Supreme Court of India
LAUT KUMAR YADAV @ KURIversusSTATE OF UTIAR PRADESH
- Citation
- 2014 INSC 327
- Decided
- 25 April 2014
- Disposal
- Case Partly allowed
- Bench
- A K PATNAIK
Holding
The conviction stands, but the death sentence is commuted to life imprisonment as the case does not satisfy the "rarest of rare" criteria.
Summary
Laut Kumar Yadav alias Kuri was convicted for murdering an 18‑year‑old girl and attempting to rape her. The prosecution relied on circumstantial evidence: a sniffer‑dog trail, recovery of a blood‑stained sickle and the accused’s clothes, and prior eve‑teasing of the victim. The trial court sentenced him to death under IPC s.302 and five years for attempt to rape under s.376 r.w. s.511; the High Court affirmed the death sentence. On appeal, the Supreme Court held that the circumstantial evidence was sufficient to establish guilt, that the FIR was timely filed, and that the statements of the victim’s father and a relative were credible. It also ruled that the recovery memo and the accused’s statement leading to the discovery of the weapon were admissible under Evidence Act s.27, and that sniffer‑dog evidence, while not decisive, was permissible for investigation. Applying the "rarest of rare" doctrine, the Court found mitigating factors—young age, no prior record, possibility of reform—and commuted the death sentence to life imprisonment, affirming the conviction.
Issues considered
- The sufficiency of circumstantial evidence to convict the accused of murder and attempt to rape.
- The credibility and admissibility of the victim's father's testimony and that of a relative (PW‑9).
- The admissibility of the recovery memo, sealed evidence, and the accused's statement under Evidence Act s.27.
- The relevance and weight of sniffer‑dog tracking evidence.
- Whether the death sentence is justified under the "rarest of rare" principle.
Legislation cited
- Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973s. 313
- Indian Evidence Act, 1872s. 25, s. 26, s. 27
- Indian Penal Code, 1860s. 302, s. 376, s. 511
Subjects
murderattempt to rapecircumstantial evidencedeath penaltycommutationSection 27 Evidence Actsniffer dog evidencerarest of rare doctrinecapital punishmentmitigating factors
Judgment
[2014] 8 S.C.R. 668
A LAUT KUMAR YADAV @ KURI
v.
STATE OF UTIAR PRADESH
(Criminal Appeal No. 1022 of 2006)
APRIL 25, 2014
8
[A.K. PATNAIK AND
SUDHANSU JYOTI MUKHOPADHAYA, JJ.]
Penal Code, 1860- ss. 302, 376 rlw s. 511 - Murder-
C Attempt to rape - Victim, an 18 year old girl - Her neck cut
with a sickle - Circumstantial evidence, viz. a) sniffer dog-
tracking evidence, b) recovery of sickle, c) recovery of clothes
of accused-appellant and d) past conduct of appellant
pertairiing to eve teasing of the deceased -. Conviction of
D appellant- Justification - Held: Justified - There was no delay
in reporting the matter to the police - Merely because PW-1
was father of the deceased, his evidence could not be doubted
on that count in absence of any suspicion - PW-9, produced
to prove the recovery memo, was not a chance witness - His
E presence being most natural and probable, his evidence was
creditworthy and acceptable - Defence plea that the
polythene bag in which the sickle was wrapped and taken by
the 10 was without any seal at the time of recovery, untenable
on the face of recovery memo itself - Since nobody was .
F named in the FIR, the 10 took help of dog squad and the
appellant was tracked - Appellant who was then taken into
custody gave. statement regarding commission of crime - A{
his instance, ·the sickle as well as blood stained clothes were .
recovered. - Plea that the alleged recovery of clothes i.e.
G gamchha 'and baniyan did not satisfy the mandate of s.27 of
the Evidence Act, not sustainable - Further, the Doctor gave
statement tha(the injury caused upon the victim could have
been caused by the sickle so recovered - The incident clearly
reflected upon the motive of the appellant - Earlier episode
H 668
LAUT KUMAR YADAV @ KURI v. STATE OF UTTAR 669
PRADESH
of eve teasing of the girl indicates that the appellant wanted A
sex with her and made forcible attempt to rape her and when
the girl resisted, it enraged and provoked him to eventually
commit the heinous act of murder - No evidence to suggest
that PW1 had any enmity or grudge with anyone who may be
suspected to have committed the murder - All the B
circumstances proved that it was nobody else but the
appellant who attempted to commit rape and murdered the
daughter of PW1 :.. Conviction of appellant accordingly
affirmed.
Sentence I Sentencing - Murder - Attempt to rape -
c
Accused-appellant attempted to commit rape and murdered
an 18 year old girl - Imposition of death sentence upon
appellant - Sustainability - Held: Circumstantial evidence led
to only one conclusion that appellant attempted to commit
rape and because of resistance, committed murder of the girl D
- Appellant was young i.e. aged about 21 years at the time
of offence - He had no criminal antecedents - Need to
balance the mitigating circumstances against the need for
imposition of capital punishment - Considering the age of
appellant, possibility of reforming him not ruled out - He could E
not be termed as social menace - Further, the case not falling
under the "rarest of rare" category - Death sentence imposed
upon the appellant commuted to life imprisonment - Penal
Code, 1860 - ss. 302, 376 rlw s. 511.
F
The prosecution case was that the· appellant made
; attempt to commit rape on the 18 year old daughter of
PW1 and murdered her. The prosecution relied upon four
· pieces of circumstantial evidence, a) sniffer dog- tracking
evidence, b) recovery of sickle i.e. the weapon used by G
the appellant to cut the neck of the girl, c) recovery of
1
clothes of the appellant and d) past conduct of the
. appellant pertaining to eve teasing of the deceased girl.
The trial court convicted the appellant under Section 302
IPC and also under Section 376 read with Section 511
H
670 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [2014] 8 S.C.R.
A IPC. The appellant was sentenced to death. The
conviction as well as the death sentence imposed upon
the appellant was affirmed by the High Court.
In the instant appeal, the appellant, inter alia, made
the following submissions: (i) that the prosecution failed
8
to produce any witness to prove the very factum of the
registration of the FIR and irrespective of the same it was
ante-timed; (ii)that PW-1 was a highly interested witness
and entered into the witness box only for achieving the
conviction of appellant; (iii) that PW-9, produced to prove
C recovery memo, was not an independent but an
interested witness who was the son-in-law of brother of
PW-1; (iv) that the 'polythene' bag in which the 'sickle'
was wrapped was taken by the Investigating Officer
without -any seal from the site of recovery; (v) that the
D alleged ~covery of clothes 'Baniyan and towel' did not
satisfy the mandate of Section 27 of the Evidence Act and
therefore, the result of chemical examiner was of no value
to prove the charge and (vi) that identification by sniffer
dog could not be taken as evidence for the purpose of
E establishing guilt of the appellant.
Partly allowing the appeal with regard to tlfe quantum.
of sentence, the Court
HELD_:1. As a matter of fact, there is nothing
F inconsistent between the testimony of the PW-1 and G.D.
Report. The FIR (Ext.Ka.1) takes few facts. Neither any
accused was named in. it nor there is any infirmity. The
occurrence came to the notice of informant PW-1 . after
4.00 p.m. and the written report was subtnitted at 6:10
G p.m. on the same day at Satrikh Police Station, about 7 ·
kms. from the village. Looking to the gravity of the offence
and shock of the family members of the deceased, it
0
cannot be said that there is delay in reporting the matter
to the police. [Para 22) [686•0-G]
H
LAUT KUMAR YADAV @ KURI v. STATE OF UTTAR 671
PRADESH
2. PW-1 disclosed that a few days before the date of A
occurrence, accused teased his daughter and also
threatened her. Her daughter Km. 'x' explained about the
accused misconduct to her cousin Ashok Kumar. Later,
on having received the complaint about the indecent
behaviour of the accused, he scolded him. Though, B
Ashok Kumar died subsequently but the evidence of the
victim's father is quite convincing and worth to believe.
