Holding

The High Court's experiment was irregular and its conclusions erroneous; Pussu's conviction under Section 302 IPC stands.

Summary

The incident involved Pussu (alias Ram Kishore) and his associate Sheo Rakhan firing on Bankey Lal and his companions, resulting in Bankey Lal's death and injuries to witnesses. The trial court convicted Pussu under Section 302 IPC (murder) and related offences, sentencing him to death, later commuted to life imprisonment, while acquitting Sheo Rakhan. The Allahabad High Court overturned the convictions, relying on a courtroom experiment that purported to show the injured witness could not have caught Pussu before he reloaded his gun. The Supreme Court held that the experiment was irregular, the High Court erred in rejecting credible eyewitness testimony, and that Pussu, as the aggressor, could not invoke self‑defence. Consequently, the Supreme Court set aside the High Court’s acquittal of Pussu, restored his conviction, and imposed life imprisonment with concurrent sentences for the other offences.

Issues considered

The propriety of the High Court's experiment to assess the witness's ability to catch the accused and its impact on the evidentiary assessment
Whether the plea of self‑defence is tenable when the accused was the initial aggressor
Whether the acquittal of the co‑accused bars conviction of Pussu alone
The adequacy of the evidence to sustain a conviction under Section 302 IPC

Legislation cited

Arms Acts. 25, s. 27
Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973s. 154, s. 364
Indian Penal Code, 1860s. 302, s. 307, s. 323

Subjects

murderself-defenceevidence appraisalcourt experimentacquittalconvictionlife imprisonmentfirearms

Judgment

294

STATE OF U.P.
A-
v.

PUSSU @ RAM KISHORB

June 2, 1983
B
[B.S. VENKATARAMIAH AND V. BALAKRISHNA ERADI, JJ.]
'
Penal Code-Section 302-HiCh Court-If could conduct a mock sc,ene of·
occurrence in the Court.

c Right of self-defence-Aggressor-Ifcould claim right.
' I
.Acquittal of one of two. accused-If would bar conviction of the s~cond.

The prosecution case against the accllsed-re5pondent was -that when the
deceased and his wife were returnillg home from their field, he and thi~ co-
D accused armed with a gun and a country-made pistol fired at the. deceased
causing him injuries,_ that some passersby, including the two eye witnesses, • <
overpowered the respondent but that he escaped· from tlreir hold and ran
towards the co-accused who then was standing· at son1e distance, snatched the
pistol from his hand and fired at the d.eceased while he was being ca1Tied
towards the village. As a result of this shot the deceased was killed instanta-
E 0

neously a nd one of the witnesses sustained injuries. '

The defence version, on the other hand, was that on the date and time
of the occurrence when the two accused were going out of the vilJage the
deceased, his servant and the injured witness assaulted them and on hearing
their cries, the respohdenfs father-fired at the deceased in self-defence and that
F this had resulted in the death.of the decease~ and injury to the witness.

The trial court found him guilty of the offence punishable under section
302 .r.P .C. and sentenced him to de9-th and the co-accused with imprisonment
for Jife.

G Before the High Court the argument for the respondent was that since
the injuries on the person of the witness were superficial, he could ha, e been
fired at only from a long distance and being an aged man Of 60 years, he
could ·not have run and caught hold of the respondent before the respondent
could reload his gun. To test the capacity of the witness to run and to asses~
the time taken in reloading a gun, the High Court conducied an experiment
H by asking the witness, v;•ho was·present in the court, to n1ove briskly to a certain
distance. A young lawyer rresent in the Court was asked to unload and
reload a gun exactly of the san1e n1ake as the gun used by the respondent.
OP the basis of this experiment the High Court came to the conCiusion that
U.P. STATE V. PUSSU. 295
even if the witness, after receiving gun shot. injuries had run some distance
towards the respondent; he could neither have caught hold of him nor could A
he have prevented him from reloading his gun. Disbelieving the prosecution
story, the High Court acquitted both the accused.

The State's Special Leave Petition against the judgment of the High
Court was granted only with respect to the respondent.
• B
On the question whether the High Court was correct .in conducting the
experiment that it did and in coming to the concluiion that the respondent
was not guilty of the offence of murder.

Allowing the appeal, -
._, c
HELD : . The procedure of conducting an experiment in Court two
years after the incident with the aid of a yoU:ng lawyer (about whose proficiency
in handling a gun there is no authentic evidence) who was asked to handle
a diffefent gun altogether and using the conclusion based on that experiment
to reject the truth of the evidence of the eye witness, was .highly irregular.
The High Court has not addressed itself to the degree of efficiency-or ineffici-
ency-of the respondent in handling a gun. The time taken by any person to D
reload a gun depends upon several factors, including the condition of the gun
and the surcharged atmosphere created by the firing bout which may ·have
preceded the time of reloading the gun. (301 F-H]

Ordinarily, this Court would not interfere ·with the judgtnent of acquittal
on mere reappreciation of evidence. But if there are glaring infirmities in the
judgment of the High Court 2resulting in miscarriage of justice it is the duty E
of this Court to interfere. [309 F-GJ

