Holding

The prosecution failed to establish the appellant's guilt beyond reasonable doubt, leading to his acquittal.

Summary

The Supreme Court examined the murder conviction of Arun Kumar Sharma under Section 302 IPC for the death of his wife Sushma Devi. The prosecution's case rested on the testimony of a single eye‑witness, PW‑1, whose statements were found to be casual, contradictory and unexplained, especially his failure to report the incident for 15 hours. The post‑mortem showed bruises consistent with pressure from fingers rather than ligature marks, and there was no evidence of severe beating or dowry demand, rendering the charges under Sections 3048 and 498A IPC unsupported. Significant procedural lapses were highlighted, including the FIR not being forwarded to the magistrate as required by Section 157 CrPC and a sloppy investigation that omitted spot‑mapping and neighbour interviews. Because the prosecution failed to prove guilt beyond reasonable doubt, the Court granted the benefit of doubt, set aside the conviction, and acquitted the appellant.

Issues considered

Whether the prosecution proved the appellant's guilt for murder under Section 302 IPC beyond reasonable doubt.
Whether the dowry‑related offences under Sections 3048 and 498A IPC were proved.
Whether the testimony of PW‑1 and other witnesses was reliable and sufficient to sustain a conviction.
Whether procedural irregularities, such as the non‑forwarding of the FIR and investigative deficiencies, vitiated the trial.
What is the scope of appellate review of factual findings in a criminal appeal.

Legislation cited

Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973s. 157, s. 164
Indian Penal Code, 1860s. 302, s. 3048, s. 34, s. 498A

Subjects

murderdowry deathbenefit of doubtevidence reliabilitycriminal appealinvestigation lapsesFIR procedural defectappellate review

Judgment

[2009] 14 S.C.R. 1023

. -"/ ARUN KUMAR SHARMA A
v.
STATE OF BIHAR
(Criminal Appeal No. 67 of 2003)
~
OCTOBER 5, 2009
B
[V.S. SIRPURKAR AND DEEPAK VERMA, JJ.]
.-\
~ Penal Code, 1860- ss.302, 3048 and 49BA - Unnatural
· death of married woman within 7 years of marriage - Death
allegedly caused due to ligature strangulation - Allegation of c
dowry demand not proved, hence accused-hqsband and
parents-in-law acquitted of offence u/s.3048 and 498A -
Husband however convicted u/s.302; parents-in-law acquitted
of all charges - On appeal by husband, held: Evidence of all
.... )I..
the witnesses was extremely suspicious and did not inspire D
confidence - Multiple bruises on neck of deceased could be
due to forcible pressure of fingers - Even if deceased died
of throttling, no convincing evidence that husband alone
throttled her to death - Delay of 5 days in sending FIR to
Magistrate also suspicious - Investigation was slip-shod -
E
Benefit of doubt given to husband and acquitted.

Appeal - Criminal Appeal - Role of appellate Court -
Held: Is extremely important - All questions of facts are open
before the appellate Court.
F
According to the prosecution, PW1 's sister was
subjected to cruelty by her husband and parents-in-law
on account of dowry demand and on the incident date,
while she was held by her parents-in-law, her husband
murdered her by strangulating her neck. The prosecution G
\ -t
case was based upon the sole testimony of PW1. The
death was unnatural and occurred within 7 years of
marriage. The Trial Court held that no demand of dowry
was proved and thereafter acquitted the deceased's
1023 H
1024 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [2009] 14 (ADDL.) S.C.R.

A parents-in-law of all the charges and convicted only the
husband (appellant) under s.302 IPC. The conviction was
confirmed by the High Court.

