Holding

The Supreme Court held that the appellants possessed the requisite knowledge or belief of the commission of the offence, thereby satisfying the ingredients of Section 201 IPC, and upheld their conviction.

Summary

The appellants Budhan Singh and others were convicted under Section 201 of the Indian Penal Code for causing the disappearance of evidence after allegedly snatching away the injured deceased’s body from a cot at the scene of a shooting. The prosecution alleged that the accused, armed and present, assisted in removing the cot and body, thereby demonstrating knowledge of the offence. The principal issue before the Supreme Court was whether the accused possessed the requisite knowledge or reason to believe that an offence had been committed, satisfying the elements of Section 201, and whether a conviction could stand without a charge under Section 1208 IPC. The Court examined the testimony of multiple eyewitnesses who identified the accused as armed and actively participating in the removal of the cot, concluding that this established the necessary knowledge or belief. It held that the ingredients of Section 201 were satisfied and upheld the conviction, though it reduced the sentence in view of the appellants’ advanced age. The appeal was allowed in part, resulting in discharge of the appellants on bail.

Issues considered

Whether the accused had knowledge or reason to believe that an offence had been committed, as required under Section 201 of the IPC
Whether a conviction under Section 201 is sustainable in the absence of a charge under Section 1208 IPC

Legislation cited

Arms Acts. 27
Indian Penal Code, 1860s. 1208, s. 120B, s. 201, s. 302, s. 34

Subjects

Section 201 IPCknowledge of offencedisappearance of evidencecriminal lawconvictionappellate jurisdictionIndian Penal Codeevidence tampering

Judgment

BUDHAN SINGH AND ORS. A
:,•' v.·
. •;·· STA TE OF BIHAR

APRIL 25, 2006

[S.B. SINHA AND P.P. NAOLEKAR, JJ.] B

Penal Code, 1860: Section 201.

Disappearance of evidence of offence-Causing of-False information
to"screen ojfenderc..__(Jiving of-When the informant, along with his co-villagers, C
was returning from a Mela the accused met them whereuponPW-2 asked the
accused as regards their identit~Altercations and abuses thereafter
followed-The accused threatened to shoot the informant and his companions
where.after they ran.towards their village and raised an alarm-On hearing
·s~ch an alarm, the deceased, b'rother of the informant and several other D
villagers rushed whereupon the accused allegedly ordered to fire shots
which hit the deceased-The .accused.persons thereafter fled away-When
the deceased was being bROught on a cot to the village the accused persons
snatched away the.deceased along with the cot at the point offirearms-The
dead body of the deceased was recovered from an open field situated about
750 yards away from the place wherefrom he had allegedly been taken away E
forcibly-Trial court convicted the accused only under S. 201-High Court
affirmed the conviction-Correctness of-Held: The manner in which the
ii~~~~~ih~e taken pa;t in ihe c~mfnission of the crime, there cannot be any
doubt that they had the requisite kno\ftedge about the commission of the
.offencf}-:-.The. ingredients ofS. 201 are.,. therefore, satisfied-Conviction upheld F
According to the prosecution, when the informant, along with his co-
.villagers, was returning from a Mela the accused met them whereupon PW-
2 asked the accused as regards their identity. Altercations and abuses
thereafter followed. The accused threatened to shoot the informant and his
'companions whereafter they ran towards their village and raised an alarm. G
·On hearing such an alarm, the deceased, brother of the informant and several
other villagers rushed whereupon the accused allegedly ordered to fire shots
which hit the deceased. The accused persons thereafter fled away. ·When the
deceased was being brought on a cot to the village the accused persons
'snatched away the deceased ~long with the cot at the point offirearms. The
.. : .· . . .. . . . . . . 261 H
262 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [2006] SUPP. I S.C.R.

A dead body of the deceased was recovered from an open field situated abou~
750 yards away from the place wherefrom he had allegedly been taken away
forcibly.

The tria! court convicted the appellants-accused only under Section 201
of the Penal Code, 1860. The High Court affirmed the conviction. Hence the
B appeal
The following question arose before the Court:-

Whether the accused persons had the requisite knowledge of the
commission of the offence or they had a reason to believe that an offence had
C been committed?