In fact in FIR he has not named the accused. Merely
because PW-1 is the father of the deceased victim girl, his
evidence cannot be doubted on that count in absence of c
any suspicion. [Para 23] [687-B-D]
3. PW-9 was the person who accompanied the police
party to the house of the accused. He has fully
corroborated the testimony of the Investigating Officer
and testified that the accused leading the police party and D
a few citizens including himself opened the door of his
house and had taken out the sickle lying below the cot.
He rejected the defence suggestion that the Investigating
Officer had pointed out towards the sickle; rather
asserted that it was the accused himself who had picked E
up the sickle and handed over to the Investigating Officer.
The accused unwrapped the sickle from the 'polythene'
sheet. The Investigating Officer retained the sickle
alongwith polythene. There is slight variance on the point
of time of it being prepared. Whereas it is recited in the F
recovery memo that the police party being led by the
accused arrived at the accused house at 6.00 p.m., PW-9
disclosed that it was about 7.00-7.30 p.m. when the
memo was prepared. It is the common experience that the
daylight continues even after sunset upto 20-25 minutes. G
The villagers give approximate timing generally based on
the position of the sun. So, the possibility of the recovery
memo being prepared in the daylight at the time of the
day meeting with night popularly called as 'Dusk' is
absolutely credible. The var.iance besides being H
672 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [2014] 8 S.C.R.
A insignificant is justified, as after recovery, it would have
taken some time for the Investigating Officer to finish the
job after completing all the relevant formalities including
examination of the weapon. The whole recovery memo
is found written in the handwriting of the Investigating
B Officer. Therefore, in the time of its preparation has no •
adverse bearing. Only because PW-9 is being related to
the deceased there can be no reason to doubt the veracity
of his testimony as his presence in the village on
24.02.2004 is justified. On having heard about PW1 's ·
c daughter death, in ordinary course being a relative he
came to express his condolence and participated in the
cremation of the girl. He cannot be stated to be chance
witness. In fact nothing could be extracted from his cross-
examination, which might be given indication of his being
not a probable witness of the recovery of sickle and
0
recovery memo (Ext. Ka-12). Therefore, his presence in
the village being most natural and probable, his evidence
is full of credit cind acceptable. [Para 24) [687-E-H; 688-
A-E]
E 4. The contention on behalf of the appellant that
polythene in the Sickle wrapped and taken by
Investigating Officer was without any seal at the time of
recovery, is untenable on the face of recovery memo
itself. In the latter part of this memo (Ext.Ka-12),
F description of the Sickle is given and then it is recited in
clear terms that it was sealed then and there in a packet
and recovery memo prepared. The Investigating Officer
(PW-10) has also stated that on the statement of thtr
accused, the sickle was recovered from his house In·
G presence of witness PW-9 and also got recovered
Gamchha (Towel) and Baniyan of the accused. The
· recovery of the sickle which was kept in the clothes
under the Cot was made from the house of the accused.
The Investigating Officer has also stated that the sickle
H was having bloodstains and after taking the sickle and
LAUT KUMAR YADAV @ KURI v. STATE Of:: UTTAR 673
PRADESH
bloodstained Gamchha and Baniyan in custody he A
sealed the same. In light of Section 27 of the Evidence
Act, 1872, th~ statement of accused so far as it relates to
giving of information regarding the hiding of the sickle
and recovery of the same can be taken into account to
prove the truth of the incident and to prove the statements B
of other witnesses which corroborated the same. A
statement even by way of confes~ion made in police
custody which distinctly relates to the facts discovered
is admissible in evidence against the accused. The
statement which is admissible under Section 27 of the c
Evidence Act, 1872. is the one which is the information
leading to discovery. Ttius what is admissible being the
information, same has to be proved and not the opinion
formed on it by the police officer. The exact information
given by the accused while in custody which led to the
0
recovery of the article has to be proved; the exact
information must be adduced through evidence. [Paras
25, 26 & 29] [688-F-H; 689-A, E; 691-G-H; 692-A]
5. In the present case the recovery of 'Gamchha' and
'Baniyan' at the i"nstance·of the accused from the E
underneath the Takhat (Cot) is an important factor that
connects the accused with the crime. According to the
report of the chemical examiner and serologist, blood
was also found on the· said 'Gamchha' and 'Baniyan'
belonging to the accused. This leads to the conclusion F
that at the time of committing murder the accused was
'wearing the 'Gamchha' and 'Baniyan' and thereafter he
'concealed them underneath the Takhat. Therefore, the
contention of the appellant that the alleged recovery of
clothes i.e. Gamchha and Baniyan do not satisfy the G
mandate of Section 27 of the Evidence Act cannot be
sustained. [Paras 29 and 30] [692-B-D]
Anter Singh v. State of Rajasthan, (2004) 10 SCC 657:
2004 (2) SCR123; Pandurang Kalu Patil v. State of H
674 SUPREME COURT REPORTS (2014) 8 S.C.R.
A Maharashtra, (2002) 2 SCC 490: 2002 (1) SCR 338 and
Bodh Raj alias Bodha and others v. State of Jammu and
Kashmir, AIR 2002 SC 3164: 2002 (2) Suppl. .SCR 67 -
relied on.
6. The Trial Court and the Appellate Court noticed the
8
motive of the accused. PW-1 disclosed in his evidence
that a few days before the date of occurrence, the
accused has teased his daughter and also threatened
her. Her daughter Km. 'x' complained about the
misconduct of the accused to her cousin Ashok Kumar
C and the latter admonished the accused for the same.
Ashok Kumar died subsequently but the evidence of the
girl's father is quite convincing and worthy.of credit. The
aforesaid incident clearly reflects upon the motive of the
accused. T~he prosecution has brought on record
D evidence as to string of her trouser was found untied and
the trouser had been taken down. She was lying naked
when found dead. The scene at the site of occu.rrence
indicates that the trouser of the decea~ed had been taken
down with a view to outrage her modesty, A portion of
E her dupatta were found thrust in her mouth so as to gag
her. The other part of the dupatta was found in the.
incised wound on "the neck so as to soak blood. The pair;
of the chappals of the deceas.ed was lying at a distance..
The wheat pants were noticed to be trampled which.
F indi~ates violtlnce and a scuffle between the victim and,
the assailant. The episode of eve teasin~ of the girl
indicates that the accused wanted sex with her and it was
in this background that he made a forcible attempt to rape
her. It appears that the girl was bold and brave and she
G resisted the accused forceful attempt which enraged and
provoked the accused to eventually commit the heinous
act. Since there is no direct evidence to prove the guilt
of the accused the Trial Court and the Appellate Court
considered the circumstances which led towards the
H accused. Admittedly, nobody was named in the FIR but
LAUT KUMAR YADAV @ KURI v. STATE OF UTTAR 675
PRADESH
referring to the incident that Km.'x' was murdered the FIR A
wa.s lodged, Since nobody was named in the FIR the
Investigating Officer took the help of the dog squad and
lh~·dog handler PW-4 came with the dog. Dog tracking
·proceeding was done. and the dog tracked the accused.
