Patna High Court
Hemant Paswan And Anr vs The State Of Bihar on 14 December, 2023
Author: Ashutosh Kumar
Bench: Ashutosh Kumar
IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT PATNA
CRIMINAL APPEAL (DB) No.821 of 2017
Arising Out of PS. Case No.-60 Year-2015 Thana- BELAGANJ District- Gaya
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1. Hemant Paswan, Son of Late Ram Pravesh Ram Paswan, Resident of
Village- Lodipur, P.S.- Belaganj, District- Gaya.
2. Ranjan Paswan @ Ranjeet Paswan @ Ranjeet Pashwan @ Ranajan, S/o
Hemant Paswan, Resident of Village- Lodipur, P.S.- Belaganj, District- Gaya.
... ... Appellant/s
Versus
The State of Bihar
... ... Respondent/s
======================================================
Appearance :
For the Appellant/s : Mr. N.K. Agrawal, Sr. Advocate.
Mr. Sudhir Kumar Sinha, Advocate.
Mr. Arvind Kumar, Advocate.
Mr. Kumar Rajdeep, Advocate.
For the Respondent/s : Mr. Satya Narayan Prasad
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CORAM: HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE ASHUTOSH KUMAR
and
HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE NANI TAGIA
ORAL JUDGMENT
(Per: HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE ASHUTOSH KUMAR)
Date : 14-12-2023
1. We have heard Mr. N.K. Agrawal, learned
Senior Advocate for the appellants and Mr. Satya
Narayan Prasad, learned APP for the State.
2. The appellants, who are father-in-law and
husband of the deceased respectively, have been
convicted under Sections 302, 307, 323 and 498A/34 of
the Indian Penal Code, vide judgment dated 25.05.2017
Patna High Court CR. APP (DB) No.821 of 2017 dt.14-12-2023
2/12
passed by the learned Sessions Judge, Gaya, in Sessions
Trial No. 514 of 2016, G.R. No. 1850 of 2015, arising
out of Belaganj P.S. Case No. 60 of 2015. By order dated
29.05.2017
, they have been sentenced to undergo R.I.
for life, to pay a fine of Rs. 30,000/- and in default of
payment of fine, to further suffer imprisonment for two
years for the offence under Section 302 IPC. For the
offence under Section 307 of IPC, they have been
sentence to undergo R.I. for ten years, to pay a fine of
Rs. 20,000/- and in default of payment of fine, to further
suffer imprisonment for one year. For the charge under
Section 323 of IPC, the appellants have been sentenced
to undergo imprisonment for one year. For the offence
under Section 498A of IPC, the appellants have further
been sentenced to undergo R.I. for three years, to pay a
fine of Rs. 5,000/- and in default of payment of fine, to
suffer imprisonment for six months.
3. All the sentences have been ordered to run
concurrently.
Patna High Court CR. APP (DB) No.821 of 2017 dt.14-12-2023
4. The case is based on the so-called dying
declaration of the deceased, who is said to have given her
fardbeyan statement before the Officer In-Charge of
Belaganj Police Station (P.W. 3) on 24.04.2015.
5. In the aforenoted fardbeyan statement, the
victim had alleged that when she had sought permission
from her mother-in-law (not put on trial) in the night of
23.04.2015 to go in the neighbourhood to attend a
marriage, she was abused and her children were taken
away from her. Later in the night at about 11 O' Clock,
her husband/appellant Ranjan Paswan along with his
parents came and doused her with petrol, which was
taken out from the motorcycle and was set on fire. The
fire was lighted by appellant no. 1.
6. Thereafter, leaving the deceased burning, the
accused persons ran way, closing the door of the room
behind them. On her shouts, many people of the
neighbourhood came and opened the door. In order to
give it a colour of accidental fire while cooking, the
Patna High Court CR. APP (DB) No.821 of 2017 dt.14-12-2023
appellant no. 2, her husband tried to extinguish the fire
by coming close to her body and in the process, he too
was injured. There had been a past history of cruelty at
the hands of the appellants and her mother-in-law. On
this occasion she was very severely burnt.
7. On the basis of the afore-noted statement,
which was recorded by P.W. 3, a case intiially was
registered vide Belaganj P.S. Case No. 60 of 2015, dated
24.04.2015 under Sections 341, 323, 307, 498A/34 of
the IPC. Later, after the death of the deceased, Section
302 of IPC was added.
8. It appears that the mother-in-law of the
deceased was not put on trial.
9. The Trial Court has examined only four
witnesses including the Doctor, who conducted the
postmortem over the dead body and the I.O. of this case,
who had recorded the fardbeyan. The two other
witnesses; one being the mother of the deceased and the
other whose sister was married in the village of the
Patna High Court CR. APP (DB) No.821 of 2017 dt.14-12-2023
appellants, have not supported the prosecution case and
have been declared hostile.
10. It appears from the judgment that the
Court below has fully relied upon the dying declaration of
the deceased and the deposition of the I.O. to come to
the conclusion that the appellants had killed the
deceased.
11. We have noticed that on the fardbeyan
which was recorded in the Emergency Ward of Belaganj
Primary Health Centre, the victim had put her R.T.I.
(Exhibit- 1). She died after about 10 days of treatment in
P.M.C.H. There is no signature of any person as a
witness to the recording of the fardbeyan.
12. On the scrutiny of the deposition of
P.W. 3 (the I.O.), we have found that he himself in
Paragraph- 2 of his cross-examination has said that when
he had gone to see the victim, she was not in a position
to give her statement. After the statement was recorded,
P.W. 3 visited the house of the victim. During the course
Patna High Court CR. APP (DB) No.821 of 2017 dt.14-12-2023
of inspection of the house, one plastic bottle was found to
be burnt. The house of the mother of victim (P.W. 1) was
located nearby. He is said to have recorded the statement
of the mother of the victim (P.W. 1), Ashok Paswan
(P.W. 2), Kumkum Devi (not examined) and others. He
claims that all these persons supported the prosecution
version.