Allowing the appeal in part, the Court

HELD: I. The ingredients of Section 201 of the Penal Code, 1860 are
as under:-
D
(I) that an offence has beea committed;

(2) that the accused knew or had reason to believe the commission of
such offence;

E (3) that with such knowledge •ir belief he -

(a) caused any evidence of the commission of that offence to disappear,
or

(b) gave any information respecting that offence which he then knew or
F believed to be false;

(4) that he did as aforesaid, with the intention of screening the offender
from legal punishments;

(5} if the charge be of an aggravated form, as in the present case, it
G must be pro~ed further that the offence in respect of which the accused did as
in (3} and (4) was punishable with death or with imprisonment for life or
imprisonment extending to ten years. [262-C-F]

2. It is not in dispute that the deceased had been injured. Whether he
was dead at that point cf time or not is of not much importance inasmuch as
H
BUDHANSINGHv. STATEOFBIHAR[SINHA,J.] 263
when the second incident took place an offence had already been committed. A
(268-G-H]

3. Both the trial court as also the High Court arrived at a finding of
fact that such an offence had been committed. The commission of the offence
relates to snatching away of the deceased along with the cot at the point of
firearms. (269-AI B
4. From the conspectus of events and the manner in which the appellants
are said to have taken part in the commission of the crime, there cannot be
any doubt that they had the requisite knowledge about the commission of an
offence. The very fact that an injured person was being carried to the hospital C
in a cot and the appellants not only assisted the main accused persons in
snatching away the cot, two of them carried the cot themselves and two others
were armed with firearms clearly establishes their knowledge about
commission or the likelihood of the offence. (270-C-D]

Rajbir Singh v. State of UP., JT (2006) 3 SC 372, relied on.
D
Nathu v. State of U.P., AIR (1979) SC 1245, Ram Saran Mahto v. State
of Bihar, (1999) 9 SCC 486, Wattan Singh v. State of Punjab, [2004] 3 SCC
700 and Palvinder Kaur v. State of Punjab, AIR (1952) SC 354, held
inapplicable.
E
5. In view of the concurrent findings of fact by both the Courts no case
has been made out for exercising of this Court's jurisdiction under Article
136 of the Constitution of India. [271-G[

CRIMINAL APPELLATE JURISDICTION: Criminal Appeal No. 1221 of
1998. F
From the Final Judgment and Order dated 24.2.1998 of the High Court
of Patna in Cr. A. No. 574/86.

Rakesh Taneja and K.L. Taneja for the Appellants.

Rituraj Biswas and Gopal Singh for the Respondent. G

The Judgment of the Court was delivered by

S.B. SINHA, J. The Appellants have preferred this appeal being
aggrieved by and dissatisfied with the judgment and order of the High Court
of Patna dated 24.2.1988 affinning the judgment of conviction and sentence H
264 SUPREME COURT REPORTS (2006] SUPP. I S.C.R.

A dated 29th November, 1986 passed by the Additional District and Sessions
Judge, IV, Patna in Sessions Trial No. 401of1981.

The basic fact of the matter is not in dispute.