, The accused who was then taken into custody gave B
statement regarding commission of crime. Though the
'statement is not admissible, at his instance the sickle as
well as· blood stained cloths were recovered. The report
·proved that the sickle was blood stained. The Doctor has
given statement that the injury caused upon the victim C.
could have been caused by the weapon so recovered
which establish that the said weapon was used in
committing the murder. PW-1, father of the victim, had
given statement that earlier also the accused eve-teased
his daughter Km.'x' for which his nephew Ashok Kumar o
scolded accused. PW-3 although turned hostile had
made statement that accused had confessed to him that
since the girl has refused sexual relationship with him he
had murdered her. Though such statement cannot be
relied upon independently to hold. the accused guilty, E
other chain of evidence reaches to only one conclusion
,i.e. against the accused. The position of her cloth of the
,h::>wer body "salwar" establish that the person tried to
~ave sex with the girl and the injuries on the fingers of
th.e girl also established that she protested somehow.
F
~:These circumstances also lead to the conclusion that the
'f)erson who could not succeed in outraging the modesty
of the girl, murdered her. There .is ncr other evidence
contrary to it. Further, there is no evidence to suggest that
]he father of the deceased had any enmity or grudge with G
anyone who may be suspected to have committed the
murder. All these circumstances proved that lt is nobody
else but the accused who attempted to commit rape and
murdered the deceased. [Para 34] [693-F-H; 694-A-H; 695-
A·D]
H
676 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [2014] 8 S.C.R.
A Abdul Rajak Murtaja Dafedar v. State of Maharashtra,
(1969) 2 SCC 234: 1970 (1) SCR 551; Gade Lakshmi
Mangaraju alias Ramesh v. State of A.P., (2001) 6 SCC 205:
2001 (3) SCR 830 and Dinesh Borlhakur v. State of Assam,
(2008) 5 sec 697: 2008 (4) SCR 881 - relied on.
B
7.1. In the present case, the circumstantial evidence
comes to only one conclusion that appellant attempted
to commit rape and bacause of resistance he committed
the murder of the deceased. The appellant was aged
C about 21 years at the time of offence. Initially when the
matter for confirmation of death sentence was heard by
the two Judges of the High Court there was a divided
opinion, one Judge confirmed the death sentence while
the other acquitted the appellant. It is the other Bench
which affirmed the death sentence. It is not the case of
D the Prosecution that the appellant cannot be reformed.
In fact the possibility of his reformation cannot be ruled
out. There is no criminal antecedent of the appellant. The
Court has to consider different parameters as laid down
in Bachan Singh followed by Machhi Singh and balance
E the mitigating circumstances against the need for
imposition of capital punishment. [Para 46) [700-B-D]
7.2. Considering the age of the accused, the
possibility of reforming him cannot be ruled out. He
F cannot be termed as social menace. Further, the case
does not fall under the "rarest of rare" category.
Therefore, the death sentence cannot be upheld. The
death sentence of accused-Lalit Kumar Yadav alias Kuri
is commuted to that of life imprisonment but the rest part
G of the conviction and sentence is affirmed. [Paras 47, 48)
[700-E-G]
Dhananjoy Chatterjee v. State of West Bengal, (1994) 4 ·
sec 220 - distinguished.
H
LAUT KUMAR YADAV @ KURI v. STATE OF UTTAR 677
PRADESH
Bachan Singh v. State of Punjab (1980) 2 SCC 684; A
Machhi Singh v. State of Punjab, (1983) 3 SCC 470: 1983
(3) SCR 413 and Santosh Kumar Satishbhushan Bariyar v.
State of Maharashtra (2009) 6 SCC 498: 2009 (9) SCR 90 -
relied on.
B
Atbir v. Govt. of NCT of Delhi, (201 O) 9 sec 1: 201 o (9)
SCR 993; Shanker Kisanrao Khade v. State of Maharashtra,
(2013) 5 sec 546 and Ramnaresh and others v. State of
Chhattisgarh, (2012) 4 SCC 257: 2012 (3) SCR 630 -
referred to.
c
Case Law Reference :
2004 (2) SCR123 relied on Para 27
2002 (1) SCR 338 relied on Para 28
2002 (2) Suppl. SCR 67 relied on Para 29 D
1970 (1) SCR 551 relied on Para 31
2001 (3) SCR 830 relied on Para 32
2008 (4) SCR 881 relied on Para 33
E
(1980) 2 sec 684 relied on Para 35
1983 (3) SCR 413 relied on Para 36
2009 (9) SCR 90 relied on Para 37
(1994) 4 sec 220 distinguished Para 38 F
2010 (9) SCR 993 referred to Para 39
(2013) 5 sec 546 referred to Para 40
2012 (3) SCR 630 referred to Para 41
G
CRIMINAL APPELLATE JURISDICTION: Criminal Appeal
Nq. 1022 of 2006.
From the Judgment and Order dated 21.08.2006 of the
High Court of Judicature at Allahabad in Crl. A. Nos. 252 & 384
of 2005. H
678 SUPREME COURT REPORTS (2014] 8 S.C.R.
A Pranesh for the Appellant.
Ratnakar Dash, Gaurav Dhingra for the Respondent.
The Judgment of the Court was delivered by
B SUDHANSU JYOTI MUKHOPADHAYA, J. 1. This
appeal is directed against the impugned common judgment.
dated 11th August, 2006 passed by the High Court of
Judicature at Allahabad, Lucknow Bench in Capital Sentence
Reference No.1 of 2005 with Criminal Appeal No.252 of 2005
c from Jail and Criminal Appeal No. 384 of 2005. By the
impugned common judgment the High Court while dismissed
the appeal preferred by the appellant, answered the reference
affirming the death sentence imposed by the Trial Court for the
offence committed under Section 302 IPC for having committed
D murder of Km. 'x' (victim: original name not disclosed). The High
Court also affirmed the conviction and sentence passed against
the appellant under Section 376 read with Section 511 of Indian
Penal Code for having made an attempt to commit rape on
Km. 'x' aged about 18 years and sentenced him to undergo
E five years rigorous imprisonment thereunder.
2. Initially the appeal was heard by the Division Bench of
the Allahabad High Court, Luckno~ Bench and after conclusion
of the arguments the Hon'ble Judges pronounced their
judgm~nts but had a divided opinion; one Hon'ble Judge ·
F affirme~ the order of conviction and sentence recorded by the
Trial Court and the other Hon'ble Judge reversed the whole ·
judgment and the order of the Trial Court and out rightly t
acquitted the accused-appellant on both the counts. Therefore,··
the case was referred under Section 392 Cr.PC to a third·
G Judge who after hearing the parties and on appreciation of
evidence by the impugned judgment dated 11th August, 2006
dismissed the appeals preferred by the appellant and another
on his behalf. The judgment rendered by the Trial Court has
been upheld and the reference was answered confirming the
H penalty of death sentence.
LAUT KUMAR YADAV@ KURI v. SIATE OF UTIAR 679
PRADESH [SUDHANSU JYOTI MUKHOPADHAYA,·J.]
3. Learned counsel appearing for the appellant, inter alia, A
made following submissions in assailing the judgment under
appeal:
.(i) 'The prosecution has failed to produce any witness to
prove the very factum of the registration of the FIR. Irrespective
8
qf the same it is ante-timed.
a
(ii) Ram Chandra Chauarasiya (PW-1) is highly interested
witness and has entered into the witness box only for the
purpose of achieving the conviction of the appellant. The
statement of PW-1 is not corroborated by any one even though C
witnesses were available for ~he same.
(iii) Sriram(PW-9), who was produced to prove recovery
memo is not an independent but an interested witness who is
the son-in-law of brother of PW-1. D
(iv) The.'polythene' bag in which the 'sickle' was wrapped
was taken by the Investigating Officer without any seal from the
site of recovery.
(v) The alleged recovery of clothes 'Baniyan and towel' do E
not satisfy the mandate of Section 27 of the Indian Evidence
Act. Therefore, the result of chemical examiner is of no value
to prove the charge.