In appeal to this Court the question which arose for
consideration was whether the prosecution was unable
8 to prove the offence beyond reasonable doubt and hence
the husband-appellant was liable 'to be acquitted.
Allowing the appeal, the Court · "' '

C HELD:1. The evidence of PW1 is extremely casual
in nature. It is not known as to what this witness was
doing at 6 O'clock at his sister's place. Even after seeing
his sister being murdered, he did nothing. It is also not
known as to why this witness did not inform the police
for 15 hrs., after the so called murder. The evidence of this
0
witness was sought to be corroborated by the evidence
of his father PW4. His evidence is of no use because
admittedly he was not present there. He only said that his
son informed him that his sister was being subjected to
beatings by her father-in-law, brother-in-law and her
E husband. He also added the name of the brother-in-law.
Who this brother-in-law is, was not clarified nor was he
(brother-in-law) made an accused in the proceedings.
Again, it is quite mysterious that even this witness who
was a literate witness, did not do anything for the whole
F . day and did not go to the police. It is only when the police
came to the spot that he made his statement. The
ev.idence of this witness is extremely suspicious for the
simple reason that he did nothing for the whole day nor
did he go to the police station at all. Ordinarily, he would
G have confronted the parents of the accused-appellant
and would have asked about the death of this daughter.
He also did not raise any objection on the accused
leaving their house. He kept quiet for the whole day, for
more than 15 hours till the police reached him and
H recorded his statement., The evidence of PW-3 is also
ARUN KUMAR SHARMA v. STATE OF BIHAR 1025

-f
extremely suspicious for the simple reason that even he, A'
inspite of the fact that he was informed of the murder,
kept quiet. He also for some mysterious reasons kept
quiet for about 15 hours. When matched with the
evidence of PW-1, the evidence of this witness becomes
suspicious. In short, all the three witnesses do not inspire B
any confidence. [Paras 14, 15, 16 and 17] [1032-F-H; 1033-
A-C; F-H, 1034-A-D]
..,,.. ~
2. If the theory of the prosecution was that she was
being severely beaten by fists and slaps by the accused
C:
persons, then some ante-mortem injuries ought to have
been found. On the other hand, even her. bangles were
not broken. PW-1 has specifically admitted that her glass
bangles were intact in her hands. The evidence of PW2
- x suggests that there were multiple bruises which could be
due to the forcible pressure of fingers. Even if it is held D
that deceased died of throttling, there is no convincing
...... evidence that it was the accused alone who throttled her
to death. [Paras 18 and 19) [1034-F; 1035-8-C]
3. What is more baffling is that the FIR which was El
registered at about 9 or 9.30 at night (of 17.06.1994) was
~
not sent to the Magistrate. Under Section 157 CrPC, the
copy of the FIR has to be sent to the Magistrate. This
never happened. However, seen from the records, this
FIR reached the Magistrate only on 22.06.94. This is F
extremely suspicious. [Para 20] [1035-D-E]
4.1. In his deposition, the Investigating Officer proved
that the FIR was chalked out in writing by the SHO. Very
significantly, this SHO or any other officer never
•--t examined the house thoroughly nor have they examined G·,
the inner rooms for ascertaining as to whether the doors
and the latches were intact or not. This was a typical
dumb investigation. The Investigating Officer has not
even bothered to draw a spot Panchnama. Though he
stated that the accused were not present, he did not H
1026 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [2009] 14 (ADDL.) S.C.R.

'r-
A suggest any efforts having been made for their arrest. In
his cross-examination, he admitted that in the case diary, '
he had not recorded as to which officer received
information in the police station nor was it mentioned in
the case diary as to which lady was referred to in the .
B telephonic information. Even the name of the informer
was admittedly not there in the case diary. Specific
questions were put as to whether he inspected the rooms )..
at the place of occurrence or not. He admitted that it was ..+-
not so recorded in the case diary. Even the time of
c sending the dead body for post-mortem was not
mentioned. He admitted that when he -reached the spot,
neither the accused nor his parents were present. Then
he asserted that their luggage was there. It is very
significant to note that he admitted that PW1 had not
D
stated about the time of occurrence nor did he state the x.-
fact· of beating deceased with fists a"nd slaps. Very
significantly, he admitted that PW1 had not stated about
this meeting with PW3 on the way. He had also not stated """'""
that his sister was murdered on account of not giving the
colour television and motor cycle. [Para 20] (1035-E-H;
E 1036-A-C]