In the instant case· the High Court was wrong in conducting the experi·
ment caL\fied out by it at the hearing of the appeal. Hilving been imPressed
by its result it first rcjf.cted the evidence of the eye witness on trivial omissions
which wouid not affect tt.e credibility Of the prosecution version on imaginary
F
grounds. From the evidence it is obviOus that the two accused were armed.
with fire arm; aµd were the aggressors. On a careful reading of the evidence,
it is clear that the father of the accused-respondent, out of love and affection
towards his son, tried to shie~d him. [306 F-G]

, The plea of self-defence cannot be accepted. A person who was an
aggressor and who sought an attack on himself by his own aggressive attack G
cannot rely upori the right of self-defence if in the course- of the transaction
he delil:erately kills another whom he had at'tacked earlier. Having regard to
the nature of the weapon used, the act by which death was caused by the
respondent was done ·with the intention of causing death and there were no
extenuating circumstances which would .mitigate the offence commi.tted
by him. [309 C-DJ H
State of Punjab v. Jaiir Singh & Ors. (1974] 1 S.C.R. 328; Shivaji
~ahebroo Bo_bade & Anr, v. State of Maharashtra [1974] 1 S.C.R. 489 followed.
296 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [1983) 3 s.c.ll.

The trial court was right in convicting the respondent. The acquitta1
A of the co·accused did not effect the prosecution case against him. There is no
legal bar for convicting the respondent alone in this case on the fa,;ts and
circumstances of the case. The principle of issue estoppel is inapplicable
here. [309 D-EJ

.CRIMINAL APPELLATE JURISDICTION : Criminal Appeal No. 384
of 1974. •
8
Appeal by Special leave from the Judgment and Order dated
the 24he October, 1973 of the Allahabad High Court' in Cr!. Appeal
No. 710of1973.

c Da/veer Bhandari, H.M. Singh & Ranbir Singh for the
Appellant.

R.K. Garg, V.J. Francis & Nikhil Chandra for the Respondent.

D The Judgment of the Court was delivered by

VENKATARAMIAH, J. It was about 5.30 P.M. on October 15,
19171.. Bankey Lal son of Jang Bahadur Singh and his wife Chandra
Kali were returning home from their 'Khalihan' (threshing floor)
which was situated towards the north of their village Kishunpur
E Chirai. As they came near the village they were met by Pussu alias
Ram Kishore and his brother-in-law Sheo Rakhan. Pussu was a:rmed
with a licensed gun of his father Jia Lal and Sheo Rakhan · with a
country made pistol. They both fired at Bankey Lal causing him injur-
ies Chhatrapal and Gaya Prasad who were going that very way to-
F wards the village saw the occurrence and asked Pussu and Sheo Rakhan
to desist from firing and also tried to stop them from continuing to
fire. Pussu fired with the gun towards Chhatrapal who in spite of being
fired at tried along with some others who were there to catch hold
of Pussu and to snatch the gun from his hands. As Pussu could not
reload the gun he assaulted those who tried to catch him with the butt
G of the gun. Gay a Prasad was, however, able to snatch the gun from
the hands of Pussu after delivering few blows with his lathi on the
head of Pussu. Pussu suddenly managed to escape from the hold of
the witnesses and ran towards Sheo Rakhan who \\as standing near a
H mango tree with his country made pistol which he was not in a
position to open and reload in spite of !\is attempts. In the meantime
the witnesses were carrying the injured Bankey Lal towards the village
and when they came near a pipal tree, Pussu ran towards them
U,Ji. STATE~. PUSSU (Verikataramiah, i.) 297

with the country made pistol which he had reloaded by then and
fired again at Bankey Lal and killed him instantaneously. This in A
brief is the prosecution case. "'
The defence version appears to be that on the date and at the
.time of the occurrence Pussu and Shea Rakhan were going towards
the 'Bhagwa Talab' near their village and on· the way they came
across Bankey Lal, his servant Nanhoon and Chhatrapal. These B
three persons surrounded both Pussu and Shea Rakhan and began
to assault them. On hearing their cries Jialal, the father of Pussu ran
towards them with his licensed gun and fired in self defence at
Chhatrapal and Bankey Lal caussing inj'!ries to Chhatrapal and
killing Bankey Lal. C
'
On the basis of the allegations of the prosecution, Pussu was
charged for an offence punishable under section 302 I.P.C. for having
committed the murder of Bankey Lal and for an offence punishable
under section 307 I.P.C. for having attempted to commit the murder
of Chhatrapal. · He was also charged under section 323 for having D
caused hurt to Gaya Prasad and under sections 25 and 27 of the
Arms Act for having been found in illegal possession of and for
having used a licensed gun for unlawful purposes. He was also
charged separately un<ler section 302/34 J.P.C. for having committed
murder of Bankey Lal in furtherance of tlie the common intention
of himself and of Sheo Rakhan. Sheo Rakhan was charged under
. section 304/34 I.P.c: for the murder of Bankey Lal in furtherance
of the common intention of himself and of Pussu. Jia Lal, father of
Pussu, was charged under section 30 of the Arms Act for con- •
travening the conditions of the licence issued in respect of his gun by
allowing Pussu to take and use it as stated above. F
The learned Sessions Judge at Fatehpur in Sessions Trial :Nci.
128/72 found Pussu guilty of the offence punishable under section 302
J.P.C. for having committed the murder of Bankey Lal and imposed
the sentence of death on him subject to confirmation by the High
Court. Pussu was also found guilty of offences punishable under G
sections 307 I.P.C. 323 I.P.C. and under section 27 of the Arms Act
for which he was sentenced to undergo rigorous imprisonment for
seven years, for one year and for one year respectively which were to
run concurrently. Sheo Rakhan was found guilty of an offence
punishable under section 302/34 .T.P.C. and was sentenced to undergo H
imprisonment for life. Jia Lal, father of Pussu, was however acquitted
of the charge against him.
298 SUP!UlME COURT REPORTS (198)] J S.C.R.