(vi) Identification by sniffer dog cannot be taken as
;evidence for the purpose of establishing guilt of the appellant. F
4. Before we proceed to discuss the merits of the above
contentions, it is desirable to notice the case of the prosecution
and evidence on record as recapitulated below:
G
5. On 23.2.2004, Ram Chandra Chaurasiya (PW-1) and
his wife Vidyawati residents of village Gogulpur, Police Station
Satrikh, District Barabanki had gone to their agricultural field.
When they returned to their house at 2.30 p.m., they were
H
680 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [2014] 8 S.C.R.
A informed by their daughter Guddi that their another daughter
Km.'x' had gone to beckon them at 1.30 p.m., as on that day,
Govind, the son of Ram Chandra Chaurasiya's, sala (brother-
in-law) had come to their house, .his two d~ughters thought it
proper to inform their parents and it was in this background th~t
B Km. 'x' had gone to inform and summon her parents. All t.he
family members had a long wait for Km.'x' to return but when
she did not come back up to 4.00p.m., Ram Chandra
Chaurasiya (PW-1) anq Vidyawati botn being worried left in
search of their daughter; When they were going through the
c agricultural fields, they were' shocked to see their daughter
Km.'x' lying dead in poor of blood in the plot of one Vishwanath.
Ram Chandra Chaurasiya (PW-1) lodged a written report (Ext.
Ka.1) af Satrikh Police Station where upon a case was
registered and the then Station House Officer Shri Ashok
Kumar Yadav assumed the charge of investigation and
D immediately swung into action. He visited the site of occurrence
and soon· sent for the dog squad. An Inspector of the Crime
Investigation Department, who was In-charge ofa sniffer dog,
named 'Raja' arrived at the place of occurrence late in the
evening. Heinstructed 'Raja'.. to pick up the smell of culprit from
E the site of occurrence and then·find out some clue of the crime
an&,t~.e.cri!TI,ihal. 'Raja' who was a very well t,.ined dog of
Gerrrlan 'Shepherd species and who had earli6r-.helped to
uncdV:!!t rriany'ciillies, smelt all th~ important spots around t~
dead.body'at th~site.of.occurrence.and chasing the trail ofth8:
F same smell;.
•: , .
i(-lked
'I.
along with police
....... , .
personnel and villagers'
'"
behind, arid stralghtaWay reached ·at the house of the accused.,:
appellant.'. The appellant and. his brother wrapped with blank,rs
were sleeping inside their house. 'Raja' barkecl at the blanket
of the accused-appellant, whc> was. imrrtedlately grabbed over
G by the police: On the riext day i.e. on 24th F~bruary, 2004, the
Investigating Officer recovered at the instance of accused-
appellant the bloodstained Baniyan (vest) arid a Gamchha
(towel) of. the accused-appellant and also Hansiya (scythe) used
in the co.mmission of crime. The chemical examiner on
H
LAUT KUMAR YADAV@ KURI v. STATE OF UTIAR 681
PRADESH [SUDHANSU JYOTI MUKHOPADHAYA, J.]
examination of the three recovered articles noticed that there A
was blood on all the said incriminating articles. The inquest
report was also prepared on 24th February, 2004 by the
. Investigating Officer. As recited in the said report, the throat of
the victim of occurrence was found chopped off. Her neck was
barely connected with the trunk. The dupatta of the deceased B
was found embedded in the large wound and all the five fingers
of her left hand had cut wounds. Her dead body was packed
and sealed in a bundle and sent for post-mortem. Although the
scene at the site of occurrence revealed that the Salwar
(trouser) of the girl had been untied and taken off down and she c
was found in the naked state and also there were the signs of
violence all around which indicated that a ferocious attempt to
commit rape on her was made, yet the Doctor found that the
girl had not been ravished.
6. The Investigating Officer prepared the site plan of the D
occurrence. He collected ordinary and bloodstained earth from
there and packed them in separate boxes. The trampled wheat
plants around the dead body revealed a tale of violence. Both
the chappals of the deceased were also lying at a distance.
After interrogating all the relevant witnesses, collecting the E
relevant reports including the post-mortem, the Investigating
Officer accomplished the investigation and submitted a charge-
sheet against the accused appellant.
7. Lalit Kumar Yadav pleaded not guilty before the Trial F
.Court and denied all the incriminating allegations levelled
against him. He, however, admitted that he had been arrested
by the police at 11.00 p.m. on 23rd February, 2004, i.e. the
date of occurrence.
8. The prosecution examined as many as tenwitnesses G
in support of the prosecution story. Ram Chandra ·chaurasiya
(PW-1) is the father of the deceased. He proved his report and
also testified that the accused-.appellant had teased the
deceased girl a few days before the occurrence and when
H
682 SUPREME COURT REPORTS r2014] a1 s.c.R.
A Km.'x' complained about the incident of teasing to her cousin
Ashok Kumar, the latter had scolded the appellant.
Unfortunately, Ashok Kumar died subsequent to the occurrence.
He also proved that the police called a dog who after smelling
the site of occurrence tracked down to the house of the accused
B and caught him.
9. Ram Prakash Yadav (PW-2) was the witness to whom
the appellant had allegedly confessed about the commission
of crime. He was, however, declared hostile and it was
suggested that he being a 'Yadav' had helped the accused by
C retracting his earlier statement. He, however, confirmed the fact
of a sniffer dog being brought to the village by the police.
10. Similarly, Ram Prakash (PW-3), S/o Jagannath turned
hostile by rejecting the suggestion of the prosecution that the
lo accused-appellant conveyed and confessed to him that he had
killed the girl as she was a girl of easy virtue.
11. Abdul Lais Khan (PW-4) is the handler of the German
Shepherd Dog known as 'Raja'. The said dog was taken to the
village in the late evening on the date of occurrence. Shri Khan
was then the Sub-Inspector in the Crime Research Branch (Dog
Squad), District Lucknow. He testified that at about 8 p.m. on
February 23, 2004, he was directed by the Senior ot
Superintendent of Police, Lucknow to go to the site of
occurrence. Accordingly, he arrived there at 8.30 p.m. alongwith
the German shepherd dog named as 'Raja'. He started the
search work at 9 p.m., it being a night with dark all around, a
patromax lantern was lightened up near the dead body of the
victim. He asked for arrangement of more light which was
provided by the Investigating Officer and then he instructed the
dog to smell the footprints of the culprit around the dead body
and then set the dog scot-free and asked it to move. He
alongwith the police personnel and other villagers walked
behind the dog. After walking about 1 k.m. the dog reached in
the village Gokulpur Aseni. It then traversed through the
Khadanja street. After tracking the street in front of 10-12
LAUT KUMAR YADAV @ KURI v. STATE OF UTTAR 683
PRADESH [SUDHANSU JYOTI MUKHOPADHAYA, J.]
houses, the dog entered into a thatched house, where two boys A
were resting on a wooden cot. The dog barked at the accused
Lalit Kumar who was identified by Abdul Lais Khan in the Court
as the same person, who was smelled by the dog and whom it
had attempted to pounce and catch hold. However, in the
meantime, the Station House Officer of Police Station Satrikh B
apprehended Lalit Kumar. In nutshell, according to the
evidence of this witness, the accused was the offender whose
footprints were there around the'dead body.
12. Head Constable Ram Prakash Shailesh (PW-5) had
prepared the chik report Ex.Ka.5 on the basis of Ram Chandra C
Chaurasiya's written report (Ext.Ka.1 ). He registered the case
in the General Case Diary at Sl.No.33 on 23rd February, 2004
and submitted its copy Ext.Ka.6.
