CHANDRA BHAWAN SINGHversusTHE STATE OF UTTAR PRADESH

646                       [2018]
               SUPREME COURT     5 S.C.R. 646
                              REPORTS                         [2018] 5 S.C.R.


A                        CHANDRA BHAWAN SINGH
                                         v.
                      THE STATE OF UTTAR PRADESH
                        (Criminal Appeal No. 654 of 2018)
B                                 MAY 01, 2018
        [R. K. AGRAWAL AND ABHAY MANOHAR SAPRE, JJ.]
            Penal Code, 1860:
             s. 302/34 – Prosecution under – Of four accused –
C     Circumstantial evidence – Acquittal of one accused and conviction
      of the rest by trial court – High Court confirmed the conviction of
      appellants-accused while acquitting the third accused – On appeal,
      held: The circumstances of the case set out by the High Court for
      holding the appellants-accused guilty, establish chain of events and
      being directly connected with the incident, establish involvement of
D
      the accused beyond reasonable doubt – The story of suicide set up
      by the accused is unbelievable on the evidence on record – The
      appellants-accused were required to explain the circumstances in
      which the deceased died, which they failed – One of the appellants-
      accused also failed to adduce any evidence to prove his plea of
E     alibi – Conviction confirmed.
            Constitution of India:
            Art. 136 – Jurisdiction under – In criminal case – Held: In
      exercise of jurisdiction u/Art. 136, courts should be slow in interfering
      with concurrent findings of facts which are based on due
F     appreciation of evidence – Court not to appreciate the evidence de
      novo unless prima facie shown that courts below did not consider
      relevant piece of evidence, or there existed perversity or/and
      absurdity in their findings.
            Dismissing the appeals, the Court
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            HELD: 1. It is a settled principle of law that when the Courts
      below have recorded concurrent findings against the accused
      persons which are based on due appreciation of evidence, this
      Court under Article 136 of the Constitution would be slow to
      interfere in such concurrent findings and secondly would not
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                                      646
    CHANDRA BHAWAN SINGH v. THE STATE OF UTTAR                          647
                   PRADESH

appreciate the evidence de novo unless it is prima facie shown          A
that both the Courts below did not either consider the relevant
piece of evidence or there exists any perversity or/and
absurdity in the findings recorded by both the Courts
below etc. [Para 31] [652-C-D]
      2. The Courts below properly appreciated the evidence and         B
came to a right conclusion that the appellants were responsible
for commission of the offence of murder. [Para 30] [652-B]
      3. There is evidence to prove the factum of demand of dowry.
PW-1, the real brother of the deceased, was the complainant. His
evidence was rightly relied on by the two Courts below for holding      C
that the appellants were persistently making a demand of dowry
from the deceased and her family members and they used to
harass her for such cause. The testimony of PW-1 is natural and
consistent having no material contradiction, Therefore, there is
no justification to disbelieve it. So far as the story of suicide set   D
up by the appellants is concerned, it is wholly unbelievable on
the evidence brought on record. [Paras 33 and 34] [652-F-G]
      4. The circumstances set out by the High Court for holding
the appellants guilty cannot be faulted with. These circumstances
do establish the chain of events and being directly connected           E
with the incident in question, establish the involvement of the
appellants in commission of the offence beyond reasonable doubt.
The test laid down to prove the guilt by circumstantial evidence
in the present case is fully satisfied by the circumstances against
the appellants. [Para 37] [653-H; 654-A]
                                                                        F
      5. Both the appellants-accused in their statements recorded
under Section 313 of the Criminal Procedure Code, 1973 failed
to give any explanation when asked about the circumstances in
which the incident occurred in their house. When the incident
admittedly occurred in their house, the appellants were required
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to explain the circumstances in which the deceased died. They,
however, failed to give any explanation. Appellant-accused ‘T’
also failed to adduce any evidence to prove his plea of alibi.
[Paras 39 and 40] [654-C-D, E]

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648            SUPREME COURT REPORTS                          [2018] 5 S.C.R.