A First Information Report was lodged by one Md. Saudagar on 14.1.1979
B at about 9 p.m. in regard to an incident which is said to have taken place at
about 7 p.m. on the same day, alleging that when he along with his co-
villagers Syeduddin Nut (PW-2), Alauddin Nut (PW-3), Deo Nath Paswan
(PW-9) and Lakhan Paswan (since deceased) were returning from Rajghat
Mela, the accused Devi Dayal Singh, Mathura Singh, Sarjug Singh and Chuta
Singh met them at the Alang in Adpakhanda whereupon Syeduddin asked the
C accused as regard their identity to which one of them replied that he was his
father. Altercations and abuses thereafter followed. Devi Dayal Singh and
Sarjug Singh were said to be having countrymade pistols with them. Chuta
Singh, subsequently named as Chandrika Singh, allegedly had a rifle with him
and Mathura Singh had a double barrel gun. They threatened to shoot the
D informant and his cow _Jan ions whereafter they ran towards their village Neora
raising alarm Chor-Chor. On hearing such alarm, Mister Mian (deceased),
brother of the informant and several other villagers rushed whereupon Devi
Dayal Singh allegedly ordered to fire shots pursuant whereto four persons
were said to have fired shots which hit the deceased Mister Mian. He fell on
the agricultural field belonging to one Jalandhar Singh. •
E
The accused persons thereafter were said to have fled away. The
deceased was brought on a cot to the village by Deo Nath Paswan (PW-9),
Md. Amanullah (PW-8), Jakiuddin (PW-7), Alauddin Nut (PW-3), Amiruddin
(PW-! 0) and others at about 8 p.m. The accused persons snatched away the
F deceased Mister Mian along with the cot at the point of firearms whereupon
people from village Shahpur including Mithila Sharan Singh (PW-I) arrived.
An inf01mation is said to have been sent to the police station by telephone
from a nearby Christian Mission at about 8.15 p.m. The dead body of Mister
Mian was recovered from an open field situated about 750 yards away from
the place wherefrom he had allegedly been taken away forcibly.
G
The learned Sessions Judge by reason of his judgment dated 29th
November, 1986 convicted Devi Dayal Singh, Mathura Singh and Sarjug
Singh for commission of an offence under Sections 302/34, 1208, 201 of the
Indian Penal Code and Section 27 of the Arms Act. Chandrika Singh, however,
was acquitted. The Appellants - Rajendra Singh, Surendra Singh, Jagdish
H Singh, Arjun Singh along with Ram Yad Singh, Bikku Singh and Budhan
BUDHAN SINGH v. STATE OF Bli-iAR [SINHA, J.) 265
Si~gh were,ho~e~er, convicted only under Section 201 of the Indian Penal A
cod~
"'"
a;;d were sentenced to undergo five years rigorous imprisonment.
-, ,. . . .' . . .' . .
' .

On an appeal preferred by the: Appellants thereagainst, whereas the
conviction of all the accused persons were .c.onfirmed, the High Court reduced
the sentenc~ from fi.ve years to two years in respect of those who ·were found
to be guilty only under Section 20 I of the Indian Penal Code .. One of the B
accused persons, Budhan Singh, is said to have died. He is.not an Appellant
before us. This Court dismissed the special leave .petition of. Devi Dayal
Singh, Sarjug Singh and Mathura Singh by an order dated 9.11.1998.

·Before the learned Trial Judge, the prosecution in order to prove its
case examined 1-2 witnesses whereas the defence examined 8 witnesses on its C
behalf.

Mr. Rakesh Taneja, learned counsel appearing on behalf of the Appellants
would· submit that :the learned Trial Court as also the High Court committed
a serious error in holding the Appellants guilty of commission of an offence D
under Section 20 I of the Indian Penal Code particularly in view of the fact
that they had not been charged under Section 1208 thereof. The prosecution
failed to show as to why they should committhe said offence. The Appellants
had no motive therefor. There is furthermore nothing on record to show that
they had known that an offence has been committed. The learned Trial Judge
and for that matter the High Court did not record any reason nor analysed E
the evidences adduced by the prosecution to arrive at a finding that the
ingredients of Section 201 of the Indian Penal Code were proved. Damage of
standing .er.ops itself is not a circumstance whereupon both the Trial Court
as also. the High. Court placed strong reliance for arriving at the conclusion
that they. were guilty of commission of an offence .under Section 201 of the F
Indian Penal Code.

The learned counsel appearing on behalf of the State, on the other
hand, supported the impugned judgment.

The Trial Court inter alia framed the following points for its G
consideration which are relevanr for this case:

"Point No. - 3 - Whether the first place of occurrence near the 'Alang'
in Adhapa 'Khandha' and the manner of alleged shooting of Mister
Mian there by the accused persons and charges against them u/s 302
& 302/34 have been satisfactorily proved by the prosecution? H
266 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [2006] SUPP. I S.C.R.

A Point No. - 4. - Whether the alleged snatching away of Mister Mian's
body in between Gonpura Mission in the north and Hasanpura -
Sahpur village in the south by the side of Fulwari Hasanpura Kutchi
Road and the charge u/s 20 I l.P.C. has been proved?

Point No. - 5. - Whether the plea of alibi of accused Surendra Singh
B is believable?