13. Dr. Arun Chandra Dwivedi (PW-6) is the Doctor, who D
conducted the post mortem of the victim's corpse and prepared
the autopsy report (Ext.Ka.7). He proved the said report before
the Trial Court and testified that the neck of the deceased was
almost severed from the trunk with a namesake junction of the
skin. He confirmed that it was possible for the neck of the victim E
being severed by the sickle having small teeth.
14. It is significant to note that Dr. Arun Chandra Dwivedi
was summoned by the High Court under Sections 367(1) and
391 of the Code of Criminal Procedure with a view to ascertain
as to whether the major injury by which there was almost a
F
severance of the neck from the trunk could possibly be caused
with the sickle (Mat.-Ex.8). High Court while passing an order
on July 13, 2005 expressed that something lacking so far as
the use of sickle was concerned. The doctor deposed in the
Court that the major incised wound found on the neck could G
have been caused by the sharp edged 'hansia' (sickle) but it
could not be asked in the Trial Court as to whether this kind of
injury could possibly be caused by the aforesaid 'hansia' Mat.-
Ext.a, which had teeth on its blade. In common parlance such
a 'hansia' curved in design is known as 'Aaridar' - means H
684 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [2014] 8 S.C.R.
A blade with teeth. Dr. Dwivedi appeared before the High Court.
The sealed bundle of the sickle was opened in the Court and
shown to Dr. Arun Chandra Dwivedi, who was then posted as
Medical Officer, District Hospital, Barabanki. He testified
before the High Court that the injuries shown in the P.OSt mortem
B report Ext.Ka.? could possibly be caused by the sickle Mat.-
Ext.a. It was also stated by him that the injuries in the fingers
of the deceased could have been sustained by the victim while
defending herself.
15. Head-Constable Devtadeen (PW-7) took out on March
C 16, 2004 the two sealed bundles of this case from 'malkhana'
of the Police Station Satrikh at 2.30 p.m. and after making an
entry in the G.D. went to the Court of Chief Judicial Magistrate,
Barabanki and obtained a letter, a copy addressed to the
Chemical Examiner for examination of the incriminating articles.
D Then on 17th March, 2004, he went to the laboratory and
deposited both bundles alognwith the letter in the laboratory.
16. Constable Awadhesh Kumar (PW-8) proved that he
carried the dead body of the victim to the mortuary for autopsy.
E
17. Sri ram (PW-9) is a relative of the informant Ram
Chandra Chaurasiya. He came to participate in the cremation
of the latter's daughter. In the evening, the Investigating Officer
met him and asked him to accompany him to the accused-
appellant's house. He went there along with other village men.
F The accused had taken all of them including the Investigating
Officer inside the house and took out the sickle wrapped in a
'polythene' and his clothes namely Baniyan and Gamchha. To
depic this discovery, memo Ex.K.12 was prepared by the
Investigating Officer. This witness identified his signature on it.
G
18. Sub-Inspector Ashok Kumar Yadav (PW 10) is the
Investigating Officer of this case. According to his evidence, this
case was registered in his presence at the Satrikh Police
Station. He then reached at the site of occurrence at about 6.30
H p.m., inspected the site of occurrence, saw the dead body lying
LAUT KUMAR YADAV @ KURI v. STATE OF UTTAR 685
PRADESH [SUDHANSU JYOTI MUKHOPADHAYA, J.]
in the agricultural field of Vishwanath, prepared the site-plan A
Ext.Ka.13 and then contacted his higher authorities and asked
for a Dog Squad, tie sent his own police jeep for bringing the
dog. The Deputy Superintendent of Police Deena Nath Dubey
was also present at the site of occurrence. Abdul Lais Khan,
Sub-Inspector, incharge of the Dog arrived at the site of s
occurrence long after the sunset and examined the site in the
light of patromax. Shri Khan instructed the dog to smell the entire
site of occufrence as also the dead body and then the said dog
with the help of the trail of the smell reached at the house of
the accused, who was lying on a 'takhat', i.e., the wooden cot. C
The dog barked at him. He then interrogated the accused about
his relationship with the deceased. At 7 p.m. on the other day,
he prepared the inquest report (Ext.Ka.4) and interrogated other
witnesses. The accused was then formally arrested and he led
to the recovery of the sickle (Mat.-Ext.8), his Gamchha (Mat.- D
Ext.9) and Baniyan (Mat.-Ext.10). After completing other
formalities of interrogating the witnesses and collecting other
material exhibits, the Investigating Officer brought the accused
and the sealed bundles and boxes of the incriminating .articles
to the police station. On having completed the task of
investigation, this witness submitted charge-sheet Ext.Ka.28 E
against the accused.
19. The defence of the appellant was that of denial. The
appellant in his statement under Section 313 Cr.P.C. stated the
charges had been wrongly framed and also denied all the F
incriminating allegations levelled against him.
20. The prosecution relied upon four pieces of
circumstantial evidence first, Sniffer Dog- tracking evidence, the
other is recovery of sickle i.e. the weapon which was used by
the appellant to cut the neck of the girl, the third is the recovery G
of clothes of the appellant and past conduct of the appellant
pertaining to eve teasing of the deceased girl.
21. Relying upon the prosecution case and the evidence
led in support thereof, the learned trial court held the accused- H
686 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [2014] 8 S.C.R.
A appellant guilty under Sections 302 and 376 read with Section
511 of the l.P.C. and then senteno.ed him to death for the
offence under Section 302 l.P.C. and 5 years rigorous
imprisonment for the offence under Section 376 read with
-Section 511 of the IPC. The High Court on reference affirmed
8 the d~ath sentence.
22. There is a suspicion ori the veracity of the First
Information Report (Ext. Ka-1) with reference to its entry in the
G.D. Report (Ext.Ka-6). According to recital of the G.D. report
(Ex.Ka.6) Ram Chandra Chaurasiya himself submitted his
C wri.tten report at the police station. The reference was made it
to the testimony of Ram Chandra Chaurasiya (PW-1 ), father of
the victim who testified that he dictated the report and got it sent.
to the police station. He however, could not recollect the name
of th~ villager who carried the said report. This was the ground
D taken by the counsel for the appellant to raise suspicion on the
veracity of the first information report. As a matter of fact, there
is nothing inconsistent between the testimony of the PW-1 and
G.D. Report. The FIR (Ext.Ka.1) takes few facts. Neither any
accused was named in it nor there is any infirmity. A perusal
E of the said report would reveal that the informant (PW-1) mainly
disclosed in it that his daughter Km.'x' aged about 18 years
had gone in search of her parents, was found dead in the
agricultural field of Vishwanath on 23rd February, 2004. It was
also added that some person incised her neck. A prayer for
F necessary action was pressed into service. The occurrence
came to the notice of informant PW-1 after 4.00 p.m. and the
written report was submitted at 6.10 p.m. on the same day at
Satrikh Police Station, about 7 kms. from the village. Looking
to the gravity of the offence and shock of the family members
G of the deceased, it cannot be said that there is delay in
reporting the matter to the police.
We, therefore, find that there is no inconsistency on the
point to act.
H
LAUT KUMAR YADAV@ KURI v. STATE OF UTTAR 687
PRADESH [SUDHANSU JYOTI MUKHOPADHAYA, J.]
A
23. The second submission of the appellant is that Ram
Chandra Chaursiya (PW-1) is highly interested witness and his
statement is not corroborated by any other witness though
available.