A           CRIMINAL APPELLATE JURISDICTION : Criminal Appeal
      No. 654 of 2018.
            From the Judgment and Order dated 20.05.2014 of the High Court
      of Judicature at Allahabad in Criminal Appeal No. 1114/1986
                                        WITH
B
            Criminal Appeal No. 655 of 2018.
            Nagendra Rai, Sr. Adv., Shekhar Prit Jha, Akhand Pratap Singh,
      Ms. Aditi Mittal, Bahul Kalra, Ms. Meghna Sharma, Advs. for the
      Appellant.
C           Ratnakar Dash, Sr. Adv., Ardhendumauli Kumar Prasad, Sameer
      Singh, Advs. for the Respondent.
            The Judgment of the Court was delivered by
            ABHAY MANOHAR SAPRE, J. 1. Leave granted.
D            2. These appeals are filed by the accused persons against the
      final judgment and order dated 20.05.2014 passed by the High Court of
      Judicature at Allahabad in Criminal Appeal No.1114 of 1986 whereby
      the High Court dismissed the appeal in respect of the appellants-accused
      and affirmed the judgment and order dated 07.05.1986 passed by the
      Additional Sessions Judge, Fatehpur in Sessions Trial No. 291 of
E
      1984.
            3. In order to appreciate the issues involved in the appeals, it is
      necessary to set out the facts of the case.
            4. Four persons, namely, (1) Tribhuwan Singh (appellant), (2)
F     Chandra Bhawan Singh (appellant) (3) Smt. Makoi Devi and (4) Jwala
      Singh were prosecuted for committing murder of one lady by name
      “Satyawati”.
            5. The Additional Sessions Judge, Fatehpur by his judgment dated
      07.05.1986 in Sessions Trial No. 291 of 1984 acquitted one accused-
G     Jwala Singh but convicted the remaining three accused. Tribhuwan Singh
      was convicted under Section 302/34 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860
      (hereinafter referred to as “IPC”) and sentenced him to undergo
      imprisonment for life and to pay a fine of Rs.5000/- in default of payment
      of fine, to further undergo rigorous imprisonment for one year.
       Smt. Makoi Devi was convicted under Section 302/34 IPC and was
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    CHANDRA BHAWAN SINGH v. THE STATE OF UTTAR                               649
        PRADESH [ABHAY MANOHAR SAPRE, J.]

sentenced to undergo imprisonment for life. Chandra Bhawan Singh             A
was convicted under Section 32/34 IPC and was sentenced to undergo
imprisonment for life and further convicted under Section 201 IPC and
was sentenced to undergo rigorous imprisonment for five years. All the
sentences of Chandra Bhawan Singh would run concurrently.
       6. The aforementioned three-convicted accused felt aggrieved of       B
their respective conviction and sentence awarded by the Additional
Sessions Judge filed appeal in the High Court. The High Court, by
impugned judgment, allowed the appeal in respect of one accused –
Smt. Makoi Devi and accordingly acquitted her from the charges leveled
against her but dismissed the appeal in respect of remaining two accused
persons, namely, (1) Tribhuwan Singh and (2) Chandra Bhawan Singh            C
and accordingly confirmed their conviction and the sentence awarded
by the Additional Sessions Judge.
        7. The remaining two accused felt aggrieved by their respective
conviction and award of sentence filed separate special leave petitions
in this Court.                                                               D

      8. So far as SLP(Crl.) No. 7049 of 2014 is concerned, it is filed by
Chandra Bhawan Singh whereas SLP(Crl.) No. 7664 of 2014 is
concerned, it is filed by Tribhuwan Singh.
      9. In both these special leave petitions, the challenge is to the      E
impugned judgment of the High Court, which has confirmed their
conviction and sentence.
      10. In short, the case of the prosecution is as under:
      11. All the four accused named above are the members of one
family. Smt. Makoi Devi is the mother of Tribhuwan Singh and Chandra         F
Bhawan Singh. In other words, Tribhuwan Singh and Chandra Bhawan
Singh are real brothers being the two sons of Smt. Makoi Devi.
      12. The deceased-Satyawati was the wife of Tribhuwan Singh.
Their marriage was performed in the year 1981. Satyawati stayed in her
matrimonial home with her husband for 8 days and then returned to her        G
parents’ house.
      13. It is the case of the prosecution that the members of Satyawati
in-laws family, which included the four accused named above, were
harassing her while she was staying in her in-laws house for not bringing
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650            SUPREME COURT REPORTS                         [2018] 5 S.C.R.