On appeal by Pussu and Sheo Rakhan~ in Criminal Appeal No.
A 710/73/Refefted No. 34 of 1973 the High Court of Allahabad set
aside the convictions and sentences imposed on them and acquitted
them of the changes levelled against them.

Against the judgment of the High Court the State Government
B applied to this Court for special leave to appeal against Pussu and
Sheo Rakhan after a petition for a certificate under Article 134 (I)
(c) of the Constitution had been dismissed by the High Court. JBy its
order dated October 28, 1974, this Court granted special leave to
appeal against Pussu alone and hence this appeal by special leave
against Pussu only.
c
In the present case many facts are not in dispute. That Bankey
Lal was killed by injuries caused by a fire arm is not in dispute. The
time, the date and place of the alleged occurrence are also not in
dispute. The presence of Chhatrapal, Bankey Lal, · Pussu. and Sheo
Rakhan at the scene of occurrence when the occurrence took place
D is not also disputed. That the licensed gun of. Jia Lal, father of
Pussu was used at the time of occurrence is also not in dispute. That
Chhatrapal suffered injuries on account of shots fired from that gun
is also not in dispute. That there was enmity between the family of
Bankey Lal and the family of Pussu owning to some c;onsolidation
E proceedings is not seriously questioned before us. The oniy points
in dispute are (1) whether Bankey Lal was killed ·on account of firing
by Pussu as stated by the pros·ecution or whether he was killed on
• account of the shots fired by Jia Lal, father of Pussu, (2) whether
Chhatrapal suffered injuries on account of shots fired by Pussu with
the said gun or whether he suffered these injuries on account of the
F firing by Jia Lal, (3) whether Gaya Prasad was assaulted by Pussu
and (4) whether Pussu had committed any offence under the Arms
Act.

Tb.e report containing the first information about the
occurrence, according to the prosecution, was written. by Yashwant
G Singh (P.W.6), a young person of about 18 years who was a resident
of Kishunpur Chirai to the dictation of Jang Bahadur Singh, the
father of Bankey Lal. Yashwant Singh has stated that he was a
student studying in the JXth class, that he had written the report to
the. dictation of Jang Bahadur Singh, that after writing it he had
H read it out to Jang Bahadur Singh who signed before him and that
thereafter he had handed over the report to Jang Babadur Singh.
He has denied that he had written the report either to the dictation of
U.P.'StATE v. PUSSU (Venkataramiah, J.) 299'

Lakhanlal and others or some time later to the dictation of the police.
The report contains details which Jang Bahadur Singh (P.W.13) A
was able to collect from his daughter-in-law and ·others who were
nearby at the time of the incid.ent. In that report there is no
reference to Jia Lal, father of Pussu, at all, (one Jia Lal whose name
is mentioned in it is a different person). The presence of Pussu and
Sheo Rakhan at the scene is mentioned. The role played by each of
them is stated to be as in the prosecution case set out above. The
e·
names of persoµs who were present there including Chhatrapal are
also mentioned. The above report and the licensed gun of Jia Lal,
the father of Pussu, which had been seized by the witnesses were
received at about 8.30 P.M. on that very day at the Police Station
at Khakhreru whlch was about four miles from 'Kishunpur Chirai c
where the. occurrence had taken place. On the basis of the said
report the First foformition Report was prepared under· section 154
Criminal Procedure Co de.

The learned Trial Judge has opined that the First Information D
' . '
Report has been promptly prepared and sent in this case. The only
criticism made against it before the trial court on behalf of the
accused was that it did not contain some details including the injuries
said to be on the person of Pussu and Sheo Rakhan. The trial court
has observed that the report was ·not one dictated by an eye
witness but by Jang Bahdur Singh who collected information from E
people who were there, that Jang Bahadur Singh who had lost his
only son could not be expected to furnish all details at the time when
the report was prepared and that the report contained broadly
all the particulars of the occurrence. The trial court also observed
that no motive could be .i'ssigned to the omission to refer to the
F
injuries on the person of the accused said to h~ve been caused by
lathi blows. The High Court has, however, considered this last
aspect namely the omission to refer to Gaya Prasad (P.W:i) giving
lathi blows to Pussu and to Chhatrapal catching hold of Pussu and
preventing him from reloading the gun was a material omission. We
shall advert to this aspect of the matter again at a later stage. One G
significant aspect of the First Information Report however is that
even though there was enmity between the family of Jang Bahadur
Singh and the family of Jia Lal, the father of Pussu, and although
the defence theory is that the said Jia Lal had fired at Chhatrapal
and Bankey Lal, there is no ,reference to the presence of Jia Lal the H
father of Pussu, at the scene of occurrence.
ioo · SUPIU!Mi! COUR'i: REPOR'i'S (1983] 3 S.C.R.