4.2. The investigating agency would have done well ~
I

in examining at least the neighbours but that does not
seem to have been done. It is not known -as to why the
F Investigating Officer did not examine neighbours, one of
whom was_ the relative of the deceased. The apathy on
-
the part of the Investigating Officer to examine the house
closely creates suspicion. Thi_s is an unfortunate case "\
where due to the slip-shod invP.stigation the death of a
G young woman has to go unpunished. [Para 23] (1037-C-
D] 1- -
4.3. A number of questions remain unanswered.
These questions keep on gaping at the Court and the
only responsible person is the Investigating Officer who
H
ARUN KUMAR SHARMA v. STATE OF BIHAR 1027

-1
has acted in the most irresponsible and casual manner. A
[Para 24] [1037-E-G]

5. The Trial Court refused to believe PW-1 in so far
as the role ascribed by him to accused Nos. 1 and 2. This
is one more reason why it is extremely difficult to accept B
the evidence of PW-1. The major part of his evidence is
disbelieved by the Trial court and that verdict of the Trial
~.
.... Court has remained unchallenged. [Para 25] [1037-H;
1038-A]

6. The judgments of the Trial Court and the High c
Court are also disappointing. The Trial Court, though has
referred to the witnesses, has not cross-matched the
evidence of the witnesses so as to come to the proper
conclusion regarding the veracity of the evidence of
- '>I. those witnesses. To the similar effect is the judgment of D
the High Court. There is no serious appreciation of the
evidence with reference to the record. In its appellate
jurisdiction, all the facts were open to the High Court and,
therefore, the High Court was expected to go deep into
the evidence and, more particularly, the record as also E
the proved documents. There does not appear to be any
serious effort to delve deep into the record of the case
and the evidence of the witnesses. The role of the
appellate Court in a criminal appeal is extremely
important. All the questions of facts are open before the F
appellate Court. Unfortunately in this case, no such
serious effort was made on the part of the High Court to
deal with the matter. The accused has to be given the
benefit of doubt. [Paras 26 and 27] [1038-8-G]

-1 CRIMINAL APPELLATE JURISDICTION : Criminal Appeal G
No. 67 of 2003.
~
From the Judgment & Order dated 1.5.2002 of the High
Court of Judicature at Patna in Criminal Appeal No. 49 of 1996.
H
1028 SUPREME COURT REPORTS (2009] 14 (ADDL.) S.C.R.

A Aparna Jha, Braj K. Mishra, Abhishek Yadav for the '""
Appellant.
Manish Kumar (for Gopal Singh) for the Respondent.
The Judgment of the Court was delivered by
B
V.S. SIRPURKAR, J~ 1. The sole accused appellant
challenges the High Court judgment dismissing the criminal A
appeal and confirming the judgment of conviction and sentence ,
by the Sessions Judge.
c 2. The prosecution story is an extremely short conspectus.
As many as three persons, being Sitaram Sharma, Gayatri
Devi Sharma and Arun Kumar Sharma were tried for offences
under Section 302 read with Section 34 IPC and alternatively,
under Section 3048 read with Section 34 and 498A, IPC. ......
;i
D Sitaram Sharma is father, Gayatri Devi is the mother while Arun
Kumar Sharma (appellant) is the son. The allegation against
all the three was that they committed the murder of Sushma
Devi, wife of Arun Kumar Sharma for dowry and also subjected ""
her to cruelty on account of demand of dowry. The Trial Court
E acquitted Sitaram Sharma and his wife Gayatri Devi Sharma
but convicted Arun Kumar Sharma of the substantive offence
under Section 302, IPC. ~
I

