Holding

Under Article 136 the Supreme Court may set aside convictions where the High Court’s findings of fact are perverse or improper, and in this case the prosecution failed to establish guilt beyond reasonable doubt, warranting acquittal.

Summary

The case involved the murder of Hanumant Singh, allegedly over a dispute concerning gold ornaments, with Mahesh Chander and Mohinder Singh convicted on the basis of eye‑witness testimony. The appellants challenged the conviction, arguing that the FIR was delayed, the names of the accused were omitted, and the refusal to participate in an identification parade should not invite adverse inference. The Supreme Court examined whether, under Article 136 of the Constitution, it could interfere with the High Court’s findings of fact when those findings were perverse or improper. It scrutinised the credibility of the eye‑witnesses, the inconsistencies in the FIR, and the lack of a reliable identification, concluding that the prosecution had not proved guilt beyond reasonable doubt. Accordingly, the Court held that Article 136 permits interference in such exceptional circumstances and set aside the convictions, acquitting the appellants and discharging their bail bonds.

Issues considered

The scope of the Supreme Court's power under Article 136 to interfere with findings of fact in criminal appeals.
Whether the prosecution proved the guilt of the accused beyond reasonable doubt under s.302 read with s.34 IPC.
Whether a five‑hour delay in registration of the FIR and omission of the accused's names affect the validity of the conviction.
Whether an adverse inference can be drawn from an accused's refusal to participate in an identification parade.
The credibility and reliability of the eye‑witness testimony in the absence of corroborative evidence.

Legislation cited

Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973s. 154, s. 31
Indian Evidence Act, 1872s. 9
Indian Penal Code, 1860s. 302, s. 34

Subjects

murderSection 302 IPCSection 34 IPCArticle 136identification paradeeye‑witness credibilityFIR delayacquittalcriminal appealconcurrent findings of fact

Judgment

MAHESH CHANDER AND ANOTHER
A
v.
STAIB OF DELHI

APRIL 3, 1991

[S. RATNAVEL PANDIAN AND M. FATHIMA BEEVI, JJ.] 13
Constitution of India: Article 136---Court's power to interfere
with concurrent findings offact-Scope of.
l.
Indian Penal Code, 1860: S. 302 r/w s. 34-Death due to homici-
dal violence-Murder trial-Evidence-Place of occurrence and cause of C
death not disputed-Motive for crime brought out-Serious doubts in
trustworthiness and truthfulness of evidence of eye-witnesses and suspi-
cion in veracity of prosecution case overlooked by courts below-
Conviction and sentence of life imprisonment awarded by Sessions
Court-Findings affirmed and sentence maintained by High Court
-Legality and correctness of. D

Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973: S. 154-F.l.R.-Delay in
registration~Name of one of the accused known to the witness and
presence of main eye-witness at the scene not mentioned-Effect of.

Indian Evidence Act, 1872: S. 9-1dentification parade-Accu- E
sed already seen by witness in police station-Refusal by accused to
participate-Presence of accused at the place of occurrence not proved-
whether adverse inference could be drawn.
-'
Appellants in Criminal Appeals nos. 628 and 432 of 1979 were
accused nos. 1 and 2 respectively in the trial court. Deceased was F
brother-in-Jaw (sister's husband) of accused no. I-At the time of mar-
riage of P_W. 4 (sister of accused no. 1) with the deceased, her Cather-
in-law presented her gold ornaments which, while her visit to her
parents' house, were retained Iiy her father and brother, accused no. I,
who rerused to return the same. Despite persistent demand by her
husband she could not be able to bring them back and on being rebuked G
by her husband she went to her parents' house on 25.5.1975 to bring the
same. On the same day the deceased being left alone in the house,
brought Km. Sunita (P. W. 11), daughter of his brother (PW-5) for
house-hold job.

In the intervening night between 27/28-5-1975 accused no. I with H
52 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [ 1991] 2 S.C.R. '
his friend accused no. 2 stayed at the house of the deceased. They took
A
their bed in the outer court-yard by the side of the deceased while
PW-11 slept in the adjoining verandah. At about 3.15 a.m. PW·ll woke ~

