The single judge bench of Justice Alok Kumar Pandey of the Patna High Court in the case of Rakesh Kumar Vs The state of Bihar held that the accused have been deprived of the opportunity to cross-examine as the victim has not been produced before the court by the prosecution.
Brief Facts:
The factual matrix of the case is that the appellant reached the gate of the informants and threatened and abused them to settle the matter, however, when the mother of the informant objected to the abuse, then the appellants and others assaulted the head of the mother of the informant due to which she fell down. Furthermore, upon hearing the noise the informant came and saved his mother. Thereafter, on the basis of the written complaint by the informant, the FIR was registered under Sections 341, 323, 325, 307/34 of the IPC. The learned trial court convicted the appellants and sentenced them to undergo rigorous imprisonment for ten years each along with a fine of rupees ten thousand.
Contentions of the Appellant:
The learned counsel appearing on behalf of the appellant contended that there exists no specific allegation in the FIR. Also, the informant is not an eyewitness of the alleged incident. Furthermore, it was contended that the victim has not been produced before the court and also her evidence was not recorded by the investigating officer. It was submitted that even if the entire prosecution case is proven to be true no offense is established against the appellants under Section 307 read with 34 of the IPC based on the facts and evidence that are already in the record.
Contentions of the State:
The learned counsel for the state contended that all the prosecution witnesses have supported the case of the prosecution and the place of occurrence was identified by the investigating officers. It was furthermore contended that there exists a motive behind the alleged incident which has also been proved. Also, the judgment of the trial court does not require any interference as it is based on the sound principle of law.
Observations of the Court:
The Hon’ble court observed that the victim is the star witness, whose presence at the scene of the incident cannot be questioned and whose evidence is crucial to the development of the story. However, for reasons best known to the prosecution, the victim has not been brought before the court. As a result, the appellants were denied the opportunity of questioning her in a cross-examination, which is fatal for the prosecution.
It was furthermore observed that even the medical report does not support the prosecution's version of events, as the doctor acknowledges that falling off any hard object may possibly result in similar injuries.
The Hon’ble court interpreted the Section 307 IPC and held that an act that is intended to result in death but fails to accomplish the intended consequence on account of initiation on account of intervening circumstances. In order for a killing to be considered murder, the intention or knowledge of the cause must be sufficient. The offense of attempted murder cannot exist without the intent or knowledge required by Section 307 IPC.
The Hon’ble court relied upon the judgments titled Takdir Samsuddin Sheikh v. State of Gujarat and another, Brahm Swaroop and another v. State of U.P., Ranjit Singh and others v. State of Madhya Pradesh, Mano Dutt and another v. State of Uttar Pradesh, and State of U.P. v. Kishan Chand and others.
Based on these considerations, the Hon’ble Court was of the view that the prosecution has failed to prove its case beyond reasonable doubt and the benefit of the doubt goes in favor of the appellants. The court set aside the judgment of the trial court and order of sentence.
The decision of the Court:
With the above direction, the court allowed the present appeal.
Case Title: Rakesh Kumar Vs The state of Bihar
Coram: Hon’ble Mr. Justice Alok Kumar Pandey
Case No.: Criminal Appeal (SJ) No. 34 of 2023
Advocate for the Appellant: Mr. Rabi Bhushan, Adv. Ms.Rakhi Kumari, Adv.
Advocate for the Respondent: Mr.Mukeshwar Dayal, APP
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