After the rec;eipt of the information regarding the occurrence,
A the Sub Inspector of Police, Dharam Singh (P.W.14) and the
Station Officer Yamuna Prasad Pandey (P.W.15) conducted the
investigation. Pussu and Sheo Rakhan could not be arrested till
October 23, 1971. They were absconding till then and they
surrendered in the court of the Additional District Magistrate (J) on
B October 23, 1971. Pussu has admitted this''fact in his examination
under section· 364 Criminal Procedure Code, 1898 by stating that on
learning about the report they surrendered before the court. After
the investigation was over a police report was filed in the court of
the magistrate which ultimately led to the committal of Jiac Lal,
Sheo Rakhan and Pussu to take their trial before the Sessions
c Court.

Exhibit Ka 35 is the post mortem certificate issued by Dr, S.C.
Misra, who had conducted the post mortem examination· on the
body of Bankey Lal. He has stated therein that there were a number
D of gun shot injuries on the person of the deceased, and the death. was
due to shock and haemorrhage caused by gun shot injuries. There is
no comment made by either side on this report. It is relevant to
mention here that Dr. S.C. Misra has stated in his deposition (Ex. Ka
34)that on October 16, 1971 at about 2.30 p.m. he had also examined
the injuries of Ram Kishore son of Jia Lal (Ram Kishore is the other
E name of Pussu) and had found three lacerated wounds, one abrasion,
one contusion and one abraded contusion and had issued a certifi.cate
as per Exh. Ka I. He also· stated that the said injuries could be
caused by lathi blows. Pussu has admitted that he was so examined
in his statement under section 364 Criminal Procedure Code, 1898.
F
P.W.2 Dr, V.P. Singh is the person who examined the injuries. _
on the person of Chliatarpal Singh (P.W.5), on the person of Gaya
Prasad (P.W.7) and on the person of Ram Gopal. He has stated
that there were gun shot injuries on the person of Chhatrapal Singh
and an abrasion and a lacerated wound which could have been
G caused by a blunt weapon on the person of Gaya Prasad. Ram
Gopal is stated to have a small contusion and an abrasion on his
person.

P.W. 5 Chhatrapal Singh, P.W. 7 Gaya Prasad, P.W. I
H Lakhanlal ancl P. W. 10 Ramnath are the eye witnesses. Of them
P.W. 5 Chhatrapal Singh and P.W. 7 Gaya Prasad are injured
witnesses. The statement of Lakhanlal was recorded by the police on
ti.P. STATE v. PUSSU (Yenlcataramiah, i.) 30i
October 15, 1971 itself when he handed· over the report about the
occurrence and the statements of Chhatrapal Singh, Gaya Prasad A
and Ramnath.were recorded by the police on October 16, 1971.
Before considering the evidence of these eye witnesses, it is necessary
to refer to a curious experiment which was carried out by the High
Court in the course of the heariag of the appeal. The experiment
relates to the capacity of Chhatrapal to run when he was fired at by B
Pu5su. One oi the arguments addressed on behalf of the accused before
the High Court was that Chhatrapal could not have lieen fired at
from a short distance but he must have been shot from a long
distance as the injuries on his person were superficial and hence he
could not run and try to catch hold of Pussu by his waist before
Pussu could. reload his gun. Chhatrapal was about 60 years of age . C
at .the time of the incident. In support of its conclusion that
Chhatrapal could not run towards Pussu in order to catch hold of
him this is what the High Court says :

"Chhatrapal appeared in the Court and we asked
him to move briskly to a certain distance in order to D
demonstrate his ability. ·He did so. We also got one of
the young lawyers presentin Court unlqad and reload a
single barrel gun of exactly the same make as the gun,
material Ex. I. Our assessment on the demonstration
about the brisk movement of Chhatrapal and the time E
taken in reloading the gun by the young lawyer is that
even if Chhatrapal aged 60 years after receiving the gun
shots injuries had run from 8 to 10 paces, he could
neither catch hold of Pussu, a young lad, nor prevent him
from reloading his gun."
F
This procedure of conducting an experiment which was
carried out two years after the incident in court with the aid of an
young lawyer (about whose proficiency in handling a gun we know
nothing) who was asked to handle a different gun altogether and
which had been used to reject the truth of the evidence of the eye
witnesses appears to be highly irregular. The High Court has no)
G
addressed itself to the degree of efficiency, or shall we say, inefficiency
of .Pussu in handling a gun. The time taken by any person to reload
a gun depends upon several factors including the condition of the
gun and the surcharged atmosphere created by the firing bout which. H
may have preceded the time of ,reloading the gun. We shail now
refer to what Chhatrapal bas stated in the course of his deposition.
He has stated :
302 SUPREME COURT REPORTS (1983) ~ s.c.R.