up and found accused no. 2 sitting over the deceased and secm·ing him
firmly. Accused no. 1 gave a blow with the wooden pestle (Moosal) on
the head of the deceased, who shouted "MAR DIY A, MAR DIYA,
B BACHAO, BACHAO" (being killed being killed, save me, save me.)
On being questioned by PW-11, the two accused threatened her, and
while accused no. 2 was dragging the deceased inside the house and
accused no. 1 kept on hitting him, PW-11 escaped from the scene and ;.
went to her father's house to inform him. On the way she met PW-3,
but she was so dumb-sticken that she could not reply to his queries. On ,.
hearing the voice of deceased, "MAR DIYA, BACHAO, BACHAO",
c at 3.30 a.m. PW-1, a neighbour of the deceased and who bad earlier
seen both the accns_ed lying on different cots In the court-yard, came
from the npstairs of his terrace and saw accused no. 2 dragging the
deceased and accused no. 1 beating him. At that time PW·3 also
reached there. Both PWs I and 3 shouted at the accused but on being r
D threatened by the latter, the. witnesses stepped back. PW-5, on being J.
informed by PW-11, reached the scene with PWs I, 3 and 6, and saw
from a distance of 8-10 paces running the accused from there. All the
four witnesses entered the house and found the deceased dead. PWs 1
and 6 went to the police post concerned where PW-1 gave report before
the Sub-Inspector incharge, PW-17, who endorsed the same to the main
E police station for registration of a case. PW-17 accompanied by PWs 1
and 3, went to the place of occurrence, recorded statements of PWs 3, 5
and 6 and conducted the investigation. On 29.5.1975 he arrested both )..
the accused. An identification parade was arranged but accused no. 2
refused to participate on the groilnd that his face was never muffled and
that the prosecution witnesses had seen him in the police station. The
F investigation completed in both the accused being charged for offence
punishable under s. 302 read withs. 34, I.P.C. for committing murder
of the deceased.

Accepting the prosecution case, the Sessions Court convicted both
)
the accused of the offence charged and sentenced them to undergo
G imprisonment for life. Appeal against conviction was dismissed by the
High Court which affirmed the fmding.. of the trial court and main-
tained the sentence. Hence the present appeals.

Before this Court it was contended by the appellants that presence
of the prosecution witnesses at the scene of occurrence was not believ-
H able and their evidence was highly tainted with interestedne~; that in
MAHESH CHANDER v. STATE OF DELHI 53

the F .I.R. name of accused no. 2 who was known to the eye-witness and
A
presence of the sole eye-witness PW-11 at the scene were not mentioned;
that there was 5 hours' delay in registration of the F .I.R. while the
distance between the place of occurrence and the police station was only
3 km; and that no adverse inference could be taken on refusal to partici-
pate in identification parade by accused no. 2 as he was seen by the
witnesses earlier in the police station. B

On consideration of Court's power under Article 136 of the Con-
J stitution and the scope of interference in appeal arising from concurrent
findings of fact,

Allowing the appeals, this Court,
c
HELD: 1. Under Article 136 of the Constitution, the Court within
its restrictions imposed by itself bas, in very exceptional circumstances
when a question of law of general public importance arises or a decision
shakes tlie conscience of the Court, the undoubted power to interfere
r with the findings of fact making no distinction between judgment of D
acquittal and conviction, if the High Court in arriving at those findings
bas acted either perversely or otherwise improperly. [60C-D I

The State of Madras v. A. Vaidyanatha Iyer, [1958] SCR 580,
relied on.
E
Himachal Pradesh Administration v. Shri Om Prakash, [1972] 1
.i.. SCC 249; Arunachalam v. P.S.R. Sadhanathan, [1979] 3 SCR 482 and
State of U.P. v. Pheru Singh & Ors, [1989] Snppl. 1 SCC 288, referred
to.

2.1 The trial court and the appellate Court, without making a F
comprehensive and detailed analysis of the evidence in the proper pers-
pective and by overlooking the manifest errors and glaring infirmities
surrounding the case, were not right in rendering their conclusions that
the appellants were guilty of the offence charged. [65G-H; 66A]

2.2. Although the place of occurrence and cause of death of the G
deceased due to homicidal violence were not in dispute and the dispute
regarding the gold ornaments served as motive for the crime, yet a
meticulous examination of the entire evidence created a serious doubt
about the truthfulness and trustworthiness of the evidence of the eye-
witnesses. The credibility of the evidence was completely shaken and
the circumstances attending the case also debilitate the entire prosecu- H
54 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [1991] 2 S.C.R.
-
A lion case. To what e~ent falsehood in the evidence had taken root and
spread over the entire prosecution case was hard to fathom. Hence the
irresistible and inescapable conclusion was that the prosecution had 'r
failed to establish the guilt of the !lppellants beyond all reasom1ble
doubjs, [60E-H; 65F-G; 66A]

B 2.3 The prosecution story that PW -4's brother accused Pll, 1,
who was said to have retained her jewels and refused to return tllem, apll
who consequent 11p(ln bis defiant attltu!le. was ill-disposed of towards
the deceased, came to his house within tw11 days of his sister being
driven away and tool\ bis bed in the front court-yard along witll tile '"
deceased and accused no. 2, was patently incredible and too bi!! a pl!! tll
be swallowed. Moreover the deceased who had sent away his wife from
c his house on 25.5.1975 asking her either to get back the jewels or not to
return to her marital home would not have allowed accused no. 1 to come
to his house and to enter a friendly talk with him and also would not
have llllllwed him to sleep in his house by his side. [64B-D]