3. On 17.06.1994, at about 9.30 p.m., a telephonic
massage was received in Lakhisarai police station that a
F woman was murdered by strangulation. On that basis, an entry,
vide Entry No. 516, was made in the police diary and the
offence was registered. The police immediately went to the spot
of occurrence and got a fardbayaan registered from one
Leeladhar Pradhan, the father-in-law of the accused who was
G ultimately examined as PW-4. It was complained that his t-
daughter Smt. Sushma Devi was married to the accused Arun
Kumar Sharma about four years back and after the marriage }-
Arun Kumar always used to demand a motorcycle and a colour
television from his wife and also used to threaten her that if his
H demands were not fulfilled he would drive her out of the house.
ARUN KUMAR SHARMA v. STATE OF BIHAR 1029
[V.S. SIRPURKAR, J.]

-1 It was claimed that the deceased always used to complain A
about this to her parents. It was claimed that 8-9 months prior
to the incident, on account of the scolding, harassment and
demands of dowry, Panchayat was held and PW-4 had shown
his inability to meet the demands made by the accused person.
It was further claimed that at about 6 a.m. in the morning Anil B
Kumar Pradhan (PW-1) who was none else but the brother of
Sushma Devi and son of Leeladhar Pradhan (PW-4) went to
A his sister's house for giving some articles. He saw three
.... accused persons holding the deceased and Arun Kumar
strangulating the deceased and after some time she died. The c
said Anil Kumar, therefore, ran back to his house and informed
Leeladhar Pradhan (PW-4) about the incident and immediately
thereafter the parents as well as Arun Kumar went to the house
of Sushma where she was lying dead.

4. Further investigation was taken up. The inquest was held D
- )I
and the dead body was sent for autopsy whereupon it was
found in the post-mortem report that the deceased had multiple
bruises over front of neck varying in sizes and there was extra
blood in the soft tissues of neck with fracture of hyoid bone of
trachea. E

5. The accused were not found present in the house and
~ the house was found to be open. Ultimately, they came to be
arrested only when they surrendered themselves after more than
10 days in the Court. F
6. The charge-sheet came to be submitted for offences
under Sections 3048, 498A read with Section 34 IPC.
However, at the stage of trial, the offence under Section 302,
IPC was also added. In support of the prosecution's claim, Anil
Kumar Pradhan was examined as PW-1 while Dr. Dharam G
... i
Nath Chaudhari who conducted the post-mortem was examined
as PW-2. One Om Prakash Vidyalankar was also examined
as PW-3 in order to corroborate the evidence of PW-1.
According to his version, he had seen Arun Kumar running from
the house of his sister and expressing that his sister was H
1030 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [2009] 14 (ADDL.) S.C.R.
·--

A murdered. Father of deceased Sushma, namely, Leeladhar was 't-
examined as PW-4. Including the police witnesses, in all 8
witnesses were examined by the prosecution.

7. Thus, the prosecution depended only on the single eye-
witness, namely, Anil Kumar Pradhan as also on the other
B
circumstance that within 7 years of her marriage, Sushma had
suffered an unnatural death.
~
8. The defence of the accused before the Sessions Judge ~

was that this was not the case of murder at all. According to
c the accused, the . deceased had kept the ornaments
. with her
father but the same were not returned to the deceased and,
therefore, she committed suicide. Two witnesses were
examined as DW-1, Veena . Devi, who
.
was the neighbour and
who claimed that she had talked to the deceased at about 8
D a.m, ~nd DW-2 Narmada Devi, who was the maternal grand )l ~
mother of the accused Arun Kumar who deposed that on that
day she had visited Sushma and Sushma had served break
fast to her husband and thereafter she cooked meals and after
taking bath she came to her room along with her son. She
E bolted the door and committed suicide by hanging herself. The
witness further claimed to have forcibly opened the door with
the help of 2 persons and· seen the dead body of Sushma,
dangling from the fan.

