J02 BHAGWAN KAUR v. MAHARAJ KRISHAN SHARMA October 25 & Ors.

On arrival in the hospital, Head Constable Sita Ram made an aj)plication to the doctor for recording. the statement of deceased, but the doctor said that she was unfit to make a state ment. ASI Hem Raj (PW 30), on coming t;o know of phonic message, first went to the house of the accused and, on being told that the deceased had been removed to the Willingdon Hospital, went there. The Assistant Sub Inspector met Maharaj Krishan accused in the hospital and found him to be very much upset. At about 4.30 p.m. on that day Dayal Das (PW 5) received a telephonic message from Rajinder Nagar police station that his in a daughter had been admitteq in the Willingdon Hospital serious condition. Dayal Das: accompanied by his wife Bhagwan Kaur, then went to the hospital and found the deceased lying in the Casualty Department with serious burns over her face and chest. Maharaj Krishan accused was also present at that time out side the hospital. Keshava Nand, who is cousin of Bhagwan Kaur and his wife Kamla (PW 2) also reached the hospital. At about 1 i. p.m. on that night Shanti Devi deceased was removed female ward. Bhagwan Kaur went with the deceased to the ward. Kamla sat in the verandah of that ward. " At about mid-night hour, it is alleged, Shanti Devi deceased regained consciousness and opened her· eyes. Bhagwan Kaur asked the deceased as to what had happened, but the deceased could ;06 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [1973] 2 s.c.R. not speak and made a gesture indicating that she would like write something. Bhagwan Kaur then went to the doctor's room and found nobody present there. Bhagwan Kaur picked up a piece of paper which was lying on the floor of that room. She also picked up a pen lying on the table. Bhagwan Kaur on return sup ported the deceased by sitting by her side and the dece:ised started writing on the paper. Bhagwan Kaur put a spit-pan upside down under the paper with a view to support it. After writing something the deceased shook the pen indicating that there was no more ink in it. Bhagwan Kaur then brought another pen from the table in the doctor's room and with that pen, the deceased wrote something more. After the deceased had completed the writ ing, Bhagwan Kaur took the pen back to the doctor's room and placed it on the table. The writing of the deceased is PW 1 /A and is in Hindi. It was signed in Hindi by the deceased as Shanti Devi. The deceased also appended her signature on it in English. The writing was to the following effect : "I am in senses now. A quarrel took place at my house yesterday and my husband asked me that he had no connections with me and that I should go to my parents. I did not go. Thereupon my (husband) cauglit hold of my hand forcibly and my mother-in-law put some drug in my mouth forcibly with her .hands, some of which got into (my mouth) and some scattered ~t the ground. Written by: Shani Shan11a (Shan ti Sharma Maharaj) Shanti Devi Shanna C/o. Maharaj Krishan Sharma. "(Husband Name)" A ( (} E f Bhagwan Kaur, according to the prosecution case, is ill.'l!rate ;1nd could ng_t.read what had been written by Shanti Devi deceased. When Bhagwan Kaur insisted upon the d'ceased speaking some thing, the deceased told Bhagwan Kaur that the two accused .had put acid on her tongue. Bhagwan Kaur then_ started weeping whereupon Kamla came ·inside. Kamla too was told by Shanti Devi deceased that she had been forcibly given something in her mouth and that >he had given a writing to her mother. Soon regained thereafter Bhagwan Kaur became unconscious and consciousness at 5 a.m. The condition of Shanti Devi deceased deteriorated in the morn- i ug, a1id she died at about 10.45 a.m. ASI Hem Raj first rrepared inque'1 reoort PW 51 J in the In the aforesaid inquest report, the presence of the.two accused. G H BHAGWAN KAUR v. M. K. SHARMA (Khan1111, I.) .107 Assistant Sub lnspector recorded the statements of the two accused. Maharaj Krishan accused, in the course of his statement in the inquest report, stated that there used to take place petty quarrels between him and his wife, who had not given birth to any child, but the matter used to be patched up. On July 23, .1965, accord ing to Maharaj Krishan, he told the deceased at the tjme he was taking meals about his proposed visit to England. Shanti Devi accused was also present at that time. The deceased then tried to dissuade Maharaj Krishan from going to England but he advised her to complete her studies and pass B.A.B. T. examination during the period he remained abroad. Shanti Devi accused then went out. .Maharaj Krishan also went towards the kitchen to leave the utensils there. Maharaj Krishan then heard cries of the deceased. · Both he and his mother rushed to the spot where the deceased was present. The deceased then pointed towards .a bottle containing acid lying in the almirah and told the accused that she had taken acid out of that. Maharaj Krishan also noticed some stains of acid scattered in