D :2.4 ThQugh PWs 1, 3, 5, and 6 stated that they had seen accused _...
no. 1 and ope another rl!!l!ling from the scene of occurrence, they all !I!
a chorµs asserted that they did not kn!lw the nll01e or the 11ther cutprU,
It was !Jllite amazing that none of the PWs except PW-11 know tl!e
name of accused no. 2. The case pf the pr05ecution that the accused who
had been questioned by PWs 1 and 3 aoout their vicious attacl<,
E perpetrated on the deceased, continued to be in the scene house till PWs
1 and 3 alQpg with PWs 5 and 6 returned back was not plausible !llld
persuasive. The conduct of these wjtnesses in not chasing and attempt- ) .
Ing tQ apprehend the accused Qr even nllt raising a hqe and cry morder
to collect other villagers and apprehend the accused especially when one
of them was un11rmed and another was armed only with a stick, created :c
F a hallow of suspicion in the veracity of the prosecution case and led to
an inference that the culprits whoever they might have been might not
have stayed hack for 1-1/2 hours till the arrival of the witnesses but
might have left the scene earlier. [63F; 64A]

2.5 It was brought in the evidence that PW-1 was related to the
G deceased as a third degree collateral. PWs 5 and 6 were the younger
brother and father of the deceased respectively. PW-11 was the daughter
of PW -5. Thus PWs 5, 6 and 11 were shown to be the members of the
same family and PW-1 closely related to them. PWs 3 and 6 bad l!!Br·
ried from the same village. [61G-H; 62A]

H 3.1 The evidence of Pw.u, who claimed to 1t11ve !mllWll l!l!!ll!'S llf
MAHESH CHANDER v. STATE OF DELHI 55

both the accused even .earlier to the incident, unambiguously made it A
clear that she had revealed their names to her mother, inmates of her ·
._, house and neighbours even much earlier to the lodging of the report at
the police station. The houses of PWs I, 3, 5, 6 and the deceas¢ were all
situate in the same locality. It was very surprising that in spite of the
fact that PW-11 informed every one the names !If the appellants excepts B
her fatlu!r, name of accused no. 2 was not mentioned in the F .l.R. _
which was registered by 8,15 a.m. on 28.5.1975. It is incomprehensible
as !o why this adolescent girl PW - 11 had chosen to sleep in the house of
_. the cfeceased when her house was situated within a short distance from
there. The only irresistible inference was that PW-11 could not have
been present at the scene house. [62C-D; 63B-D]
c
3.2 The admission of PW-I in the cross-examination that the
D.S.P. came to the ·place of occurrence at 8.00 or 8.30 a.m. on
28.5.1975 and stayed there for about 5 or 10 minutes and that the
S.H.O. came 10 minutes before the arrival of D.S.P., when examined
along with the glaring admission of PW-3 that all the witnesses had a
D
consultation before lodging the report, gave an impression that the
report was obtainecJ from PW-1 only at the scene place at a later point
of time and thereafter the case was registered. (64E-G I

4. No adverse inference could be drawn by refusal of accnsed No.
2 from participating in identification parade as the case of the prosecu-
. tion that the appellants were in the )Jouse of the deceased after Jier- E
petratiog the henil)l!S crime till the late arrival of PWs 5 and 6 along
with PWs I and 3 was not acceptable; and it was admitted by PW-5 that
IJe had seen t)Je accused in the police station during the course of
investigation. [65B-F]
F
CRIMINAL APPELLATE JURISDICTION: Criminal Appeal
Nos. 432 & 628 of 1979.

From !)le Judgment and Order dated 4.5.1979 of the Delhi High
Court in Cr!. A. No. 323 of 1976.
G
A.N. Mulla, Uma Dutta and RD. Sharma for the Appellants.
'
Tapas Ray, Kailash Vasdev and Ms. A. Subhashini (NP) for the
Respondent. ·

Shreepal Singh, (NP) for the intervener.
H
56 SUPREME COURT REPORTS 11991] 2 S.C.R.

A The Judgment of the Court was delivered by

S. RATNAVEL PANDIAN, J. The above appeals by special leave
under Artide 136 of the Constitution of India are directed against the
correctness and legality of the judgment dated 4th May 1979 of the
High Court of Delhi in Criminal Appeal No. 323/76.
B
These two appellants were accused Nos. 2 and 1 respectively
before the 8th Additional Sessions Judge and they took their trial in
Sessions Case No. 38/75 on the charge that on 28.5.1975 at about 3.30
a.m. in Pitam Pura within the jurisdiction of Punjabi Bagh Police
Station both appellants in furtherance of their common intention com-
mitted murder of Hanumant Singh, the deceased herein and thereby
c committed an offence punishable under Section 302 read with 34 IPC.
The facts of the case briefly stated are as follows:

The deceased Hanumant Singh was the son of Harkishan Singh
(PW-6). At the time of the marriage of the deceased with Smt. Santosh
D (PW-4), PW-6 presented about 30 tolas of gold ornaments worth about -<
Rs.10,000 to PW-4. PW-4 on her first visit to the house of PW-6
brought all the ornaments and stayed there for 6 months. Then she
went to her parents house wearing all those ornaments but left them
with her father Dhani Ram and brother Mohinder Singh and all the
ornaments were never returned by her father and brother. The
E deceased persistently asked his wife PW-4 to bring back the ornaments
telling her that her father and brother had intended to grab the same.
Though PW-4 went to her parents house many times to fetch the J._
ornaments she was not successful. On 25.5.75 the deceased rebuked
PW-4 and asked her to bring the ornaments from her parents, but
PW-4 expressed her helplessness. So under the pressure of her
F husband, PW-4 went to her parents house on 25.5.75 at about 3.00
a.m. to get back the ornaments. As PW-4 had gone to her parents
house, the deceased brought Km. Sunita (PW-11), the daughter of his
brother Kartar Singh (PW-5) for household job and PW-11 stayed in
the house of the deceased. On 27.5.75 at about 8.00 p.m. the appellant
Mohinder Singh who is none other than the brother of PW-4 came to
.
G house of deceased along with his friend appellant Mahesh Chander.
The deceased and these two appellants took their bed in the outer
court-yard. PW-11 was sleeping in the verandah adjoining the outer
court-yard.

At about 3.15 a.m,-on the intervening night of 27/28.5.75 PW-11
H was woke-up and found the appellant Mahesh Chander sitting over the
MAJ:!ESH CHANDER v. STATE OF DELHI [PAND!AN, J.[ 57

deceased and securing him firmly. While so, appellant Mohinder Singh
gave a blow with a wooden pestle (Moosa!) on the head of the de- A
_. ceased resulting in bleeding injuries. The deceased shouted "MAR
DIYA, MAR DIYA, BACHAO BACHAO" (Being killed, being kil-
led, save me, save me). PW-11 questioned both the appellants as to
what they were doing to which the appellants threatened PW-11 saying
that she would also be killed if she uttered any word. So PW-11 B
became panicky and kept silent. Then appellant Mahesh Chander
dragged the deceased inside the house while appellant Mohinder Singh
.l. kept on hitting the ··deceased with that pestle. At this point of time
PW-11 escaped from the scene house and went to the house of her
father (PW-5) to inform him. On the way PW-11 met PW-3 at some
distance but despite enquiry by PW-3, PW-11 could not give any reply
and she was dumb-sticken. PW-1, a neighbour of the deceased who c
had earlier seen the deceased and both the appellants lying on diffe-
rent cots in the front court-yard of the house of the deceased and who
was sleeping on the terrace of his house heard the voice of the
deceased "MAR DIYA, BACHAO. BACHAO" by about 3.30 a.m.
.,. From the upstairs of his terrace he saw the appellant Mahesh dragging D
the deceased inside the house and appellant Mohinder Singh beating
the deceased with the wooden pestle (Ex. P. 1). By that time, pw:3
came by the side of the house of the deceased. Both PWs 1 and 3
shouted at the appellants to which both the appellants threatened the
witnesses if they tried to intervene. Then PW-1 and PW-3 stepped
back. PW-1 ran to the house of PW-6 to inform him. In the meanwhile E
PW-5 on being informed by PW-11 came to the scene house along with
~
PWs 1, 3 and 6. When they were at a distance of 8 to 10 paces, they saw
the appellants running towards Shakurbasti. Thereafter all the four,
namely, PWs 1, 3, 5 and 6 entered the house and found the deceased
dead. PWs 1 and 6 went to the police station of Shakurbasti where
PW-I gave the report Ex. PW-1/B before PW-17, the Sub-Inspector of F
Police of Punjabi Bagh who was at the relevant time was incharge of
Shakurbasti Police Station also. PW-17 after making his endorsement
Ex. PW 17IA, to the report, despatched the same for registration of a
case to the concerned Punjabi Bagh Police Station where the F.I.R.
,,. Ex. PW-7/A was registered by PW-7 (Head Constable). PW-17
accompanied by PWs 1and6, went to the scene place and recorded the G
statements of PWs 3, 5, 6 and 11. He summoned the crime team and
got the place of occurrence photographed. He seized the blood-stained
earth from 5 different spots under the recovery memo Ex. PW2/B-13.
He also recovered some human hair Ex. PS from the front court yard
and the blood-stained wooden moosal Ex. Pl from near the dead
body. He prepared a rough siie plan and held inquest over the dead H
58 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [1991] 2 S.C.R.