9: The Trial Court came to the conclusion that no demand
F of dowry was proved in this case and, therefore, acquitted the
accused of the offence under Section 3048, IPC as also of the
offence under Section 498A, IPC. The Trial Court also held that
there was no question of the father and mother being there and
the PW-1 could not be believed so as to hold anything against
G accused Nos. 1 and 2, i.e. the father and the mother of the
present appellant. The Trial Court, therefore, proceeded to + "
acquit accused Nos.1 and 2 of all the charges and convicted
only the present appellant for offence under Section 302, IPC.

H 10. The appeal against this judgment failed necessitating
ARUN KUMAR SHARMA v. STATE OF BIHAR 1031
[VS. SIRPURKAR, J.]
~

--f the present appeal before us. Ms. Jha, the learned Advocate A
appearing for the appellant, severely_criticized the judgments
of bC?th the Courts below, the High Court as well as the Trial
court and pointed out that there were number of discrepancies
to be found in the prosecution case which had remained
unexplained. B

11. Learned counsel for the State supported the judgments
A. and contended that the prosecution had proved the offences
... to the hilt. We have, therefore, to decide as to whether the
prosecution has in fact proved the offence beyond reasonable
doubt.
c
12. The mainstay of the prosecution is the evidence of PW-
1, Anil Kumar Pradhan. Ms. Jha took us through his evidence.
According to him:he had gone to his sister's house at 6 a.m.
..... in the morning for giving some articles. At that time he saw that D
'j.,_
his sister was being held by her in-laws jointly and Arun Kumar
was strangulating her. He then specifically said that Arun Kumar
... pressed her neck and she fell down to the ground. He then
proceeded to say that he raised alarm and ran towards her
house and met Om Vidyalankar on the way who asked him as E
to why he was crying, on which he narrated that his sister was
murdered.
~
13. Defence counsel criticized this evidence on the ground
that it was too general in nature. It was suggested that it was
F
not clear as to what articles were to be reached in the morning
at 6 O'clock, to the deceased. Learned counsel also pointed
out that it was unbelievable that his sister was being murdered
and he did nothing except crying and running back to his
parents. Again, he did not tell as to where Om Prakash
Vidyalankar met him. There was a serious omission about his G
.,. .j.
meeting Om Prakash Vidyalankar which was got proved from
the Investigating Officer. Last, but not the least, learned counsel
pointed out that this witness, as also the other witnesses, merely
kept on sitting with the dead body of the deceased all through
the day and did not report the matter till 9.30 p.m. when the H
1032 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [2009) 14 (ADDL.) S.C.R.
\..