the room. Maharaj Krishan immediately rang up Dr. Chadha. The doctor sent a report to the police station with the consent of Maharaj Krishun. The deceased was then Willingdon Hospital. To similar effect was the statement of Shanti Devi accused. According to ASI Hem Raj, at about 2.45 p.m. Bhagwan Kaur made a statement PW I /B to him. In the course of 'tatement Bhagwan Kaur referred to the previous strained rela tions of the accused with the deceased. Bhagwan Kaur also made reference to the writing of dying declaration PW 1 /A by deceased during the night as well as to the oral statement of the deceased to Bhagwan Kaur. Bhagwan Kaur at the same handed over dying declaration PW 1/ A to ASI Hem Raj. The Assistant Sub Inspector 'then prepared another inquest report PW 5/D in which he recorded th.: statements of Bhagwan Kaur and Dayal Das. A case was registered on the basis of statement PW l/B of Bhagwan Kaur at police station Rajinder Nagar at 3.25 p.m. Post mortem examin~tion on the hody of Shanti Devi .deceased was performed by Dr. R. L. Handa at 2.30 p.m. on July 25, 1965. The doctor expressed the opinion that the death of the deceased was due to corrosive poisoning probably by ·acid. He also expressed the view that the acid of that much quantity could not be forced into the stomach by somebody else. The case was thereafter investigated by ASI Hem Raj (PW 33) and Inspector Jagdish Kumar (PW 35). Writing PW l /A was sent to Dr. S. K. Sharma. Government Examiner of Questioned Documents. Dr. Sharma II I> F G II 708 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [1973J 2 s.c.R. expressed the opinion that there was similarity in writing PW 1 I A and other documents containing .the admitted writing of Shanti Devi deceased. On February 17, 1966 the police submitted a report magistrate that the case should be cancelled as the evidence indi cated that the death. of the deceased was the result of suicide. Shri J agmohan magistrate then passed an order in accordance with th.it report. On June I, 1966 Bhagwan Kaur filed a complaint against the accused under section 302 read with section 34 Indian l'enal Code on the above allegations. At the trial the two accused, while not denying the strained relations with the deceased, stated that the deceased had died because she had herself swallowed sulphuric acid. According to the accused, the sulphuric acid was not administered to her. No evidence was produced in defence. Lcan>.cd Additional Sessions Judge held that the death of Shanti Devi deceased was caused by the accused in the manner slated by her in dying declaration PW!/ A. Evidence about the oral dying declaration of Shanti Devi deceased io Bhagwan Kaur and Karnla was not accepted. On appeal the learned judges of the High Court referred the different cirrnmstances of the case and found that those cir l:Umstanccs pointed to the conclusion that the deceased had died as a result of suicide. As regards !Jie dying declaration PW 1 /A, the learned judges took the view that there were inherent weak evidence nesses and improbabilities which fumished i•gainst the acceptance of the dying declaration. Those weaknesses were enumerated as under : - intrinsic .. (I) lt s1arts with the words "At this time I am in It is rather unusual that a person in senses." that condition would extend that type of assur ance or declaration which appears to be an effort to leml ~ wlour of genuineness. ( 2) The details about her husband having asked her to go to her parents also brings in an element of doubt because nonnallv a person in condition will avoid details. (J) The letter contains the word "Lekha.k", which means "the writer". The signatures in Hindi are not complete as it is only signed as 'Shani Sharma'. Against the Hindi signatures there is bracket and then she is alleged to have signed in English 'Shanti Shanna Maharaj'. Again at A B c D E ~- G H A B c BHAUWAN KAUR v. M. K. SHARMA (Khanna, I.) 709 the back of the Jetter she has signed in English as 'Shanti Devi Shanna C/ o Maharaj Krishan Sharma (Husband Name). The last of the above mentioned writing shows the meticulous care with which the identity of the husband is sought to be established. I find itdifficult to accept that a patient in that agony would add the words such as 'the writer', repeat her signatures English, and the word 'Maharaj' ,als0 which is not found in any of her admitted letters such as Exhibits PW 5/C. P.W. and P.W. 51F and write what is written at the back of the paper. (4) The writing in the letter is in a finn hand which is inconsistent with the writing of a person in Shanti Devi's condition. (5) The incomplete signatures as 'Shani Sruirma' cast a doubt in my mind because a person who could write so much would not have normally made a mistake in putting down complete Hindi signat; ures." . · We have heard in this Court Mr. Churcharan Singh on be half of the appellant and Mr. Nooridin on behalf of the respon dents and are of the opinion that the present appeal is devoid of any merit. It is the common case