body of the deceased. He sent the dead body for post-mortem exami-
A
nation. PW-2 the police Surgeon performed necropsy on the dead
body of the deceased and noted as many as 9 injuries, of which injury
Nos. 1 to 3 were lacerated wounds, injury Nos. 5, 7 and 9 were
fractures and injury No. 6 was a contusion. Injury No. 4 was a bruise
over the tip of right sjhoulder. The bones at various places were
B broken. On 29.5. 75 PW-17 arrested both the appeilants. An identifica-
tion parade was arranged but the appellant Mahesh refused to partici-
pate in the parade. After completing the investigation PW-17 laid the
charge-sheet. The prosecution examined PWs l, 3 and 11 as eye-
witnesses to the occurrence. PWs 5 and 6 were examined to speak
about the appellants running away from the scene after the commis-
sion of the crime. The other witnesses were formal witnesses and PW-
c 17 was the investigating officer.

The appellants when examined under Section 31~ of the Cbde of
Criminal Procedure, denied their complicity with the offence in ques-
tion though admitted the relationship. The appellant Mahesh Chander
D explained his refusal to take part in the identification parade stating 4
that he did so as his face was never muffled and that the PWs saw him
in the police station. The appellants examined PWo 1 to 6 on their side
to prove the strained relationship between the parties and the arrest of
the appellants in the office of the Electricity Board, Gurgaon. The
learned Trial Judge, accepting the case of the prosecution convicted
E both the appellants under Section 302 read with Section 34 IPC and
sentenced them to undergo imprisonment for life.

Feeling aggrieved by the judgment of the Trial Court both the
appellants preferred Criminal Appeal No. 323/76 before the High
Court which for the reasons assigned, affirmed the judgment of the
F Trial Court and dismissed the appeal as being devoid of merits. Hence
these two appeals.

Mr. A.N. Mulla, the learned senior counsel appearing on behalf
of the appellants after taking us very meticulously through the judg-
ment of the Trial as well as the High Court, the depositions of the
G witnesses and other relevant records contended inter alia submitting
that despite the prolonged deliberation, neither the name of appellant
Mahesh Chander nor the presence of Km. Sunita (PW-11) at the scene
was made mention of in the First Information Report; that the First
Information Report was registered at about 8.15 a.m. on 28.5.75 after
a delay of 5 hours from the time of the occurrence in spite of the fact
H that the police station is only at a distance of 3 kilometers from the
MAHESH tHANDER i. STATE OF DELI-ii IPANDiAN. J.l 59

scette and that PW-5 who is 11011e other tha11 the brother of the
A
deteased alld an Advoeate by profession did not mentio11 the fact of
his daughter (PW- 11) informing hirn about the murder of the deceased
io ally one. According to the learned cou11sel ii is highly suiptising that
Mrs. Kartar Singh (w/o PW-5) though was informed by her daughter
Snnita (PW-Ii) about the participation of both the appellahts in the
' tnurder by mentioning their names, she did not inform this informatioh
to her husband before PWs 1 and 6 left for the police statioh and that
ihe present story of the prosecution is hothing but a fabritated one in
tltdet to project PW-11 as an eye-witness and that if really PW-11 had
slept on the vetlmtiah of the house of the deceased a11d witnessed the
otcurrence she would have immediately mentio11ed the inddeht to
PW-3 whom she met on the way to her house. Though PW-i 1 claims to
have told the incident to her father (PW-5) she had ntit tnehtltined the c
natne of Mahesh Chander whose uame she claims to have krttiw11 even
eatlier to this btctittence and whose name she mentioned to her
tnothet. It is fut!her submitted that the evidetite of PW-ii is titi\hing
but n tissue of falsehbbd and her evidence is demonstrably prtived to
be unworthy of credence for mote than one reason that being that 0
PW-11 who was by then aged about 13 would not have slept alone iti
the house of the deceased. Secondly if she had been an eye-witness to
tbt uccutrence, she would have immediately corne forward with a
statement that she saw both the appellants by mentioning their names.
Thirdly PW-5, the father bf PW-11 who had filed a criminal case
against the deceased for offences under Sections 307 and 324 iPC
Which case was pending during the relevant time shtiuld not have
1tlitJwed his daughter tti go ill the house tif his enetny, the deceased.

Iti ctintinuatitln of his submission Mr. Mulia urged that no
adverse inferetlce can be dtawn against the appellant Mahesh Chander
on his refusal to take part in the identification parade since PW 5 has 1'
admitted that he had seen Mahesh Chander at the police statiti,il.
According to the learned counsel PW-3 is a chance witness as he could
htlt have come to the house of PW-1 at that odd hour for purchasing
milk; that the evidence of PWs 1, 3, 5, 6 and 11 are highly tainted with
the interestedness and that the evidence of PWs 5 and 6 that they saw
the appellants running away from the house of the deceased is nothing O
but deliberate IJerjury.