A police reached on the spot at somebody else's instance who L
had made a call to the police station. ·+-- -
14. When we see the cross-examination of this witness, it
is admitted by him that his house was situated at hardly about
1 or 2 kilometers away from the house of tj'le accused persons
B
and it takes about 15 minutes to reach there. It is really strange
that this witness chose to go in the early hours of morning at 6
O'clock to give those articles. He does not tell as to what articles ~
)..
he had taken to his sister's house. Admittedly, he was there
'r.
on the spot only for about 25-30 seconds and according to him
c immediately thereafter his mother and father reached the spot
of occurrence. It is indeed mysterious as to where the accused
persons went during these 15 minutes' time, but what
completely beats us to understand is as to why all the three kept
on sitting there without informing the polic~ and t~king any
D action. It is absolutely doubtful as to what he or his parents did
during the whole day. He did not even1know the whereabouts x ,..,
of his brother-in-law, the present accused. He did not even
~
know the extent of Sushma's education, though he admitted that '
Sushma was an emotional girl. He has not uttered even a word
E about any demand having been- made by the accused persons
or Sushma having stated about the demands either to him or
to his parents. His statement was recorded before the
Magistrate under Section 164, Cr.P.C. Very strangely, he has
disowned practically all his statements made before the
t
F Magistrate. He has stated that he did not remember as to
whether he met Om Prakash Vidyalankar on the way etc. The -·
!
evidence of this witness is extremely casual in nature. It is not
known as to what this witness was doing at 6 O'clock at his
sister's place. Even after seeing his sister being murdered, he
G did nothing. It is also not known as to why this witness did not
inform the police for 15 hrs., after the so called murder. The
evidence of thi.s witness was sought to be corroborated by the +- ~
evidence of his father Leeladhar Pradhan. His evidence is of
no use because admittedly he was not present there. He only
~r
H said that his son informed him that his sister was being
ARUN KUMAR SHARMA v. STATE OF BIHAR 1033
[V.S. SIRPURKAR, J.]
-t. subjected to beatings by her father-in-law, brother-in-law and A
her husband. He also added the name of the brother-in-law.
Who this brother-in-law is, was not clarified nor was he (brother-
in-law) made an accused in the proceedings. Again, it is quite
mysterious that even this witness who was a literate witness,
did not do anything for the whole day and did not go to the a
police. It is only when the police came to the spot that he made
his statement. He, however, made a charge that the police had
_>,
connived with the accused and filed a Protest Petition before
~
the Judicial Magistrate, Lakhisarai that despite repeated
requests, the police was not arresting the accused Gayatri Devi c
and Sita Ram. In his cross-examination he admitted that he was
working as an Accountant. He also admitted that he had not
said in his statement in respect of the demand of television and
motorcycle. Very significantly, he says that his son-in-law i.e.
the accused and his parents were present in the house when
r )I.
they reached. This is not the claim of anybody including PW-1
0
Anil Kumar. It is again mysterious when he says that on the day
of occurrence at about 7 or 7.15 a.m. his son-in-law and his
parents left the house. He did not know where_they went. He
also claims that they did not return till the next day of occurrence
or so long as he was there at the place of occurrence. He also
E
said that he did not recollect as to whether he stated in his
fardbayaan or not that Om Prakash Vidyalankar also arrived
: 1
1-
at the place of occurrence following them.

15. The evidence of this witness is extremely suspicious F
for the simple reason that he did nothing for the whole day nor
did he go to the police station at all. Ordinarily, he would have
confronted the parents of the present accused-appellant and

.. --I
would have asked about the death of this daughter. He also did
not raise any objection on the accused leaving their house. G
When we see the First Information Report made by this witness,
it is seen that there is no mention of the demand for motor cycle
and television. In his report, he says that number of persons,
many men and women were present. What beats us completely
is that this witness kept quiet for the whole day, for more than H
1034 SUPREME COURT REPORTS (2009] 14 (ADDL.) S.C.R.

A 15 hours till the police reached him and recorded his statement. .+
16. The evidence of Om Prakash Vidyalankar (PW-3) is
also extremely suspicious for the simple reason that even he,
in spite of the fact that he was informed of the murder, yet kept
quiet. He claimed that he was with the dead body all the day
B
when he reached the house of Sushma after some time. It is
obvious that this witness was present as his signature appears
on the report. However, he also for some mysterious reasons A
kept quiet for about 15 hours. When matched with the evidence ...-'•
of Anil Kumar Pradhan (PW-1 ), the evidence of this witness
c becomes suspicious.
'
17. In short, all the three witnesses do not inspire any
confidence. PW-2 is the doctor who conducted the autopsy. It
is clear that in his evidence, he found the following ante-mortem ~

D injuries on the body of Sushma: x ;-_

.. 1.
,..."
Multiple bruises over front of neck varying in sizes
%"-112"x1/4";
'>-
2. On diseection ecchymosis was found present.
E There was extra-vagation of blood in the soft tissues
l"
of neck with fracture of hyoid bone of trachea."
\
18. It is significant that Sushma did not have any other t
injuries. If the theory of the prosecution was that she was being (
F severely beaten by fists and slaps by the accused persons, then
some ante-mortem injuries ought to have been found. On the
other hand, even her bangles were not broken. Anil Kumar
Pradhan (PW-1) has specifically admitted that her glass
bangles were intact in her hands. In his cross-examination, the ,
l

G doctor suggested that the injury was on account of asphyxia as L

a result of injury No.1 due to forcible pressure over neck. In his
cross-examination, the doctor deposed:
:;.---•
"11. In this case, while conducting post-mortem
examination I did find multiple bruises which may
H be due to forceful pressure by the fingers. These
ARUN KUMAR SHARMA v. STATE OF BIHAR 1035
~ [V.S. SIRPURKAR, J.]