Point No.- 6. - Whether the charge u/s 27 Arms Act and the charge

-
u/s 120 l.P.C. stand proved against the accused persons?"

The Trial Court took up the said points No. 3,4,5 and 6 together for the
C purpose of appreciation of evidences adduced on behalf of the prosecution.
PWs - I, 2, 3, 7, 8 and 11 are the witnesses whereupon reliance has been
placed both by the Trial Court as also by the High Court.

PW-9 claimed to be an eye-witness. His evidence, however, was not
.
found to be reliable. He evidently was on inimical terms with the accused. His
D conduct during the course of investigation raised a great deal of suspicion
as regard truthfulness or otherwise of his statements before the court.

The learned Sessions Judge as also the High Court did not discuss in
details in regard to the second part of the occurrence for which the Appellants
herein have been convicted. We would, thus, have considered the question
E of their involvement having regard to the materials available on records.

The Trial Court in its judgment merely observed:

"Now, the second part of the prosecution case and the second place
of occurrence is about two kilometers north at Patela (the broader
F portion of the Hasanpur Fulwari Kutcha road going north-south near
Sahpur-Hasanpur village in the land of one Ramyad Singh in which
Tisi-Masuri were growing lying adjacent east to the said road. This
place is about four hundred yards south from Gonpura Mission and
about the same distance north from village Sahpur-Hasanpur. P.W.12
the 1.0. while giving details of the second place of occurrence has
G
also mentioned in para 8 to I 0 that towards east from the road as well
as towards west from the road the standing Wheat and Masuri crops
has been very much trampled. All but accused Devi Dayal Singh and
Sudhansu Singh have been named in Fardbeyans as persons who
snatched away the body of Mister Mian. Here it may be mentioned
H that the clear intention of the accused persons had been in snatching
BUD HAN SINGH v. STATE OF BI HAR [SINHA, J.] 267

away Mister Mian to cause disappearance of the evidence of his A
murder which has been committed to their knowledge for screening
themselves from legal punishment. According to the evidence of the
doctor P.W.4 the bullet injuries caused in his chest was sufficient in
ordinary course of nature to cause his death. Apart from that, there
is no evidence at all to show that they had any other object than
snatching away his body and throwing it away clandestinely about B
four hundred yards south from village Hasanpur in Mohanpur Khandha.
The charge u/s 120 B gets proved only against accused Devi Dayal
and Mathura Singh and Sarju.g Singh, regarding making conspiracy to
commit murder of Mister Mian apart from the offences u/s 302/34, 201
l.P.C. and 27 of the Arms Act. The remaining eight accused (except C
Chandrika Singh and Sudhanshu Singh) can however be held guilty
only for the offence punishable u/s 201 l.P.C."

The findings of the High Court, on the other hand, on the said count
are as under:
D
" ... The prosecution has been able to prove the charge under Section
20 I of the Indian Penal Code against the remaining accused appellant
also and they have been rightly convicted by the trial court under
section 20 I of the Indian Penal Code ... "

Section 201 of the Indian Penal Code reads as under: E
"20 I. Causing disappearance of evidence of offence, or giving false
information to screen offender. - Whoever, knowing or having reason
to believe that an offence has been committed, causes any evidence
of the commission of that offence to disappear, with the intention of
screening the offender from legal punishment, or with that intention F
gives any information respecting the offence which he knows or
believes to be false,

[if a capital offence J shall, if the offence which he knows or believes
to have been committed is punishable with death, be punished with
imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to G
seven years, and shall also be liable to fine;

[if punishable with imprisonment for life] and if the offence is
punishable with imprisonment for life, or with imprisonment which
may extend to ten years, shall be punished with imprisonment of either
description for a term which may extend to three years, and shall also H
268 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [2006) SUPP. I S.C.R.

A be liable to fine;

[if punishable with less than ten years' imprisonment] and if the
offence is punishable with imprisonment for any term not extending
to ten years, shall be punished with imprisonment of the description
provided for the offence, for a term which may extend to one-fourth
B part of the longest term of the imprisonment provided for the offence,
or with fine, or with both."