Before we examine the above contentions with reference to the
evidence adduced by the prosecution, we shall deal with the scope of
interference of this Court in appeal arising from the concurrent find-
ings bf fact. in Th~ Siilte of Madras v. A. Vaidyanatha Iyer, [1958] SCR H.
60 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [1991] 2 S.C.R.

A 580 at 588 this Court has ruled thus:
)..
"In Art. 136 the use of the words "Supreme Court may in
its direction grant special leave to appeal from any judg-
ment, decree, determination, sentence or order in any
•-
cause or matter passed or made by any Court or tribunal in
B the territory of India" shows that in criminal matters no ·
distinction can be made as a matter of construction bet-
ween a judgment of conviction or acquittal."'
..
See also Himachal Pradesh Administration v. Shri Om Prakash,
[1972] 1SCC249; Arunachalam v. P.S.R. Sadhanathan, [1979] 3 SCR ~

482 at page 487 and State of U.P. v. Pheru Singh & Ors., [1989] Suppl.
c 1SCC288 to which one of us (S. Ratnavel Pandian. J.) was a party.

A conspectus of the above decisions clearly shows that the power
under Article 136 can be invoked in very exceptional circumstances
when a question of law of general public importance arises or a deci-
D sion shakes the conscience of the court and the Court within its restric- 4
tions imposed by itself has the undoubted power to interfrre even with
the findings of fact making no distinction between judgment of acquit-
ta! and conviction, if the High Court, in arriving at those findings, has
acted either perversely or otherwise improperly.

E In the light of the above proposition of law, we shall now
scrutinise the evidence and examine whether the concurrent findings
of fact in the present case call for interference. k

With regard to the place of occurrence and the cause death of the
deceased due to homicidal violence are not in dispute. The motive for
F the occurrence is spoken to by PWs 5 and 6. It is the evidence of PW-6,
who is the father of the deceased that during the marriage of his
deceased son with PW-4, he presented gold ornaments worth about
Rs.10,000 and that when PW-4 had been to her parents house, her
parents and her brother appellant Mohinder Singh had removed all the ,
jewels from her and retained the jewels with them. Though the
G deceased was consistently stressing and pressurising his wife to get
back those ornaments, PW-4's parents did not return them. Despite
the fact that PW-4 had expressed her helplessness in the matter, the
deceased on 25.5.75 sent PW-4 to her parents house asking her either
to get back the ornaments or not to return to her marital home. This
serves as the motive for the appellants to put an end to the life of the
H deceased.
MAHESH CHANDER v. STATE OF DELHI [PANDIAN, J.J 61

The deceased was alone in his house after his wife had left. In
A
order to do the household job in his house he brought his brother's
(PW-S's) daughter Sunita (PW-11) who, according to the prosecution
stayed in the house of the deceased.

According to PW-11, she, by chance woke up by 3.15 .a.m. and
saw the appellant Mahesh Chander sitting over the deceased and B
securing him firmly while the appellant Mohinder Singh hitting the
deceased with the wooden pestle (Moosa!) Ex. P. 1. The deceased
tried to riggle out of that situation and shouted "MAR DIY A MAR
DIYA BACHAO BACHAO''. When PW-11 questioned both the ap-
pellants, her life was threatened by the appellants. When the appel·
!ants took the deceased inside the house dragging him,PW-11 escaped
from the scene, came to her parents' house and informed her father
c
PW-5 about the entire incident. On the way she claims to have met
PW-3, but she did not tell PW-3 about the incident despite the enquiry
byPW-3.

PW-1 claims to have got up from his bed on hearing the distres- D
sed cry of the deceased and seen the appellant Mahesh Chander drag-
ging the deceased towards the inner verandah and the appellant
Mohinder Singh beating the deceased with the wooden pestle
(Moosa!). He witnessed the same standing on his terrace where he was
sleeping. According to him he met PW-3 and that both of them
questioned the appellants to which the appellants replied that they E
would also be murdered if they interfered and that thereafter they
reiterated. PW- I further states that when he went to the house of
PW-6 to inform this incident, PW-5 came there from his house and
then they all (i.e. PWs 1, 3, 5 and 6) rushed to the house of tile
deceased where they saw both the appellants running towards
Shakurbasti. PW-5 states that he on being informed about this incident F
by his daughter went to the scene house along with PWs 1, 3 and 6 and
found his brother lying dead in the inner room of the house. PWs 5 and
6 speak of having seen both the appellants running from the scene and
that at that time appellant Mahesh Chander was having a lathi in his
.¥ hand .
... According to all the witnesses there was an electric light fitted in
G

the house of the deceased and there was also moon light.

It is brought in the evidence that PW-1 is related to the deceased
as a third degree collateral. As we have pointed out earlier, PWs 5 and
6 are the younger brother and father of the deceased respectively. H
62 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [ 1991) 2 S.C.R.