Ram Chandra Chaursiya (PW-1) disclosed that a few days B
before the date of occurrence, accused teased his daughter
and also threatened her. Her daughter Km.'x' explained about
the accused misconduct to her cousin Ashok Kumar. Later, on
having received the complaint about the indecent behaviour of
the accused, he scolded him. Unfortunately, Ashok Kumar died c
subsequently but the evidence of the victim's father is quite
convincing and worth to believe. In fact in FIR he has not named
the accused. Merely because PW-1 is the father of the
deceased victim girl, his evidence cannot be doubted on that
count in absence of any suspicion. D
24. The next argument assails the testimony of Sriram
(PW-9) on the ground that he is related to the deceased. He
fairly stated that he is son-in-law of Ram Chandra's cousin. He
has come from lbrahimpur village of district Barabanki. He was
the person who accompanied the police party to the house of E
the accused. He has fully corroborated the testimony of the
Investigating Officer and testified that the accused leading the
police party and a few citizens including himself opened the
door of his house and had taken out the sickle lying below the
cot. He rejected the defence suggestion that the Investigating F
Officer had pointed out towards the sickle; rather asserted that
it was the accused himself who had picked up the sickle and
handed over to the Investigating Officer. The accused
unwrapped the sickle from the 'polythene' sheet. The
Investigating Officer retained the sickle alongwith polythene. G
There is slight variance on the point of time of it being prepared.
Whereas it is recited in the recovery memo that the police party
being led by the accused arrived at the accused house at 6.00
p.m., Sriram (PW-9) disclosed that it was about 7.00-7.30 p.m.
when the memo was prepared. It is the common experience H
688 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [2014] 8 S.C.R.
A that the daylight continues even after sunset upto 20-25
minutes. The villagers give approximate timing generally based
on the position of the sun. So, the possibility of the recovery
memo being prepared in the daylight at the /time of the day
meeting with night popularly called as 'Dusk' is absolutely
B credible. The variance besides being insignificant is justified,
as after recovery, it would have taken some time for the
Investigating Officer to finish the job after completing all the
relevant formalities including examination of the weapon. The
whole recovery memo is found written in the handwriting of the
c Investigating Officer. Therefore, in the time of its preparation
has no adverse bearing. Only because Sriram (PW-9) is being
related to the deceased there can be no reason to doubt the
veracity of his testimony as his presence in the village on
24.02.2004 is justified. On having heard about Ram Chandra's
daughter death, in ordinary course being a relative he came to
0
express his condolence and participated in the cremation of
the girl. He cannot be stated to be chance witness. In fact
nothing could be extracted from his cross-examination, which
might be given indication of his being not a probable witness
of the recovery of sickle and recovery memo (Ext. Ka-12). We,
E · therefore, find that his presence in the village being most natural
and probable, his evidence is full of credit and acceptable.
25. The next contention made on behalf of the appellant
was that polythene in the Sickle wrapped and taken by
F Investigating Officer was without any seal at the time of
recovery. This contention is untenable on the face of recovery
memo itself. In the latter part of this memo (Ext.Ka-12),
description of the Sickle is given and then it is recited in clear
terms that it was sealed then and there in a packetand recovery
G memo prepared.
The Investigating Officer (PW-10) has also stated that on
the statement of the accused, the sickle was recovered from
his house in presence of witness Sriram (PW-9) and also got
H recovered Gamchha (Towel) and Baniyan of the accused. The
LAUT KUMAR YADAV @ KURI v. STATE OF UTIAR 68~
PRADESH [SUDHANSU JYOTI MUKHOPADHAYA, J.] \•.•
recovery of the sickle which was kept in the clothes under the A
Cot was made from the house of the accused: The Investigating
Officer has also stated that the sickle was having bloodstains :
and after taking the sickle pnd bloodstained Gamchha and
Baniyan in custody he sealed the same. ~
.a
26. The validity of recovery proceeding has been ,
questioned by the learned counsel for the appellant and
submitted that the confessional statement is not admissible
under Sections 25 and 26 of the Indian Evidence Act. However,
Section 27 of the Indian Evidence Act, provides as follows:
"27. How much of information received from accused
may be proved.- Provided that, when any fact is deposed
to as discovered in consequence of information received.
from a person accused of any offence, in the custody of
a police officer, so much of such information, whether it D ·
amounts to a confession or not as it relates distinctly to
the fact thereby discovered, may be proved."
::
Therefore, in the light of aforesaid provisions, the statement
of accused so far as it relates to giving of information regarding · E
the hiding of the sickle and recovery of the same can be taken
into account to prove the truth of the incident and to prove the
statements of other witnesses which corroborated the same.
27. In Anter Singh v. State of Rajasthan, (2004) 10 SCC
657, this Court noticed the scope and ambit of Section 27 of F
the Indian Evidence Act and observed:
"16. The various requirements of the section 'Can be
summed up as follows:
(1) The fact of which evidence is sought to be given must G
be relevant to the issue. It must be borne in mind that
the provision has nothing to do with the questibn of
relevancy. The relevancy of the fact discovered must be
established according to the prescriptions relating to
H
690 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [2014) 8 S.C.R.
A relevancy of other evidence connecting it with the crime
in order to make the fact discovered admissible.
(2) The fact must have been discovered.
(3) The discovery must have been in consequence of
B some information received from the accused and not by
the accused's own act.
(4) The person giving the information must be accused
of any offence.
c (5) He must be in the custody of a police officer.
(6) The discovery of a fact in consequence of information
received from an accused in custody must be deposed
to.
D
(7) Thereupon only that portion of the information which
relates distinctly or strictly to the fact discovered can be
proved. The rest is inadmissible."
E 28. In Ppndurang Kalu Patil v. State of Maharashtra,
(2002) 2 SCC 490, this Court observed:
"5. Even the recent decision in State of Maharashtra v.
Damu (2000) 6 SCC 269 this Court followed Pulukuri
Kottaya AIR 1947 PC 67 with approval. The fallacy
F committed by the Division Bench as per the impugned
judgment is possibly on account of truncating the word
"fact" in Section 27 of the Evidence Act from the adjoining
word "discovered". The essence of Section 27 is that it
was enacted as a proviso to the two preceding sections
G (see Sections 25 and 26) which imposed a complete ban
on the admissibility of any confession made by an
accused either to the police or to anyone while the
accused is in police custody. The object of making a
provision in Section 27 was to permit a certain portion of
the statement made by an accused to a police officer
H
LAUT KUMAR YADAV @ KURI v. STATE OF UTTAR 691
PRADESH [SUDHANSU JYOTI MUKHOPADHAYA, J.]
admissible in evidence whether or not such statement is A
confessional or non-confessional. Nonetheless, the ban
against admissibility would stand lifted if the statement
distinctly related to a discovery of fact. A fact can be
discovered by the police (investigating officer) pursuant
to an information elicited from the accused if such B .
disclosure was followed by one or more of a variety of
causes. Recovery of an object is only one such cause.
Recovery, or even production of object by itself need not
necessarily result in discovery of a fact. That is why Sir
John Beaumont said in Pulukuri Kotfaya AIR 1947 PC c.
67 (p. 70, para 10) that "it is fallacious to treat the 'fact
discovered' within the section as equivalent to the object
produced". The following sentence of the learned Law
Lord in the said decision, though terse, is eloquent in
conveying the message highlighting the pith of the ratio:
0
(AIR p. 70, para 10)
"Information supplied by a person in custody that 'I will
produce a knife concealed in the roof of my house' does
not lead to the discovery of a knife; knives were
discovered many years ago. It leads to the discovery of E
the fact that a knife is concealed in the house of the
informant to his knowledge, and if the knife is proved to
have been used in the commission of the offence, the
fact discovered is very relevant."
F
29. In Bodh Raj alias Bodha and others v. State of Jammu
and Kashmir, AIR 2002 SC 3164, it was held that a statement
even by way of confession made in police custody which
distinctly relates to the facts discovered is admissible in
evidence against the accused. The statement which is
admissible under Section 27 is the one which is the information G
leading to discovery. Thus what is admissible being the
information, same has to be proved and not the opinion formed
on it by the police officer. The exact information given by the
H \
- .. ..,
692 SUPREME: COURT REPORTS [2014] 8 S.C.R.
A accused while in custody which led to the recovery of the article
has to be proved; the exact information must be adduced
through evidence.