Whereas Sections 193 to 195 of the Indian Penal Code are aimed at the
offence of procuring conviction of an innocent person by false evidence,
Section 20 I is intended to reach positive acts on the part of an accused who
C intend to screening of a guilty person from punishment.

The ingredients of Section 20 I of the Indian Penal Code are as under:

(I) that an offence has been committed;
(2) that the accused knew or had reason to believe the commission
D of such offence;
(3) that with such knowledge or belief he -
(a) caused any evidence of the commission of that offence to
disappear, or
E (b) gave any information respecting that offence which he then
knew or believed to be false;
(4) that he did as aforesaid, with the intention of screening the
offender from legal punishment;
p (5) if the charge be of an aggravated form, as in the present case,
it must be proved further that the offence in respect of which the
accused did as in (3) and (4) was punishable with death, or with
imprisonment for life or imprisonment extending to ten years.

It is not in dispute that the deceased Mister Mian had been injured.
G Whether he was dead at that point of time or not is of not much importance
inasmuch when the second incident took place an offence had already been
committed.

The question, however, would be as to whether the Appellants bUore
us had the requisite knowledge of the commission of the said offence or they
H had a reason to believe that an offence had been committed.
BUD HAN SINGH v. STATE OF BIHAR [SINHA, J.] 269
. Both the learned Tria!Judge a~ al~o th!l High Court arrived .a.t a fiµding A
of fact that such an offem;e. had been committed., The commission of th\!
offence relates to snatching away of Mister Mian along with the cot at the
point offirearms .

. Mithila Shari~n Singh is pW.J. He belo11ged to. village Mauza S~a~pur , !
within the police station of Phulwari. He was present at the time of occurrence. B
He in his evidence, as regard the second part of the occurrence categorically
stated that Rajendra Singh was 'armed with rifle; Jagdish Singh and•Arjun
Singh were carrying ·the cot ·and· Surendra Singh was seen with a gun. He is
although· said t-0 .be an interested witness;·there is nothing to show that he
in relation·to the second· incident wouJd·implicatethe Appellantsfalsely. His C
presence ·is not disputed, as against him also a case was,registered. by the
accused. He was arrested by the Superintendent of Police on the same day.

PW-2 is Syeduddin Nut. He also named all the four Appellants. He
categorically stated that the Appellants and others came from the western
ridge of the· field· and. rounded them up. In relation' to the first part of the D
incident also, his statement .has been believed by both the courts. In .the
cross•examination; he categorically stated that all the persons named by .him
including the Appellants herein were those who had taken possession of the
injured person forcibly.

· PW-7 in his deposition stated: E
"When we reached towards north ahead of Shahpur village taking
. injured.Mister, Chandrika:Singh, Bakhauri Singh, Budhan Singh, Sarjug
. Singh, Mathura Singh, Ramyad Singh, Rajendra Singh, Surendra Singh,
Jagdish Singh; Arjun Singh,. Bikku Singh, .Sudhamsu Singh and. 3 to
4 unknown persons appeared suddenly and rounded us up. Mathura F
Singh was armed with the gun. Siirendra was armed.with the rifle,
Rajindra was armed with pistol and Chandrika was aimed with country
made pistol. They threatened us. They took possession· of the cot
forcibly on which we were carrying the injured Mister and told us to
run away otheI"Wise they would shoot us. They had taken away the G
cot with injured Mister. They carried the cot with injured·MisteL They
carried the cot with injured Mister towards the west Kharidha. Saudagar
and Amiruddin were having torch in their hands. It was;moonlit night.
It was qumer to eight. I had recognized the accused persons in the
·~--I
light of moonlit and the light of torch."
H
270 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [2006] SUPP. I S.C.R.

A In his cross-examination, he categorically stated that although they had
not been assaulted, but were threatened. According to him, the Appellants
and others took the cot away from their shoulders.

PW-8 is Md. Amanullah. He was brother-in-law of the deceased Mister
Mian. He also in his deposition named the Appellants. According to him, after
B the cot of Mister Mian was taken away, they fled from the place of occurrence
out of fear.

PW-I I is Saudagar Mian. The said witness also named the Appellants
herein. According to him, the accused came and told them to leave the cot
>
otherwise would be shot at. Thereafter, they took away the cot in which
C Mister Mian was lying. The accused had abused them. His presence is also
not disputed as against him also a first information report was lodged.