"At the time when I saw Pussu and· Sheo Rakhan
A near the mango tree, I saw weapons in their hands. At
·the place where the firing took place for the first time,
both the accused person were opening and· loading the
cartridges. 'They had loaded the cartridge near the mango
tree. On the first occasion, at the time of loading of
B the cartridges, I was at a distance of 1 -15 paces towards
east behind Bankey. At the time of first firing, t e sounds
of the gun fires made by the two accused person were
separate. They had fired from some distance from each
·other. Both the accused persons were almost at equal.
distance. They were not one b~bind the other. I can
'
c not, however, rule out the difference of I or 2 paces. At
·the first gunfire, Bankey ran towards the village. He must
have run upto a distance of 5-10 paces when the second
fire was opened. Bankey Lal was bit by the Ist as well
as the ind gunfire. At the time of firing, the accused
persons were on the north-eastern side of the passage. The
D third gun fire was made by the accused persons at that
very place. Bank_ey could not go ahead. At the time of
3rd fire, the accused persons were on the western side of
Bankey Lal. After this third fire, I rebuked the accused
persons. Thereupon Pussu fired at me and then I caught
E hold of him from behind ..................................... ..
The snatching of the gun took place at a distance of ten
paces on the eastern side of the place where Bankey Lal
had sat down ... , ...
As soon as Pussu fired at me, I caught bold of him
F by his waist. After I had caught hold of his waist Pussu
could not fire again so long as he did not get himself
freed.
To Court:-

At the time when Pussu fired at me and I caught him >
by his waist, the empty cartridge fired at me remained
inside the gun. J>ussu could not take it out or throw it
a way nor could he open the gun.
H
To counsel:

And in the meantime the gun was snatched."
tl.P. STATE v. PUSSU (Venkataramiah, J.)

There is nothing elicited in the cross examination of this witness
which could discredit his testimony. There was no ill-will between A
Chhatrapal and the members of Pussu's family. He ·denied a sugges-
tion that there were some proceedings under section ·107 Criminal
Procedure Code against him. There was also no evidence in suppori
of that suggestion. Chhafrapal had been in fact injured by gun shots
and the gun used on that occasion tad in fact been seized. Why J:ie B
should exonerate Jia Lal the father of Pussu from the responsibility
of injuring him if Jia 1,al was in fact responsible for it but implicate
Pussu is incomprehensible. • ·

- Gaya Prasad (P.W. 7) who was also an injurnd eye witness
stated in the course of his deposition thus:

"When Bankey Lal and his wife reached near Har
c

Sakri well, Pussu accused, who was armed with the gun of
his father, and Sheo Rakhan accused who was armed
with a· country made pistol began to fire gunshots at D·
Bankey Lal. Bankey Lal and his wife raised alarm and
...,._ ran towards the village. · Chhatrapal and I, following him
were going towards the village by the same passage.·
Chhatrapal forbade him but Pussu said that he would not
leave Bankey Lal alive. At this Chh!'trapal ran to catch
hold of Pussu whereupon Pussu aimed the gun at E
Chhatrapal. Chhatrapal turned and the gunshot hit him
on his back. Even after being hit by the gunshot,
Chhatrapal caught hold of Pussu by his waist.

Ram Gopal, Lakhan Lal, Jia Lal Gadaria, and Ram
Nath came running to the place of occurrence from the F
south. Ram Gopal and I went just close to Pussu, Ram
Gopal and I advanced to snatch the gun, but Pussu gave
one blow of th;: butt of the gun to each of us on the head.
At this I gave 4-5 blows of lathis to Pussu and then we
jointly snatched his gun. When we snatched his gun he G
went away towards the mango tree where his safa
(brother-in-law) was present On receiving the injury,
Bankey Lal had sat down in the way. Ram Nath and
Jia Lal lifted him on their arm and started for the village.
H
When they reached near the peepal tree, Pussu came with
the pistol of his brother-in-law Sheo Rakhan struck it
with the abdomen of Bankey Lal and fired, Bankey Lal
SUPROO COURT REPORTS (!983] j S.C.R.

died just on receiving the pistol shot. Thereafter PLJssu
A and Sheo Rakhan ran away towards Raeepur."

Jia Lal referred to in.the above passage is Jia Lal Gadaria and
not Jia Lal the father of Pussu.