PW-11 is the daughter of PW-5. Thus PWs 5, 6 and 11 are shown to be
A the members of the same family and PW-I closely related to them.
PW-3 and PW-6 have married from the same village, namely, Asoda.

The prosecution through the evidence of PWs 1 and 11 attempts
to prove that both the appellants were in the house of the deceased on
B the night of 27.5.75 and took their beds in the front court-yard of the
said house. While PW-11 has deposed that she woke up by chance at
3 .15 a.m.; it is the evidence of PW- I that he got up only on hearing the
cry of the deceased.

We shall first of all scrutinise the evidence of PW-11, the sole eye
witness to the entire occurrence. As rightly pointed out by Mr. Mulla,
c PW-5 who is proved to have been enemically disposed of towards the
deceased, could not have allowed his 13 years old daughter to take the
household job in the house of the deceased and to sleep there during
night hours. Further when the house of PW-5 is situated within a short
distance from the house of the deceased, we are unable to comprehend
D as to why this adolescent girl had chosen to sleep in the house of the
deceased. PW-11 clamis to have known the names of both the appel-
lants even earlier to this incident. She did not inform about incident
much less the names of the appellants to PW-3 while she was rushing
towards her house from the scene spot in spite of the fact that she was
asked by PW-3 as to what was the matter. In her house she narrated
E the entire incident to PW-5 stating that Mohinder Singh and some one
were beating the deceased, but she did not mention the name of the
appellant Mahesh Chander. However, she claims to have told the
names of both the appellants to her mother, brothers, sisters and some
neighbours. The relevant portion of her evidence reads thus:

F "My mother met me after my father ran towards the house
of Hanumant Singh. I told my mother, that Mohinder
Singh and Mahesh Chander had beaten my uncle Hanu-
mant Singh. I told only that Mohinder Singh and Mahesh
Chander had beaten Hanumant Singh, but I did not ask her
to go and tell my father accordingly. My brothers and
G sisters were also present at our house besides my mother."

Then she states she gave the names of Mohinder Singh and Mahesh
Chander to the police in her statement. In yet another portion of her
evidence she states:

H "Before my going to make any statement before the police,
MAHESH CHANDER v. STATE OF DELHI [PANDIAN, J.[ 63

our neighbours came to our house. I told those neighbours
A
also that Mohinder Singh and Mahesh had beaten Hanu-
mant Singh. Our neighbours came to our house about 1/1-
1/2 hour after my father ran towards the house of Hanum-
ant Singh."

The evidence of PW-11 unambiguously makes it clear that she B
revealed the names of both the appellants to her mother, inmates of
her house and neighbours even much earlier to the lodging of the
report at the police station. The houses of PWs 1, 3, 5, 6 and the

- deceased are all situated in the same locality. Admittedly PWs 1 and 6
left for the police station by 5.00 or 5.30 a.m. It is very surprising that
in spite of the fact that PW-11 informed every one the names of the
appellants except her father the name of appellant Mahesh Chander is
c
not mentioned in the F.I.R. whrch was registered by 8.15 a.m. on
28.5.75. The explanation now offered by the prosecution through
PWs 5 and 11 that PW-11 did mention the name of appellant Mahesh
Chander to her father is neither conceivable nor believable. The only
irresistible inference is that PW-5 could not have been present at the D
scene house and witnessed the occurrence.

PW-5 who is an Advocate by profession and brother of the
deceased could not have kept silent without ascertaining or at least
asking the names of both "the perpetrators of the crimes from his
daughter. Even assuming that his daughter did not mention the name E
of appellant Mahesh Chander, the wife of PW-5 who rushed to the
c\., scene house on being informed by her daughter should have told the
names of both the appellants to her husband and father-in-law (PWs 5
and 6). Further it is quite ununderstandable as to why PW-5 kept
himself back instead of going to the police station but only sent PW-I
and his father, PW-6. Though PWs 1, 3, 5 and 6 state that they saw the F
appellant Mohinder Singh and one another running from the scene of
occurrence they all in a chorus assert that they did not know the name
of the other culprit. It is quite amazing that·none of the PWs except
PW-11 knew the name of Mahesh Chander. The case of the prosecu-
tion that the appellants who had been questioned by PWs I and 3
about their vicious attack, perpetrated on the deceased, continued to G
be in the scene house till PWs I and 3 along with PWs 5 and 6 re-
turned back is not plausible and persuasive. Further the conduct of
these witnesses in not chasing and attempting to apprehend the appel-
lants or at the worst not raising a hue and cry so that the neighbours
and other villagers might have got collected and apprehended the
appellants especially when one of the appellants was unarmed and H
64 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [ 1991] 2 S.C.R.

A another one was armed only with a stick, creates a hallow of suspicion
in the veracity of the prosecution case and leads to an inference that
the culprits whoever they might have been might not have stayed back
till the arrival of the witnesses but might have left the scene earlier. In
this connection reference may be made to the evidence of PW-3 who
has stated that it took 1-1/2 hours for PWs 5 and 6 to come to the
B scene.