A     any dowry in her marriage. The family members had been demanding
      “motor cycle” in dowry. Due to constant harassment given to her by the
      aforementioned four accused persons, it had become unbearable for her
      to stay in the house and, therefore, she returned to her parents’ house
      and started living with her parents.
B            14. On 15.03.1984, Jwala Singh and Chandra Bhawan Singh went
      to Satywati’s parents’ house and brought Satyawati back to her in-laws
      house. On 18.03.1984 (after 3 days), Satyawati was found dead in her
      in-laws house. She died due to gun shot injuries.
             15. Chandra Bhawan Singh-the elder brother of Tribhuwan Singh
C     lodged a FIR in the Police Station, Kishanpur on the same day, i.e.,
      18.03.1984, informing therein that Satyawati committed suicide in the
      house by gun shot injuries and that her dead body was lying in the
      courtyard of the house. One FIR was also lodged by village Pradhan. It
      was registered as FIR No. 30/1984 (GD No. 14/84) at PS Kishanpur.
      The brother of the deceased-Rajender (PW-1) lodged the FIR on the
D     same day stating therein that all the four accused named above have
      killed his sister because of non-fulfillment of their demand for dowry.
            16. On 19/20.04.1984, all the four accused persons were arrested.
      In the investigation, the police recovered the Gun at the instance of
      Tribhuwan Singh from his house, which was alleged to be used in
E     commission of the offence. The post mortem of the dead body was
      performed which disclosed that Satyawati was murdered. The police
      then made further investigation, collected evidence, obtained ballistic
      report from the experts and recorded the statements of the accused
      persons and other witnesses.
F           17. On 09.06.1984 the police filed Challan. The case was
      committed to the Additional Sessions Judge, Fatehpur for trial. The
      Additional Sessions Judge framed charges against the four accused
      persons for commission of the offences punishable under Sections
      302/34 and 201 of IPC read with Section 4 of the DP Act. The prosecution
G     examined six witnesses to prove their case.
             18. By order dated 07.05.1986, the Additional Sessions Judge
      acquitted Jwala Singh finding no evidence against him but convicted
      Tribhuwan Singh (husband), Smt. Makoi Devi (mother-in-law) and
      Chandra Bhawan Singh (brother-in-law) and sentenced them to undergo
      life imprisonment for killing Satyawati.
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    CHANDRA BHAWAN SINGH v. THE STATE OF UTTAR                                  651
        PRADESH [ABHAY MANOHAR SAPRE, J.]

       19. Thribhuwan Singh, Smt Makoi Devi and Chandra Bhawan                  A
Singh felt aggrieved and filed appeal in the High Court at Allahabad
against their conviction and sentence awarded by the Additional Sessions
Judge.
       20. By impugned judgment, the High Court dismissed the appeal
filed by Tribhuwan Singh and Chandra Bhawan Singh and accordingly               B
upheld their conviction and sentence. However, the High Court acquitted
Smt. Makoi Devi (mother-in-law) from all the charges finding no evidence
against her.
       21. It is against this judgment, the accused Tribhuwan Singh and
Chandra Bhawan Singh have filed the present two appeals by way of
special leave in this Court.                                                    C
       22. So far as acquittal of Jwala Singh and Smt. Makoi Devi is
concerned, it has attained finality because the State did not file any appeal
in the High Court and nor in this Court.
       23. Heard Mr. Nagendra Rai, learned senior counsel for the
appellants(accused) and Mr. Ratnakar Dash, learned senior counsel for           D
the respondent(State).
       24. Mr. Nagendra Rai, learned senior counsel for the
appellants(accused) while assailing the legality and correctness of the
impugned judgment contended that firstly, the conviction of both the
appellants, though concurrent in nature, is neither factually and nor legally   E
sustainable.
       25. In the Second place, he contended that since the entire case
of prosecution is founded on circumstantial evidence, it was necessary
for the prosecution to have adduced evidence to prove the complete
chain of events. Learned counsel contended that there is no evidence            F
much less sufficient evidence adduced by the prosecution to prove the
chain of events leading to the guilt of committing the murder of Satyawati
by the appellants and hence the conviction is bad in law.
       26. In the third place, learned counsel to support his second
submission took us through the evidence with a view to show that chain
                                                                                G
of events to prove the guilt qua the appellants is not established.
       27. In the fourth place, learned counsel contended that the
circumstances appearing in the case from the evidence would show that
Satyawati committed suicide.

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652            SUPREME COURT REPORTS                           [2018] 5 S.C.R.