B Even this witness is not shown to be .interested in giving false
testimony. Lakhan Lal (P.W. 1) and Ram Nath (P.W. 10) who were
also eye witnesses have given substantially the same version as the
evidence of Chhatrapal and Gaya Prasad !'nd their evidence fs not
also shown to be unworthy of acceptance.
c As against the above evidence adduced by the prosecution, we
have the evidence of Jagarinath (D.W.l 1. He has .stated that at the
time when the occurrence took place he was in his plot near Bhagwa
Talab which was close to the scene of occurrence, that he heard the
cries of Pussu 'Run up, save me, Bankey Lal . and Ghaseetey are
D killing me'. What took place thereafter may be narrated in his own
words thus:

Having gone there, I saw that Bankey Lal dece~sr:d
and Ghaseetey were assaulting Pussu accused with lathis.
E Jia Lal challenged both of them and said "Do not beat
him, otherwise I shall shoot you down". On Jia Lal's
saying so, Chhatrapal and Bankey stopped for a short time;
but they again rushed to assault Pussu. In the meantime
Pussu accused took shelter behind the mango tree. Then
Jia fired 2-3 shots at Chhatrapal and Bankey. On receiv·
F ing the gun shots injuries Chhatrapal fell down on the
ground. Bankey Lal, too, received some injuries. In the
meantime Bankey Lal's servant Nanhua caught hold of
Jialal ace.used from behind, as a result of which his arms
also got bound. Nanhua shouted "Run up. I have caught
hold of the sala". At this Shiva Rakhan accused reached
G.
there. He caught hold of Nanhua and felled him down and
· . Jia Lal accused was released from his hold. Bankey Lal
deceased rushed to snatch the gun of Jia Lal accused, but
as soon as his hand fell on the barrel of the gun, it ggt
H discharged and the shot hit Bankey Lal on his right flank,
as a result of which Bankey Lal fell down de.ad then and
there. The accused persons ran away with their licensed
gun towards their. house.
U.P. STATE v. PUSSU (Venkataramiah, J.) 305

This defence witness has not been believed by the trial court.
Nor do we find that any reliance has been placed on his evidence by A

-- the High Court. The statement of this witness was recorded by the
police on January 31, 1972 after P.W .. JS Yamuna Prasad Pandey
came to know that the name of this witness had been mentioned in
the report given by Pussu at the Kotwali Police Station. He has
stated in his cross-examination that "When I sighted for the first
time, I saw that Jia Lal was firing shots at Ghaseetey alias Chhatrapal
B
and Bankey". If that is so his version about what all had preceded
that stage is manifestly his imagination. We have carefully gone

- through his evidence and it does not inspire confidence. The prose-
cution evidence cannot be rejected on the basis of the evidence of this
• defence witness, particularly because the minor injuries stated to be
on the person of Pussu are not sufficient to hold that Pussu and
Sheo Rakhari were the victims of the aggression on the part of
Chhatrapal and Bankey ta!. This defence version is also contra-
c

dicted by the conduct of Pussu immediately after the incident. If he
was an innocent person and his father bad fired the gun in defence
of Pussu and Sheo Rakhan he would also have been an informant of D
the incident at the Khakhreru Police Station which was only about
four miles from his village· or he would have been available for
+ interrogation by the police, if they came at the instance of somebody
else. But he ran away from the village and he was found at 8 A.M.
on the next day i.e. October 16. 1971 at the Kotwali Police Station, E
Fatehpur which was about forty five miles from his village. In order
to reach that place he had to pass through at least three places where
there were police stations. As the trial court has observed he must
have gone there to have proper legal advice before gaving his version
of the incident at a police station where he could find an officer who
would oblige him by riot arresting him. Ordinarily in a case of this F
nature a police officer would have contacted the concerned police
station to ascertain facts and to seek instructions. Pussu, as men-
tioned earlier, was arrested on October 23, 1971 when he surrendered
before court. The gist of the version in the F.I.R. (Exh. Ka. 10)
given by Pussu at the Kotwali Police Station, Fatebpur is summarised
G
by the trial court in its judgment and the relevant portion of that
- judgment reads thus :

"When both these accused reached near "Bhagwa
Talab" they found deceased Bankey Lal. Ghaseetey alia• H
.
Chhatrapal and Bankey Lal's servant Nanhoon coming
from north side of the village towards them armed with
lathis. On account of fear both these accused left that
306 SUPREME COURT REPORTS (!983] 3 S.C.J\.

passage but the aforesaid three persons rushed up at them
A and began to assault them with lathis. On hearing their
cries his father accused. Jia Lal who was having ·his
licemed gun, Jagannath and Shea Autar reached there
and began to s~ve them from the assault. The assailants
namely Bankey Lal, Chliatrapal and Nanhoon threw
B down his father Jia Lal on the ground and began to
snatch his gun. In the meantime he ran away from there
but when he was running away he heard a gun shot
sound. He did not go to his police station due to fear
and, therefore, reached Police Station Kotwali, Fatehpur.

c
He had also stated about injuries over his head; hand and
back caused by lathi blows" ..

This version, apart from the other infirmities pointed· out by
the trial court, contradict.s the version of Jagannath (D W. I) that
-
when he first 'sighted' Jialal the father of Pussu was already firing
shots. The story contained in Exh. Ka-10 appears to be one spun
D
out after a lot of deliberation.