-+ multiple bruises are not due to ligature and they can A
-('
not be called ligature mark.

13. In ligature mark there is breadth, with depression."

19. In paragraph 17 of his cross-examination he admitted
that if fingers are used, mark of pressure by thumb and fingers B
are usually found on either side of the wind pipe. From this
)r... evidence, it does not appear that there was any such mark on
either side of the wind pipe. The evidence of the doctor
·~
I
suggests that there were multiple bruises which could be due
to the forcible pressure of fingers. Even if it is held that Sushma c
died of throttling, there is no convincing evidence that it was
the accused alone who throttled Sushma to death.

20. What is more baffling is that the FIR which was

--. 'A
registered at about 9 or 9.30 at night was not sent to the
Magistrate. Under Section 157 Cr.P.C., the copy of the FIR has
to be sent to the Magistrate. This never happened. However,
saen from the records, this FIR reached the Magistrate only on
D

22.06.94. This is extremely suspicious. In his deposition, the
·investigating Officer proved that the FIR was chalked out in
E
writing by Maheshwari Mandal, the SHO. Very significantly, this
SHO or any other officer never examined the house thoroughly
. nor have they examined the inner rooms for ascertaining as to
whether the doors and the latches were intact or not. This was
lllt
a typical dumb investigation. Investigation Officer has not even
bothered to draw a spot Panchnama. Though he stated that the F
accused were not present, he did not suggest any efforts having
been made for their arrest. In his cross-examination, he
admitted that in the case diary, he had not recorded as to which
officer received information in the police station nor was it
mentioned in ·the case diary as to which lady was referred to G
·~ -i
~ in the telephonic information. Even the name of the informer
was admittedly not there in the case diary. Specific questions
were put as to whether he inspected the rooms at the place of
occurrence or not. He admitted that it was not so recorded in
H

'
1036 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [2009) 14 (ADDL.) S.C.R.

A\ the case diary. Even the time of sending the dead body for post- +- I
mortem was not mentioned. He admitted that when he reached
the spot, neither the accused nor his parents were present.
Then he asserted that their luggage was there. It is very
significant to note that he admitted that Anil Kumar had not
B stated about the time of occurrence nor did he state the fact of '
beating Sushma with fists and slaps. Very significantly, he
admitted that Anil Kumar had not stated about this meeting with
Om Prakash Vidyalankar on the way. He had also not stated
that his sister was murdered on account of not- giving the colour
.
""' ~·
~

c television and motor cycle. He further admitted that Anil Kumar
(PW-1) had not stated that his father had told him while he went
for tution that some articles were to be delivered to his sister.
The witness admits "on enquiry by us, he· remained silent".