of the parties and is proved by the evidence of Dr. Handa that Shanti Devi deceased died due to corrosive acid poisoning. Dr. Handa, who arrived at ~his conclu sion, found at the time of post mortem examination that both the lips of the deceased showed acid burns. Two streaks of acid, each 2'' long and one 1/3" br<iad, were found present on either side of the chin. Small acid burns were present on cheek and chest. On internal examination, the doctor found that the inner aspect of the lips, the lining of the oral cavity and tongue were corroded. The teeth were chalky whlte. F<>od pipe showed corrosion of mucus. Stomach was charred black and corroded. It had three perforations and the acid was found to hav\l gone to the peritoneal cavity, leaving burns on the surface of the liver and adjacent structures. Stomach wall was friable and was empty. Duodenum was also partly corroded. Reaction of the bums was strongly acidic. The quall'lity of acid poored into the mouth, in the opinion of the doctor, might be between half an ounce to one ounce. the forehead, E , G H According to the prosecution case, it were the accused who forcibly poured acid into the mouth of the deceased. As against l 710 SUPREME COURT REPORTS (1973] 2 S.C.R. that tho defence version was to tho effect that the deceased com mit~ suicide by drinking acid. The High Court on appreciation of tile evidence came to the conclusion that the various circwn stances of the case pointed to the inference that the death of the deceased was the result of suicide. This Court in an appeal under reappraise article 136 of the Constitution does not no!11lally evidence unless it finds some glaring infirmity in the judgment of the High Court as might have resulted in miscarriage of justice. No such infirmity has been brought to our notice. On the contrary, we find that the High Court has properly appraised the evidence and has arrived at its conclusion in a well-reasoned judgment the mouth of N:> eye \"itness of the occurrence has been produced by the prosecntion because, according to it, no one else was present at the time the acid was forcibly poured into deceased. To bring the charge home to the accused, the prosecu tion has however, relied upon the dying declaration PW 1/ A alleged to have been written by the deceased at about mid-night hour in the female ward of Willingdon Hospital after the deceased had regained consciousness. The prosecution has further relied upon the oral dying declaration said to have been made by the deceased at first to her mother Bhagwan Kaur PW and thereafter to Kamla PW in the female ward of the hospital during the night. The evidence about the oral dying declaration was rejected by both the trial court as well as the High Court. Regarding ·written dying declaration, the trial court accepted the prosecution '!-Vidence, but the High Court found the same to be full of infir mities and im probabiliiies, which have already been enumerated earlier. Nothing cogent has been brought to our notice to take a view different from the High Court. Apart from the infinnities and improbabilities pointed out by the High Court, we find that· the salient features of the evidence all point to the conclusion that the death of the deceased was the. result of suicide and was not homicidal. We may now refer to thos~ features . . According to· Dr. Handa, who perfonned post mortem exami· nation on the boe J of the deceased, the quantity. of acid which was found in the stomach of the deceased was so much that it could not be p0ured by someone else. The doctor added thatth..: cases of homicidn~ a~ministrati?n of sulphuric acid by force were ~ery. rare. If the ~1ct1m, accordmg to Dr. Randa, is overpowered forcibly and a third person pours acid mechanically by pulling the tongue out, the acid can reach the stomach but not to e::tent so as to reach the stomach and beyond, as was the cas.o with the deceased. The acid poured into the mouth of the deceased A c D r ' · ' ) F G II f A H c D E F G H BHAGWAN KAUR v. M. K. SHARMA (Khanna, I.) . 7 11 Was not less than half an ounce. The doctpr also did not find any marks of injuries on the body of the deceased other than bums. If the deceased had been held forcibly by one of the accused and the other accused had poured acid dece.ased, in. our opinion, must have offered some resistance. In such an event, some injuries in the nature of abrasions or scratches must have been found on the body of the deceased. The evidence of Dr. Handa shows that no such injuries were found on the body. The material on the record also indicates tha~ ·no such injuries were found on the person of the accused. The medical evidence thus belies the prosecution version of the occurrence. into her mouth, The opinion of Dr. Handa that it was a case of suicide and not homicide is in consonance with the views expressed in standard books on medical jurisprudence. In Taylor's Principles and Prac tice of Medical Jurisprudence, Twelfth Edition, at page 235 it is said that sulphuric acid is used for suicidal