The story of the prosecution that PW-4's brother-appellant
Mohinder Singh-who was said to have retained the jewels of PW-4 and
refused to return them, ond who, consequent upon his defiant attitude,
was ill-disposed 0f towards the deceased came to the house of the
C deceased within two days of his sister being driven away and took his
bed in the front court-yard of the decea>ed along with deceased and
-
the other appellant Mahesh Chander, is patently incredible and is too
big a pill to be swallowed. Moreover the deceased who had sent away
his wife (PW-4) from his house on 25.5.75 asking her either to get back
the jewels or not to return to her marital home would not have allowed
D Mohinder Singh to come to his house and to enter a friendly talk with
him and also would not have allowed him to sleep in his house by his
side.

PW-I as we have pointed out supra claims to have witnessed the
attack on the deceased by the two appellants by standing on the ter;·ace
E of his house and then after the arrival of PWs 5 and 6, he went with
PW-6 to the police station and laid the report at Shakurbasti Police
Station at about 5.00 or 5.30 a.m. This report was despatched by
PW-17 to the concerned Punjabi Bagh police station by 6.45 a.m. and
the case was registered in that station at about 8.15 a.m. A suggestion
was made to PW-17 that the report was obtained from PW-I only at
F the scene place at a later point of time and thereafter the case was
registered. PW-17 had, of course, denied that suggestion. But the
admission of PW-1 in the cross-examination that the D.S.P. came to
the place of occurrence at 8.00 or 8.30 a.m. on 29.5.75 and stayed
there for about 5 or 10 minutes and that the Station House Officer
(PW-17) came 10 minutes before the arrival of D.S.P. when examined
G along with the glaring admission of PW-3 that all the witnesses had a
consultation before lodging the report, ve are left with an impression
that there is some force in the defence suggestion.

PW-I makes an embellishment in his evidence stating that the
deceased was dragged by the appellant Mahesh Chander by holding
H the hair of the deceased. This new introduction is purposely made by
MAHESH CHANDER v. STATE OF DELHI [PANDIAN, J.] 65

PW-1 to suppo_rt the recovery of a bunch of hair from the scene. by
A
PW-17. In his earlier statement he has not come forward with such a
statement. Though we would not be giving any significance or impor-
tance for such an omission in the earlier document, we are constrained
to point out the significant omission, since PW-1 has now come for-
ward with such an exaggerated version in order to fall in line with the
prosecution case that the deceased was dragged inside the house by his B
hair. A thorough scrutiny of the evidence of PW-1 does not inspire
confidence in the minds of the court and command acceptance.

An adverse inference has been drawn by the courts below on the
refusal of the appellant Mahesh Chander to participate in the identifica-
tion parade. Mahesh has given an explanation stating that since his
face was not muffled and he was shown to the witnesses at the police c
station he refused to participate in the identification parade. In sup-
port of this explanation it has been brought to our notice the following
evidence of PW-5 admitting that he had seen Mahesh Chander at the
police station:
.'.. D
"I gave the particulars of the co-aced. of Mahinder Singh,
aced. I joined again in the police investigation about 15
days after this occurence. I had seen Mahesh Chander,
aced. in handcuffs in the police station that day and I
identified and told the police that I had seen him running
alongwith (Mohinder Singh) outside the house of Hanu: E
mant Singh."

As we are not inclined to accept the case of the prosecution that
the appellants were in the house of the deceased after perpetrating the
heinous crime till the late arrival of PWs 5 and 6 along with PWs 1 and
3 no adverse inference could be drawa by such refusal of the appel- F
lant Mahesh Chander to take part in the identification parade.

Thus a meticulous examination of the entire evidence creates a
serious doubt about the truthfulness and trustworthiness of the evidence of
the eye-witnesses. The credibility of the evidence is completely shaken
and the circumstances attending the case also debilitate the entire G
prosecution case. To what extent falsehood in the evidence has taken
root and spread over the entire prosecution case is hard to fathom. The
Trial Court and the Appellate Court without making a comprehensive
and detailed analysis of the evidence in the proper perspective and by
overlooking the manifest errors and glaring infirmities surrounding the
case have rendered their conclusions that the appellants are guilty of H
66 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [ 1991] 2 S.C.R.

A the offence charged. In spite of our best efforts and great deal of
pondering over the matter, we are quite unable to agree with the
conclusions arrived at by both the courts. Hence the irresistible and
inescapable conclusion, in our considered opinion, is that the prosecu-
tion has failed to establish the guilt of the appellants beyond all reason-
able doubts.
B
In the result, we set aside the conviction and the sentence as
recorded by the High Court, allow both the appeals and acquit the
appellants.· The bail bonds are discharged.

R.P. Appeals allowed.

-~