21. It is true that this witness was not asked as to why he
D had not forwarded the FIR to the Magistrate. However, the
> ,..:..
learned counsel pointed out from the official record that a copy
of the FIR was not sent to the Magistrate up to 22.06.1994
though the Court and the police station are in the same city.
There is also the evidence ofVeena Devi (DW-1) and Narmada _
E Devi (DW-2). DW-1 asserted that she had visited Sushma at
8 O'clock. At that time, Sushma was alive. DW-2 asserted that
she had gone to the house of Sushma to meet her and till
almost 11 O'clock Sushma was alive so much so.that she had r
offered breakfast to her husband.
F
22. We do not attach much importance to these witnesses
but one thing is certain that both the witnesses claim that I
Sushma was alive even after 6 O'clock. DW-2 asserted in her )-
examination-in-chief that when she went to her house again on
hearing cries of Sonu, the son of deceased, she found the door
G
closed. She, therefore, called two persons saying that her
'.!).--- -~·
daughter-in-law was not opening the door. She then claims: "'
"Dono aadmi ne ek darwaje me dhakka dia to chitkani toot
gaya; to hamne dekha Sushma pankhe se latak rahi thi.
Baccha ro raha tha. Phir dono aadmio ne Sushma ko pankhe
H
...
,
ARLIN KUMAR SHARMA .v. STATE OF BIHAR 1037
[V.S. SIRPURKAR, J.]
.+·
se utar kar aangan me sula dia fboth persons forcibly pushed A
the door when the stopper broke down. There they saw that
Sushma was dangling from the fan. The child was crying.
Then both those persons brought down the body and put it in
the courtyard'].
~ B
1 23. In her cross-examination she had stated the name of
those persons to be Birju Manda! and Ramvilas. The
>. investigating agency would have done well in examining at least
..,.
the neighbours but that does not seem to have been done. OW-
2 was also a neighbour in the sense that she stayed very near
to the house of the deceased. It is not known as to why the
c
Investigating Officer did not examine neigt)bours, one of whom
was the relative of the deceased. The apathy on the part of the
Investigating Officer to examine the house closely creates
" suspicion. This is an unfortunate case where due to the slip-
... )\... D
shod investigation the death of a young woman has to go
unpunished.

24. Therefore, numbers of questions remain unanswered.
Where did the unfortunate girl die? Whether inside the house
or in veranda? If she died inside the house, was it possible for E
a person standing on road to see the incident? Who brought
the body in veranda? Who were the inmates of the house?
Where did they go after the incident? When were they
arrested? What happened to the child of the deceased? Who
took it away and when? Why was the room not inspected and F
examined so as to ascertain the condition of the door, height
of the ceiling fan, condition of the stopper (chitkam) etc? These
questions keep on gaping at the Court and the only responsible
person is the Investigating Officer who has acted in the most

-
. -./,
irresponsible and casual manner. We hope the department
takes note of this .
G

25. The State has not filed any appeal against the acquittal
of accused Nos. 1 and 2. The Trial Court refused to believe PW-
1. in so far as the role ascribed by him to accused Nos. 1 and
· 2. This is one more reason why it is extremely difficult to accept H
1038 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [2009] 14 (ADDL.) S.C.R.

A the evidence of PW-1. The major part of his evidence is +
disbelieved by the Trial court and that verdict of the Trial Court
has remained unchallenged.

26. The judgments of the Trial Court and the High Court
...,
B are also disappointing. The Trial Court, though has referred to
the witnesses, has not cross-matched the evidence of the
witnesses so as to come to the proper conclusion regarding
the veracity of the evidence of those witnesses. To the similar ~
effect is the judgment of the High Court. There is no serious .,..
appreciation of the evidence with reference to the record. In its
c appellate jurisdiction, all the facts were open to the High Court
and, therefore, the High Court was expected to go deep into
the evidence and, more particularly, the record as also the
proved documents. There does not appear to be any serious
effort to delve deep into the record of the case and the evidence
D of the witnesses. The role of the appellate Court in a criminal ;r: ;-.

appeal is extremely important. All the questions of facts are
open before the appellate Court. Unfortunately in this matter, -
r'
we do not find any such serious effort made on the part of the
High Court to deal with the matter, with the result that we had
E to examine the evidence afresh along with the proved
documents, which we ordinarily would not have done. However,
that was necessary in the interest of justice.
~·
27. The result is that, firstly the accused has to be given
F the benefit of doubt and the appeal has to be allowed on that
basis. The judgments and orders. of conviction passed by the
Trial Court and the appellate Court are set aside. The accused
is acquitted of all the offences. He is presently reported to be
on bail. His bail bond shall stand cancelled.
G B.B.B. Appeal allowed.
. ')--
j

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