30. In the present case the recovery of 'Gamchha' and
'Baniyan' at the instance of the accused from the underneath
8
the Takhat (Cot) is an important factor that connects the
accused with the crime. According to the report of the chemical
examiner and serologist, blood was also found on the said
'Gamchha' and 'Baniyan' belonging to the accused. This leads
to the conclusion that at the time of committing murder the
C accused was wearing the 'Gamchha' and 'Baniyan' and
thereafter he concealed them underneath the Takhat.
Therefore, the aforesaid contention raised on behalf of the
appellant that the alleged recovery of clothes i.e. Gamchha and
D Baniyan do not satisfy the mandate of Section 27 of the Indian
Evidence Act cannot be sustained.
31. It was lastly urged on behalf of the appellant that
identification of accused by sniffer dog cannot be relied upon
E as it is not admissible in order to prove the guilt of the appellant.
Similar contention was raised in Abdul Rajak Murtaja
Dafedar v. State of Maharashtra, (1969) 2 SCC ~34, wherein
this Court opined "that in the present state of scientific
knowledge evidence of dog tracking, even if admissible, is not
F ordinarily of much weight."
32. In Gade Lakshmi Mangaraju alias Ramesh v. State
of A.P., (2001) 6 SCC 205, this Court noticed the criticism
advanced against the reception of evidence pertaining to sniffer
G dog. The objection was that the life and liberty of human being
should not be made to depend on animals sensibilities and that
the possibility of a dog misjudging the smell or mistaking the
track cannot be ruled out, for many a time such mistakes have
happened. In the said case, this Court relying decision in Abdul
H Rajak Murtaja Dafedar (supra) case held:
LAUT KUMAR YADAV @ KURI v. STATE OF UTIAR 693
PRADESH [SUDHANSU JYOTI MUKHOPADHAYA, J.]
"17. We are of the view that criminal courts need not ·A ·.
bother much about the evidence based on sniffer dogs
due to the inherent frailties adumbrated above, although
we cannot disapprove the investigating agency .
employing such sniffer dogs for helping the investigation
to track down criminals." B
33. In Dinesh Borthakur v. State of Assam, (2008) 5 SCC
697, while the same question was considered, referring to
Gade Lakshmi Mangaraju (supra) case this Court held "the
law in this behalf, therefore, is settled that while the services C
of a sniffer dog may be taken for the purpose of investigation,
its faculties cannot be taken as evidence for the purpose of ·
establishing ,the guilt of an accused."
34. In the present case, the services of a sniffer dog was ·
taken for investigation. The said dog traced the a~cused and D
he was formally arrested in the evening of the next day. The
Investigating Officer, Ashok Kumar Yadav (PW-10)
corroborated the evidence of Abdul Lais Khan (PW-4) to the
effect that 'Raja' sniffer dog after picking up scent from the place
of occurrence tracked down the house ofthe accused. What. · E
is relevant to note is that the accused has not been convicted
on the ground that the sniffer dog tracked down the house of
the accused and barked at him. The evidence of dog tracking
only shows how the accused was arrested. The Trial Court and
the Appellate Court noticed the motive of the accused. Ram F .
Chandra Chaurasiya (PW-1) disclosed in his evidence that a
few days before the date of occurrence, the accused has
teased his daughter and also threatened her. Her daughter
Km.'x' complained about the misconduct of the accused to her
cousin Ashok Kumar and the latter admonished the accused G
for the same. Ashok Kumar died subsequently but.the evidence
of the girl's father is quite convincing and worthy of credit. The ·
aforesaid incident clearly reflects upon the motive of the
accused.
The prosecution has brought on record evidence as to H
694 SUPREME COURT REPORTS (2014), 8 S.C.R.
A string of her trouser was found untied and the trouser had been
taken down. She was lying naked when found dead. The scene
at the site of occurrence indicates that the trouser of the
deceased had been taken down with a view to outrage {!er
modesty. A portion of her dupatta were found thrust in her mouth
B so as to gag her. The other part of the dupatta was found in
the incised wound on the neck so as to soak blood. The pair
of the chappals of the deceased was lying at a distance. The
wheat plants were noticed to be trampled which indicates
violence and a scuffle between the victim and the assailant. The
C episode of eve teasing of the girl indicates that the accused
wanted sex with her and it was in this background that he made
a forcible attempt to rape her. It appears that the girl was bold
and brave and she resisted the accused forceful attempt which
enraged and provoked the accused to eventually commit the
heinous act.
0
Since there is no direct evidence to prove the guilt of the
accused the Trial Court and the Appellate Court considered the
circumstances which led towards the accused. Admittedly,
nobqdy was named in the FIR but referring to the incident that
E Km.'x' was murdered the FIR was lodged. Since nobody was
. named in the FIR the Investigating Officer took the help of the
dog squad and the dog handler Abdul Lais Khan (PW-4) came
with the dog. Dog tracking proceeding was done and the dog
tracked the accused. The said fact is not disputed. The
F accused who was then taken into custody gave statement
regarding commission of crime. Though the statement is not
admissible, at his instance the sickle as well as blood stained
cloths were recovered. The report proved that the sickle was
blood stained. The Doctor has given statement that the injury
G caused upon the victim could have been caused by the weapon
so recovered which establish that the said weapon was used
in committing the murder. Ram Chandra Chaurasiya (PW-1)
father of the victim had given statement that earlier also the
accused eve-teased his daughter Km.'x' for which his nephew
H Ashok Kumar scolded accused. Ram Prakash (PW-3) although ·
LAUT KUMAR YADAV @ KURI v. STATE OF UTTAR 695
PRADESH [SUDHANSU JYOTI MUKHOPADHAYA, J.]
turned hostile had made statement that accused had confessed A
to him that since the girl has refused sexual relationship with
him he had murdered her. Though such statement cannot be
relied upon independently to hold the accused guilty, other chain
of evidence reaches to only one conclusion i.e. against the
accused. Recovery of handkerchief from the place of murder, B
with the mark of "Heart" and inscription of the words "I Love You",
establishes that some person were closed to her. The position
of her cloth of the lower body "salwar" establish that the person
tried to have sex with the girl and the injuries on the fingers of
the girl also established that she protested somehow. These c
circumstances also lead to the conclusion that the person who
could not succeed in outrage the modesty of the girl, murdered
her. There is no other evidence contrary to it. Further, there is
no evidence to suggest that the father of the deceased had any
enmity or grudge with anyone who may be suspected to have
0
committed the murder. All these circumstances proved that it
is nobody else but the accused who attempted to commit rape
and murdered the deceased Km.'x'.
35. On the point of awarding death sentence, a Constitution
Bench of this Court in Bachan Singh v. State of Punjab (1980), E
2 sec 684 observed:
"206. Dr Chitale has suggested these mitigating factors:
"Mitigating circumstances.-ln the exercise of its F
discretion in the above cases, the court shall take into
account the following circumstances:
(1) That the offence was committed under the influence
of extreme mental or emotional disturbance.
G
(2) The age of the accused. If the accused is young or
old, he shall not be sentenced to death.
(3) The probability that the accused w
H
696 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [2014) 8 S.C.R.
A ou/d not commit criminal acts of violence as would
constitute a continuing threat to society.
(4) The probability that the accused can be reformed and
rehabilitated. The State shall by evidence prove that the
accused does not satisfy the conditions (3) and (4)
B
above.