We have set out above fo some detail the prosecution evidence
and the defence version only to show how dem.onstrably the Higb
Court w~s in error in rejecting the case of the prosecution. We
E have already referred to the experiment carried out by High Court
at the hearing of the appeal by asking Chhatrapal to run. about and
an advocate to load a gun in their presence. Having been impressed
by the result of that experiment the High Court first rejected the
·evidence of Chhatrapal that he had tried to catch hold of Pussu.
The High Court ·then found that .there was a material omission. in
F the information given by Jang Bahadur Singh as "there was no
mention about Gaya Prasad having inflicted four or five lathi blows
on Pussu and it is only in the trial court that the eye witnesses have
asserted tbat four or five lathi bfows were inflicted on Pussu''.
Having regard to the several details about the incident given by
G Jang .Bahadur Singh who was in fact not an eye witness, the
omission referred to above appears to be a trivial one not affecting

H
credibility of the prosecution version. The third ground on which
the High Court found the prosecution case as not being worthy of
acceptance is again a strange one. The relevant part of the judg-
ment of the High Court reads thus:
-
"The eye-witnesses have asserted that after the
gun had been snatched away, Pussu freed himself and
U.P. STATE v. PUSSU (Venkataramiah, J.) 307

taking the pistol from appellant Sheo Rakhan fired ~
fatal shot at Bankey Lal from point blank range. It is A
highly improbable that after Pussu had been arrested
and disarmed he could be allowed to free himself from
the hands of young men like Lakhan Lal, Gaya Prasad
and Ram Pal. The normal conduct of Pussu after he .
had freed and rearmed himself with pistol would have
been to demand the return of his gun from Gaya Prasad B
on the point of his pistol rather than to pursue his injured
victim Bankey Lal and to· shoot him dead".

- What is improbable about· the prosecution version, we fail to
see. If Pussu's object was to kill. Bankey Lal, he would instead of
demanding·the return of the gun on the point of his pistol, run
towards Bankey Lal and shoot at him, which in fact is what he is
alleged to have done in this case. The High Court's opinion that
the normal conduct of a person in the position of Pussu would have
c

been what the High Court has stated in the course of its judgment
is a mere surmise. At any rat'e on such an imaginary ground the D
evidence of the eye witnesses could not be rejected. Another reason
given by the High Court is again a supposition resting on no solid
ground and that relates to the condition of the gun (Exh. Ka-l).
The High Court has observed :
E
"None of the eye-witnesses has stated that any hlow
of lathi plied by Gaya Prasad fell on the butt of the gun .
.Gaya Prasad has stated that he inflicted four or five
lathi blows on Pussu. The gun was deposited in the
Mal Khana at the Police Station and a· piece of the F
wooden part of the butt of the gun was found broken.
Th\s was noted in the recovery memo (Exh. Ka-I). The
gun was examined by us· and we found a wooden piece
·of the butt having chipped off and the opening lever of
the gun had become inoperative. This could only
·happen if lathi blow fell on the butt of the gun. None of
·G
the eye-witnesses has deposed that any blow from lathi
plied by Gaya Prasad regis\ered a hit on the gun, There
is no explanation as to how the wooden butt of the gun
(material Exh. I) got broken and consequently the gun
could not be opened."
H
In reaching the above conclusion, the High. Court has over-
looked the evidence of Gaya Prasad (P.W. 7) in his examination-in-
308 SUPREME COURT REPORTS (198'.l] 3 S.C.R,

chief that when they were trying to snatch the gun Pussu gave one
A blow with the butt of the gun on his head and one blow on the head
of Ram Gopal and the further statement in his cross-examination
that on account of its being snatched with jerks, the wood~fixed at
the lower part of the. gun was left in the hands of Pussu himself and
that the gun could have been damaged by being used as mentioned
B above. The H;gh Court was wrong in holding that the gun could
have been damaged only if a lathi blow had fallen on it. The
explanation given by the prosecution is quite satisfactory indeed.
We are not also impressed by the other ground relied on by the
High Court that "in ~ases of emergency is repeated firing
a shooter does not normally start collecting empty cartridges auto·
c matically ejected from the gun before reloading the gun" and "the
non-recovery of the fired cartridge either in the breach of the gun
or from the spot is a suspicious circumstance" having regard to
the overwhelming evidence in this case in support of the prosecution
case.
D
The rule governing the appreciation of evidence in a criminal
case is laid down by this Court in State of Punjab v. Jagir Singh &
Ors.( 1) in which this Court set aside the judgment of acquittal passed
by the High Court which had reversed the conviction and sentence
imposed by the trial court thus :
E
"A crimi,nal trial is not like a fairy tale' wherein one
is free to give flight to 6ne's imagination and phantasy.
It concerns itself with the question as to whether the
accused arraigned at the trial is guilty of the crime with
F which he is·charged. Crime is an event in real life and
is the product of interplay of different human emotions.
In arriving at the conclusion about the guilt of the
accused charged with the commission of a crime, the
court has to judge the evidence by the yardstick of
probabilities, its intrinsic worth and the animus of
G witnesses. Every case in the final analysis wo_uld have >
to depend upon its own facts. Although the benefit of
.every reasonable doubt should be given to the accused,
the courts should not at the same time reject evidence
which is ex facie trustworthy on the grounds which are
fanciful or in the nature Of conjectures".