13. This appears to be rather strange that
the two other persons, who have been examined viz.,
P.Ws. 1 and 2, have not at all supported the prosecution
version.
14. It appears that the I.O. did not even try
to know as to how the deceased was brought to Belaganj
Primary Health Centre and lodged in the Emergency
Ward. Somebody must have brought her to the hospital.
In his cross-examination, he has said that he was present
in the hospital from before but was never informed by
anybody about either the occurrence or the victim having
been brought by somebody. In such an event, it appears
Patna High Court CR. APP (DB) No.821 of 2017 dt.14-12-2023
to be highly unlikely that the victim would be left
abandoned in the Emergency Ward of the hospital. Either
she would have been brought by her in-laws or her
mother, who though has not supported the prosecution
case and has been declared hostile, but has admitted of
having brought the victim in an injured condition to the
hospital.
15. According to the fardbyean statement,
the three children of the victim/deceased were taken
away from her. How old were the children and where
were they remains unknown. The I.O. has not recorded
anything about the children of the deceased or there
being the witnesses to the occurrence. The house
according to his evidence, appeared to be a joint house of
the deceased, her husband and her parents-in-law.
16. Apart from this, we have also found
from the deposition of P.W. 3 that the appellant
no.2/husband was also injured, which injury was received
while trying to extinguish fire. Though, according to the
Patna High Court CR. APP (DB) No.821 of 2017 dt.14-12-2023
fardbeyan statement of the deceased, it was only an
affectation of appellant no. 2 in order to avoid the gaze of
the people and prevent the family from being prosecuted
for burning the deceased; but the injuries on appellant
no. 2 do not appear to be minor.
17. We say so for the reason that according
to P.W. 3, he had sent appellant no. 2 to hospital for
being treated. Very surprisingly again, the injury report of
appellant no.2 has not been brought on record.
18. This, therefore, makes us wonder as to
how P.W. 3 recorded the statement of the victim, who
alleged that she was put on fire by the appellants.
19. In order to test whether such statement
could have been made by the victim in the burnt
condition, we have examined the deposition of the Doctor
as also the post-mortem report, which is Exhibit- 1/1. The
post-mortem report clearly discloses dermo- epidermal
burn injuries on whole of the body surface except the
front of lower chest and abdomen. The injuries were
Patna High Court CR. APP (DB) No.821 of 2017 dt.14-12-2023
found to have been caused by flame and the death was
assessed to be due to the burn injuries and its
complications.
20. In the cross-examination, Dr. Shiv
Ranjan Kumar, (P.W. 4) has specifically stated that the
face, mouth, lips and eyes of the deceased were
completely burnt. In such condition, P.W. 4 has asserted,
no statement could be made by anybody. The injuries
could also be accidental.
21. The post-mortem examination has been
done in the P.M.C.H. This, therefore, pre-supposes that
the deceased was brought from Belaganj to P.M.C.H.
When was it done, remains unknown. Who all had
accompanied the deceased while she was still struggling
for life from Belaganj to P.M.C.H. at Pribahore in Patna,
also remains unknown.
22. The I.O. has admitted that for six days
that the deceased survived, she was not in a position to
speak and, therefore, her further statement was not
Patna High Court CR. APP (DB) No.821 of 2017 dt.14-12-2023
recorded.
23. Thus, it appears that the very story of
the deceased having been burnt at the hands of the
appellants is incorrect. Even if it were correct, the
deceased, while alive, would not have in a position to
speak and give such detailed statement to the I.O.
24. No witness to the fardbeyan further
confounds the issue and confirms our belief that the
deceased was not in a position to speak.
25. The other lapses in the investigation
namely of not finding out the motorcycle from which
petrol was taken out and used for burning the deceased;
the age and the statements of three children of the
deceased who allegedly were taken away from her make
the investigation highly lopsided.
26. We have also examined the deposition
of P.Ws. 1 and 2 even though they have been declared
hostile. The deceased had solemnized love marriage with
appellant no. 2. Ever since the marriage, according to
Patna High Court CR. APP (DB) No.821 of 2017 dt.14-12-2023
P.W. 1, the deceased and her husband stayed separately
though in the same house. If this were true, there was no
necessity for the deceased to have taken permission of
her mother-in-law to go in a marriage function in the
neighbourhood, which actually was the flash-point for the
deceased to be attempted to be burnt alive.
27. All these lapses make the prosecution
case highly doubtful.
28. It is unfortunate that a lady has died of
burn injuries but the evidence is not strong enough for
convicting the appellants under Section 302, 307 and 323
of the IPC. So far as the offence under Section 498A is
concerned, the same has neither been made out nor
proved during the Trial.
29. We are left with no option then than to
set aside the judgment and order of conviction of the
appellants.
30. The appeal is allowed.
31. The conviction of the appellants are set
Patna High Court CR. APP (DB) No.821 of 2017 dt.14-12-2023
aside. They are acquitted of the charges.
32. It is informed by the learned Advocate
that the appellants are in jail.
33. They are directed to be released from
jail forthwith, if not detained or wanted in any other case.
34. Let a copy of this judgment be
dispatched to the Superintendent of the concerned Jail
forthwith for compliance and record.
35. The records of this case be returned to
the Trial Court forthwith.
36. Interlocutory application/s, if any, also
stand disposed off accordingly.
(Ashutosh Kumar, J)
(Nani Tagia, J)
krishna/manoj-
AFR/NAFR NAFR
CAV DATE NA
Uploading Date 19.12.2023
Transmission Date 19.12.2023