D
From the conspectus of events, as noticed herein before, and the manner
in which the Appellants are said to have taken part in the commission of
crime, there cannot be any doubt that they had the requisite knowledge about
-
the commission of an offence. The very fact that an injured person was being
carried out to the hospital in a cot and the Appellants not only assisted the
main accused persons in snatching away the cot, two of them carried the cot
themselves and two others were armed with firearms clearly establishes their
knowledge about commission or the likelihood of offence.
E
We may at this juncture notice the decisions relied upon by the learned
counsel for the Appellant.

In Nathu and Anr. v. State of U.P., AIR (1979) SC 1245, the accused,
only on the basis of a presumption that they were brothers and, thus,
F presumably had knowledge about the murder of deceased by her husband
were found guilty for commission of an offence under Section 20 I of the
Indian Penal Code. Such is not the case here.

In Ram Saran Mahto and Anr. v. State of Bihar, [ 1999) 9 SCC 486 only
G the dead body of the deceased was recovered from the well situated in the
compound of the Appellants' marital home and that the cremation was hurried
through, was although held to be giving rise to suspicion, the same
•
circumstance being isolated and unconcatenated with any other circumstance,
they were found to be not guilty.

H In Wattan Singh and Ors. V. State of Punjab, [2004] 3 sec 700, following
BUD HAN SINGH v. STATE OF BIHAR [SINHA, J.] 271
Palvinder Kaur v. State of Punjab, AIR (1952) SC 354, this Court held: A
"This Court in Palvinder Kaur v. State of Punjab has held that in
order to establish the charge under Section 20 l IPC, it is essential to
prove that an offence has been commined; mere suspicion that it has
been committed is not sufficient. It has to be proved that the accused
knew or had reason to believe that such offence had been committed, B
and with the requisite knowledge and with the intent to screen the
offender from legal punishment caused the evidence thereof to
disappear or gave false information respecting such offence knowing
... or having reason to believe the same to be false ....."

In that case also, there was no proof about the knowledge of the C
accused as regard commission of an offence and only because they were
present at the cremation ground was not found to be sufficient for arriving
at a conclusion that they were guilty of commission of an offence under
Section 20 I of the Indian Penal Code.

In Rajbir Singh v. State of U.P. & Anr., JT (2006) 3 SC 372, it is stated:
D

"The prosecution case that one of the accused handed over his rifle
to Akhilesh Chauhan (respondent no. 2) and thereatier he ran away
from the scene of occurrence prima facie shows commission of an
offence under Section 20 I IPC. Since two persons have been killed E
there should be separate and distinct charge for each murder besides
the charge under Section 3(2)(v) SC/ST Act. The charges framed
against the accused who are alleged to have restored to firing should
be amended accordingly."

The learned Trial Judge as also the High Court in their respective p
judgments dealt with the second stage of the occurrence, along with the first
stage. Each of the contentions raised before the learned Trial Judge as also
the High Cou1t on behalf of the Appellants and other accused persons had
specifically been dealt with. We, however, wish that the judgments of the
courts below were a bit more elaborate. The High Court has also considered
the contention that some of the prosecution witnesses including PW- I had G
enmity with the accused persons.

In view of the concurrent finding of fact by both the Courts, we are of
the opinion that no case has been made out for exercising of this Cou1t's
•• jurisdiction under Article 13 6 of the Constitution of India.
H
272 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [2006] SUPP. I S.C.R.

A It is, however, not in dispute that all the Appellants before us are aged
more than 70 years. Rajendra Singh had been in custody for about five
months. Surendra Singh is said to have been in custody for about three
months fifteen days. Jagdish Singh was in custody about seven months
whereas Arjun Singh was in custody for about four months. Having regard
to the fact that all the Appellants before us are above 70 years of age and
B furthermore in view of the fact that as they were not connected with the first
part of the occurrence, in our considered view, interest of justice would be
subserved if they are sentenced to the period already undergone by them.
The Appellants are on bail. They shall be discharged from their bail bonds.
The appeal is allowed in part and to the extent mentioned hereinbefore.
c v.s.s. Appeal partly allowed.
--

•