(I) [1974] I S.C.R. '28.
U.P. STATE v. PUSSU (Venkataramiah, J.) 309

We have pointed out above the manifest errors committed by
the High Court in the course of its judgment accquitting the A
accused Pussu.

On a careful reading of the evidence in this case, we feel that
Jia Lal had out of love and affection towards his son from the
beginning tried to shield Pussu but has ultimately not been success-
B
ful. From the evidence it is obvious that Pussu· and Sheo Rakhan
were armed with_ fire arms and they were the aggressors. The plea
of self defence urged on behalf of Prissu cannot be accepted. A
person who is an aggressor and who seeks an attack on himself by
his own aggressive attack cannot rely upon the right of -self-defence
if in the course of the transaction he deliberately kills another whom c
he had attacked earlier. In the instant case having regard to the
nature of the weapon used it has to be held that the act by-which the
death of Bankey Lal was caused by Pussu was done with the inten-
tion of causing death, and we do not find any extenuating circum-
stances which would mitigate the offence committed by Pussu. The
D
trial court was, therefore, right in convicting Pussu of an offence
. punishable 1mder section 302 LP.C. The acquittal of Sheo Rakhan
does not affect the prosecution case against Pussu. There is no
legal bar for convicting Pussu alone in"this case on the facts and in
the circumstances of the case. The principle of issue estoppel is
inapplicable here, E
This is not a case in which it could be said thaf two views

-
were reasonably possible. The only reasonable view to be taken
is the one taken by the trial court. We are aware of the rule of
practice that ordinarily this Court should not interfere with judg-
ments of acquittal on a mere reappreciation of evidence, But if
F
there are glaring infirmities in the judgment of the High Court
resulting in a gross miscarriage of justice, it is the duty of this Court
to interfere. In the instant case we find that the approach of the
High Court is basically erroneous and its judgment is founded on
false assumptions, conjuctures and ·surmises. On a consideration G
of the entire mass of evidence adduced ·in this case we are satisfied
that the prosecution ·has established beyond reasonable doubt that
Pussu had committed the murder of Bankey Lal. In cases of this
natllre it is advisable to bear in mind the following observations of
Krishna Iyer, J. in Shivoji-Sahebrao & Anr. v. State of Maharashtra(') II
at pages 492-493 :

(I) .[19741 I S.C.R. 489.
310 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [1983) 3 s.c.R.

"Even 'at this stage we may remind ourselves of a
A necessary social perspective in criminal cases which
suffers from insufficient forensic appreciation. The·
dangers of exaggerated devotion to the rule of· benefit of
doubt at the expense of social defence and ' to the soothing
sentiment that all acquittals are always good regardless
B of justice to the victim and the community, demand
especial emphasis in the contemporary context of escala-
ting crime and escape. The judicial instrument has a
public accouJ1tability: The cherished principles or golden
thread of proof beyond reasonable doubt which runs
thro' the web of our law should not be stretched mor-
c bidly to embrace every hunch, hesitancy and degree of
doubt. The excessive solicitude reflected in the: atti-
tude that a thousand guilty men may go but one innocent
martyrshould not suffer is a false dilema. Only reason-
able doubts· belong to the accused. Otherwisi: any
D practical system of justice will. then break down and lose
credibility with the community. The evil of acquittil)g a
guilty person light:heartedly as a learned author Glanville
Williams in 'Proof of Guilt' has sapiently observed, goes
much beyond the simple fact that just one guilty person
has gone unpunished If unmerited acquittals become
E general, they tend to lead to a cynical disregard of the
law, and this in turn leads to a public demand for harsher
legal presumptions against indicted. 'persons' and more

-
severe punishment of those who are found guilty. Thus
too frequent acquittals of the gnilty may lead to a fero-
F cious penal law, eventually eroding the judicial protection
. of the guiltless. For all these reasons it is true to say,
with Viscount Simon, that "a miscarriage of justice may
arise from the acquittal of the guilty no less than from the
conviction of the innocent.... " In short, our jurispru-
G dential enthusiasm for presumed innocence must be
moderated by the pragmatic need to make criminaljustice
potent and realistic."

In the result, we set aside the judgment of the High Court in
H so far as Pussu is concerned and restore his conviction for the offence
punishable under section 302 I.P.C. as ordered by the trial court.
As regards sentence we feel that ends of justice would be met.if we
impose the punishment of imprisonment for life on him. We.
U.P. STATE v. PUSSU (Vankataramiah, J.) 311
.,,
accordingly· sentence Pussµ to imprisonment for life: We also restore
the conviction of Pussu for the offences
. punishable
... under sections A
307 l.P.C., 323 I.P.C. and section 27 of the Arms Act and the
sentences imposed ou him·
on
. ;I
.that
·~~
account
_ I _f
as ordered by the trial
court. All the sentences shall run concurrently.
/
l \ - •
The appeal is accordingly allowed. Pussu is on bail. He is
B
directed to surrender in accordance with the terms of his bail and
undergo the punishment iriipb'seci on him.

P.B.R. Appeal allowed.

,
.

y