(5) That in the facts and circumstances of the case the
accused believed that he was morally justified in_
committing the offence.
c
(6) That the accused acted under the duress or
domination of another person.
(7) That the condition of the accused showed that he was
. -D _mentally defective and that the said defect impaired his
capacity to appreciate the criminality of his conduct.
207. We will do no more than to say that these are
· undoubtedly relevant circumstances and must be given
great weight in the determination of sentenc~ ... ...... "
E
36. In Machhi Singh v. State of Punjab, (1983) 3 SCC
470, this Court discussed the circumstances in which the death
sentence can be awarded and summarised the guidelines
indicated in Bachan Singh (Supra) as under
F "38. In this background the guidelines indicated in
Bachan Singh case will have to be culled out and applied
·. to the facts of each individual case where the question
of imposing of death sentence arises. The following
propositions emerge from Bachan Singh case:
G
"(i) The extreme penalty of death need not be inflicted
except in gravest cases of extreme culpability. .
(ii) Before opting for the death penalty the circumstances
of the 'offender' a/so require to be taken into
H
LAUT KU.MAR YADAV @ KURI v. STATE OF UTIAR 697
PRADESH [SUDHANSU JYOTI MUKHOPADHAYA, J.]
consideration along with the circumstances of the 'crime'. A
(iii) Life imprisonment is the rule and death sentence is
an exception. In other words death sentence must be
imposed only when life imprisonment appears to be an
a/together inadequate punishment having regard to the 8
relevant circumstances of the crime, and provided, and
only provided, the option to impose sentence of
imprisonment for life cannot be conscientiously
exercised having regard to the nature and circumstances
of the crime and all the relevant circumstances.
c
(iv) A balance sheet of aggravating and mitig~ting
circumstances has to be drawn up and in doing so the
mitigating circumstances have to be accorded full
weightage and a just balance has to be struck between
the aggravating and the mitigating circumstances before D
the option is exercised."
37. The nature, motive_, impact of a crime, culpability,
quality of evidence, socio-economic circumstances,
impossibility of rehabilitation are the factors which the court may E
take into consideration while dealing with such cases as was
spelt out in Santosh Kumar Satishbhushan Bariyar v. State
of Maharashtra, (2009) 6 SCC 498.
38. In Dhananjoy Chatterjee v. State of West Bengal,
(1994) 4 sec 220, while affirming award of death sentence F
by the High Court, this Court noticed the rising crime rate in
recent years partir::ularly violent crime against women. In the
said case, this Court reiterated the principle that it is not
possible to lay down any cut and dry formula relating to
imposition of sentence but the object of sentencing should be G
to see that crime does not go unpunished and the victim of the
crime, as also the society, has the satisfaction that justice has
been done. The said case concerned with the rape and murder
of an 18 year old girl by a security guard of the flat where she
H
698 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [2014] 8 S.C.R.
A lived. The Court found it to be a fit case for imposition of capital
punishment.
39. This Court in many cases such as Atbir v. Govt. of NCT
of Delhi, (201 O) 9 sec 1, case confirmed the death sentence
awarded by the trial Court as affirmed by the High Court for
8
different reasons after applying the principles enunciated in the
judgments referred to above.
40. In Shankar Kisanrao Khade v. State of Maharashtra,
(2013) 5 SCC 546, this Court noticed aggravating
C circumstances (crime test)- mitigating circumstances- (criminal
test) and rarest of rare case - (R-R. test) and observed:
"52. Aggravating circumstances as pointed out above,
of course, are not exhaustive so also the mitigating
D circumstances. In my considered view, the tests that we
have to apply, while awarding death sentence are "crime
test", "criminal test" and the "R-R test" and not the
"balancing test". .To award death sentence, the "crime
tesr has to be fully satisfied, that is, 100% and "criminal
tesf' 0%, that is, no mitigating circumstance favouring the
E
accused. If there is any circumstance favouring the
accused, like lack of intention to commit the crime,
possibility of reformation, young age of the accused, not
a menace to the society, no previous track record, etc.
the "criminal test" may favour the accused to avoid the
F capital punishment. Even if both the tests are satisfied,
that is, the aggravating circumstances to the fullest extent
and no mitigating circumstances favouring the accused,
still we have to apply finally the rarest of the rare case
test (R-R test). R-R test depends upon the perception of
G the society that is "society-centric" and not "Judge-centric",
that is, whether the society will approve the awarding of
death sentence to certain types of crimes or not. While
applying that test, the court has to look into variety of
factors like society's abhorrence, extreme indignation
H and antipathy to certain _types of crimes like sexual
LAUT KUMAR YADAV @ KURI v. STATE OF UTTAR 699
PRADESH [SUDHANSU JYOTI MUKHOPADHAYA, J.]
assault and murder of intellectually challenged minor A
girls, suffering from physical disability, old and infirm
women with those disabilities, etc. Examples are only
illustrative and not exhaustive. The courts award death
sentence since situation demands so, due to
constitutional compulsion, reflected by the will of the B
people and not the will of the Judges."
41. This Court in Ramnaresh and others v. State of
Chhattisgarh, (2012) 4 SCC 257, applying the various
principles to the facts of the said case and taking into C
consideration the age of the accused, possibility of the death
of the deceased occurring accidently and the possibility of the
accused reforming themselves held that the accused cannot be
termed as social menace and commuted the sentence of death
to that of life imprisonment (21 years).
D
42. In the present case, on the question of quantum of
sentence the argument raised on behalf of the appellant is that
the accused was young at the time of commission of offence
i.e. 21 years of age, that he had no intention to kill the deceased
and there is no past criminal antecedent. E
43. On the other hand, learned counsel for the..._state
contended that it was a heinous crime and the case oNIJe
appellant is similar like the case of Dhananjoy Chatterjee
(supra).
F
44. We have noticed the case of Dhananjoy Chatterjee
(supra). In the said case accused was a security guard and was
responsible for providing security to the residents of the flats.
Instead of that he used to tease a young girl child of one of the
lady residents. On the complaint of the lady resident, he was G
transferred. To avenge the same he went up to the flat of the
lady and committed rape on her daughter and then murdered
her brutally. That was a case where the protector of residents
. becomes the offender.
H·
700 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [2014] 8 S.C.R.
A 45. The case of the appellant is not similar. The Trial Court
and the High Court wrongly held that the case of the appellant
is similar to that of Dhananjoy Chatterjee.
46. In the present case, the circumstantial evidence comes.
to only one conclusion that appellant attempted to commit rape ·
8
and because of resistance he committed the murder of the
deceased. The appellant was aged about 21 years at the time ·
of offence. Initially when the matter for confirmation of death
sentence-was heard by the two learned Judges of the High·
Court there was a divided opinion, one Judge confirmed the
C death sentence while the other acquitted the appellant. It is the
other Bench which affirmed the death sentence. It is not the
case of the Prosecution that the appellant cannot be reformed.
In fact the possibility of his reformation cannot be ruled out.
There is no criminal antecedent of the appellant. The Court has
D to consider different parameters as laid down in Bachan Singh
(supra) followed by Machhi Singh (supra) and balance the
mitigating circumstances against the need for imposition of
capital punishment.
..
E 47. While we apply the various principles to the facts of
the present case, we are of the opinion that considering the age
of the accused, the possibility of reforming him cannot be ruled
out. He cannot be termed as social menace. Further, the case'
does not fall under the "rarest of rare" category. We, therefore,
F are unable to uphold the death sentence.
48. For the reasons aforesaid we are commuting the death
sentence of accused-La lit Kumar Yadav alias· Kuri to that of life
imprisonment but affirm the rest part of the conviction and
sentence. The appeal is partly allowed only with regard to the
G quantum of sentence.
Bibhuti Bhushan Bose Appeal partly allowed.
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