts of it which are to be used for the purpoiOll of contradicting him."
Reliance was placed on the decision of this Court in Tara Sineh v. State of Punjab,(') wherein it was he_ld that the evidence in th• Committal Court cannot be used in the Sessions Court unless the H witneSi is confronted with his previoui evidence as required under (I) [19,J] S.C.R. 729.
DHANAB.U v. TAMIL NA.DU (XaikuaM, /.) Of
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S. 145 of the Evidence Act. Tho Court observed that i1 the prosecution wishes to use the previous testimony as substantive evidence then it must confront the witness with those parts of it which were to be used for the purpose of contradicting him and then only the matter can be brought in as substantive evidence under S. 288. On the facts of the case the Court found that all that happened wa; that the witnesses were asked something about their previous statements and they replied that they were made under coercion. It does not appear that the entire previous statements of the witnessei were put to them and they were asked whether they, in fact, made tho statements.
In Bhagwan Singh v. State of Punjab,('), this Court distinguished the case of Tara Singh v. State of Punjab (supra) and observed that resort to S. 145 of the Evidence Act is necessary only if a wit" UCIOS denies that he made the former statement. When the witness admits the former statement, all that is necessary is to look to the former statement on which no further proof is necessary because of the admission that it was made. Hidayatullah, C.J. in State of Rajasthan v. Kartar Singh('), while dealing with the procedure to be adopted in treating the statement in the committal court as substantive evidence observed that the witnesses should be confronted with their statements in the Committal Court which are to be read over to them in extenso. The Chief Justice pointed out that the witnesses in the case admitted that their statements were truly recorded in the Committal Court but denied that they were true statement because they were made to depose that way by the Police. Jt would have been useless to point out Coe discrepancies between the two statements because the cx~lonation would have been the same and in the circumstances, the requirements of S. 145 of the Indian Evidence Act were fully complied with.
It is thus clear from the authorities referred to above that the requirements of S. 288 would be fully complied with if statements of the witnesses are read in extenso to them and they admit that they hc!.ve made those statements in the committal Court. The required procedure has been followed in this case and the attack made by the learned counsel has to fail.
The second legal contention raised by the Learned Counsel wa' that the High Court was in error in taking into account the statements recorded from the witnesses under S. 164 of the Code of
(I) [1952] S.C.R. 812.
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(2) [1971] 1 S.C.R. 56.
(1980j 2 S.C.R.
498 SUPREME COURT REPORTS
"Certified that the statement has been made voluntarily. The deponent was warned that he is making tho statement before the 1st Class Magistrate and can be used against him. Recorded in my presence. There is no Police here. The wi!ness did not go out until all the witnesses had given the statement."
(2) A.I.R. 193i Pat. aP0-295.
(3) 21 cal. l95.
DHANAllAL v. TAMIL NADU (Kailasam, !.) ~99
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Venkata Subbiah,(1) where he preferred the view expressed by Nagpur High Court in Parmanand v. Emperor,(') It was observctl that the mere fact ·that the witnesses statement was previously recorded under S. 164 will not be sufficient to discard it. It was observed that the court ought to receive it with caution and if ther• are other circumstances on record which lend support to the truth of the evidence of such witnesses, it can be acted upon. Durint the investigation the Police Officer, sometimes feels it expedient to have the statement of a witness recorded under S. 164, Code of Criminal Procedure. This happens when the witnesses to a crime are closely connected with the accused or where the accused art very influential which may, result in the witnesses being gained over. The 164 statement that is recorded has the endorsement or tb Magistrate that the statement had been made by the witness. Tho mer• fact that the Police had reasons to suspect that the witness might be gained over and that it was expedient to have their statements recorded by the Magistrate, would not make the statements of tht witnesses thus recorded, tainted. If the witness sticks to the statement given by him to the Magistrate under S. 164, Code of Criminal Procedure, no problem arises. If the witness resi!es from the statement given by him under S. 164 in the Committal Court, the witness can be cross-examined on his earlier statement. But if he •ticks to the statement given by him under S. 164 before committal enquiry and resiles from it in the Sessions Court, the procedure prescribed under S. 288, Code of Criminal Procedure, will have to be observed. It is for the Court to consider taking into account all the circum~tances including the fact that the witness had resiled in coming to the conclusion as to whether the witness should be believed or not. The fact that the Police bad S. 164 statement recorded by th• Magistrate, would not by itself make his evidence tainted.
S. 157 of the Evidence Act makes it clear that the statement rec0rded under S. 164 of the Code of Criminal Procedure can be relied on for corroborating the statements made by the witnesses in the Committal Court. 1lis Court has expressed its view that though the statements made under S. 164 Cf the Code of Criminal Procedure, is not evidence, it is corroborative of what has been stated earlier in the Committal Court vide [1971] 1 S.C.R. 56. The Higa Court 'vas right in relying on the statcn1cnt of the Y1·'itn~sscs under S. 164 as corroborating their subsequent evidence before the Committal Court. Equally unsustainable is the plea of the Learned
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(I) l.L.R. (19.l.l) A.P. 633-31.
(2) A.LR. 1940 Na1. 34.
580 SUPJll!MI! COUJl.T REPORTS
[1980] 2 s.c.R.
V.D.K.
1st Appellant's Appeal dismissed. 2nd Appellant's Appeal allowed.
3 issues framed by the court
Whether conviction could rest on retracted evidence of hostile witnesses transposed under Section 288 CrPC without passage-by-passage confrontation as per Section 145 Evidence Act.
Whether statements recorded under Section 164 CrPC are tainted or can corroborate committal-court evidence.
Whether the second appellant, absent any proved overt act or instigation, was entitled to the benefit of doubt.
Colour shows how this judgement treated each authority
Tara Singh v. State of PunjabReferred
[1951] S.C.R. 729 · Who else cites this
Bhagwan Singh v. State of PunjabRelied on
[1952] S.C.R. 812 · Who else cites this
State of Rajasthan v. Kartar SinghFollowed
[1971] 1 SCR 56 · Who else cites this
Ram Chandra and Ors. v. State of U.P.Explained
(1968) 3 SCR 354 · Who else cites this
6 provisions across 3 enactments
Dhanabal
Anr. (second appellant, brother of Dhanabal)
State of Tamil Nadu
S. Murtaza Fazal Ali
P. S. Kailasam
A. D. Koshal
As recorded by the court registry
Judgements on the same questions, provisions and authorities, from every court