A            28. In reply, learned counsel for the respondent (State) supported
      the reasoning and the conclusion arrived at by both the Courts below
      and prayed for dismissal of the appeals calling for no interference in the
      concurrent findings of both the Courts below.
             29. Having heard the learned counsel for the parties and on perusal
B     of the record of the case, we find no merit in the appeals.
            30. In our opinion, both the Courts below properly appreciated the
      evidence and came to a right conclusion that the appellants were
      responsible for commission of the offence of murder of Satyawati.
              31. It is a settled principle of law that when the Courts below
C     have recorded concurrent findings against the accused persons which
      are based on due appreciation of evidence, this Court under Article 136
      of the Constitution of India would be slow to interfere in such concurrent
      findings and secondly would not appreciate the evidence de novo unless
      it is prima facie shown that both the Courts below did not either consider
D     the relevant piece of evidence or there exists any perversity or/and
      absurdity in the findings recorded by both the Courts below etc.
             32. We, however, made endeavour to peruse the evidence with a
      view to find out as to whether the concurrent findings of both the Courts
      below have any kind of infirmity or/and whether the concurrent findings
E     are capable of being legally and factually sustainable in law or need to
      be reversed. Having gone through the evidence, we are of the view that
      the findings are legally and factually sustainable.
             33. We find that there is evidence to prove the factum of demand
      of dowry. Rajender(PW-1) is the real brother of the deceased. He was
F     the complainant. His evidence was rightly relied on by the two Courts
      below for holding that the appellants were persistently making a demand
      of dowry (motor cycle) from Satyawati and her family members and
      they used to harass her for such cause. The testimony of PW-1 is natural
      and consistent having no material contradiction, we, therefore, find no
      justification to disbelieve it. The same deserves to be accepted.
G
            34. So far as the story of suicide set up by the appellants is
      concerned, it is, in our view, wholly unbelievable on the evidence brought
      on record.
            35. First, it is not possible rather difficult for a person to commit
      suicide by using DBBL Gun; Second, it has come in evidence that there
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    CHANDRA BHAWAN SINGH v. THE STATE OF UTTAR                              653
        PRADESH [ABHAY MANOHAR SAPRE, J.]

were as many as 7 gun shot injuries noticed on the body of Satyawati.       A
In our view, It is not possible for a person to commit suicide by firing
seven gun shots one after the other on his/her body with the use of
DBBL Gun in hands. However, one can commit suicide by firing one
shot with a pistol. Such was, however, not the case of the appellants.
      36. Coming to the involvement of the appellants in commission of      B
the offence, we find that the High Court relied on the following
circumstances appearing against the appellants for holding them guilty
of commission of the offence of murder of Satyawati. These
circumstances are extracted hereinbelow:
           “Here prosecution has discharged its part of the burden          C
      by leading evidence of which it was capable by substantiating
      the fact (i) that there has been demand of dowry (ii) deceased
      has been taken to her in laws house (iii) at the time of death,
      deceased has been staying with her in laws and appellants
      are the inmates of the house (iv) death in question has taken
      place inside the house (v) injuries caused clearly reflects           D
      that it is case of murder (vi) story of suicide set up by
      appellant No.3 was not at all supported by medical evidence
      (vii) DBBL gun has been used in the commission of offence
      and once chain of events are clearly linked up then in view
      of Section 106 of Evidence Act, as young bride in question            E
      has been killed inside the house, then there is
      corresponding burden on the inmates of the house to give
      cogent explanation as to how the crime was committed. The
      inmates of the house cannot get away by simply keeping
      quiet and offering no explanation on the supposed premise
      that the burden to establish its case lies entirely upon the          F
      prosecution and there is no duty at all on an accused to
      offer any explanation. The principle is that when an
      incriminating circumstance is put to the accused and said
      accused does not offer any explanation which on the face of
      it is found false or untrue, then the same becomes additional         G
      link in the chain of circumstances to make it complete.”
      37. In our considered opinion, the aforementioned seven
circumstances set out by the High Court for holding the appellants guilty
cannot be faulted with. These seven circumstances do establish the chain
of events and being directly connected with the incident in question,       H
654             SUPREME COURT REPORTS                          [2018] 5 S.C.R.


A     establish the involvement of the appellants in commission of the offence
      beyond reasonable doubt. In our opinion, the test laid down to prove the
      guilt by circumstantial evidence in this case is fully satisfied by the
      aforementioned seven circumstances against the appellants.
            38. That apart, we also find from the evidence that Chandra
B     Bhawan Singh-the appellant herein was the first to lodge the FIR about
      the incident wherein he stated that Satyawati has committed suicide.
      Apparently, this fact proves that first, he was present in the house where
      Satyawati was found dead and second, he falsely stated that Satyawati
      committed suicide because he wanted to divert the attention of the police
      from the reality. As held above, no evidence was led to prove that it was
C     a case of suicide.
            39. We also find that both the accused (appellants herein) in their
      statements recorded under Section 313 of the Criminal Procedure Code,
      1973 failed to give any explanation when asked about the circumstances
      in which the incident occurred in their house. When the incident admittedly
D     occurred in their house, the appellants were required to explain the
      circumstances in which Satyawati died. They, however, failed to give
      any explanation.
             40. We also find that Tribuhuwan Singh said that he was not present
      in the house at the time of the occurrence and on that day he was in
E     Allahabad. He also failed to adduce any evidence to prove this fact.
            41. We are, therefore, of the considered view that both the Courts
      below rightly held the appellants guilty for commission of the offence in
      question and, therefore, we find no good ground to take a different view
      than what is taken by the two Courts below.
F
            42. In view of the foregoing discussion, the appeals fail and are
      accordingly dismissed.


      Kalpana K. Tripathy                                        Appeals dismissed.

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