purposes and accidents occur· as a result of it having been mistaken for some other liquid. Accor<ling to Modi's Medical Jurisprudence and Tonco logy, Fifteenth Edition, page 481, acid may be taken for suicidal purposes. It is further stated : "Owing to its acid taste and physical changes brought purooses. unless the victim happens to be a child or an about in the food it is not possible to use it for homicidal adult who is drunk or helpless." A~cording to observatio~s on page 709 of ~onz~~es Lega! Me?i cine Pathology and Toxicology, Second Edition, Sulphunc acid, due to its severe corrosive action, has rarely been given by mouth for homicidal purposes except to children. It is sometimes thrown on a person to disfigure the face, and it may cause death from the severe burns inflicted on the skin. Most of the cases are• suicidal, due to the ingestion of the acid. Some cases are accidental, the acid having been ingested in mistake for a medicine, or mixed with food, or poured into the ear, or injected into the ractum by error instead of a therapeutic drug, or injected into the vagina fo1· the purpose of causing abortion." The conduct of the accused immediately after the occurrence is consistent with the hypothesis of their innocence rather than with that of L'Jeir guilt. It is inconceivable that Shanti Devi accused would have called her neighbour Sushila Devi PW IQ her house if Shanti Devi accused along with the other accused shortly before that had forcibly poured acid into the mouth of !he deceased. If is also most unFkely that Maharaj Krishan accuSed would have made frantic telephonic calls to Dr. Chadha to immediately rusl1 to his house if Maharaj Krishan along with his mother had poured 712 SUP!lBME COURT llBPOllTS [1973] 2 S.C.Jl, '" . acid into the mouth of the deceased. It 1s filrther extremely improbable in that event that Maharaj Krishan would have allowed Dr. Chadha to use Maharaj Krishan's telephone to call the police. Maharaj Krishan would also in that event have not deceased to the hospital. On the contrary, Maharaj Krishan would have, ·if he. and his mother had been the real culprits, waited for the time till the deceased died rather than taken the risk of the deceased regaining consciousness in the hospital and making a dying declaration regarding their complicity . B regarding . So far as the dying declaration PW 1/ A is ·concerned, we are of the opinion that the evidence about the writing of that docu · ment by the deceased is of a most unconvinc;:ing character. C The High Court has referred to a number of circumstances which militate against the acceptance of the evidence aforesaid dying declaration, and we find no cogent ground to take a different. view. It is no doubt true that evidence of handwriting expert to sh.:iw the similarity of handwrit· ing between PW 1/ A and other admitted writings of the deceased, D but in this respect, we are of the opinion that in view of the main essential features of the case, not much value can be attached to the expert evidence. The evidence of a handwriting expert, unlike that of a fingerprint expert, is generally of a frail character and its fallibilities have been quite often noticed. The courts should, there fore, ~ wary to give too much weight to the evidence oi handwrit- ing expert. In Sri Sri Kishore Chandra Singh Deo v. Babu Ganesh Prasad Bhagat & Ors. (1). this Court observed that conclusions bas- ed upon mere comparison of handwriting must at best be indecisive the prosecution E · and yield to the positive evidence in the case. According to Bhagwan Kaur, Shanti Devi deceased wrote the dying declaration soon after mid-night hour. Question then arises a!f F to why Bhagwan Kaur did not immediately go out of the female ward and tell her husband Dayal Das that the deceased had been forcibly administered sulphuric acid by the accused. Bhagwan Ka.ur has tried to explain this omission by saying that she was illiterate and did not know about the contents of writing PW 1/ A Bhagwan ](aur, however, admits that, soon after the deceased had written G dying declaration PW 1/ A, the deceased told Bhagwan Kaur that th~ two accused had forcibly poured sulphuric acid into her mouth. It cannot, therefore, be said that Bhagwan Kaur remained un aware after 1 or 2 a.m. on the night between July 23 and 24 that it were the accused who had poured acid into the mouth of the deceased. The inunediate reaction of Bhagwan Kaur. prosecution story were correct, would have been to go out and the H (I) A. L R. 1'54 S. C. 316. A B c D E F BHAGWAN KAUR v. M. K. SHARMA (Khanna, I.) 713 apprise her husband, who is a police Sub Inspector, so that the.latter· might inform the police regarding the complicity of the two accused. Bhagwan Kaur has tried to explain this omission by stating that she became unconscious. There is, however, no explanation as to why Kam la, who too professes to have been told by the \leceased regard ing the forcible administering of acid to the deceased, kept quiet and did not convey that information to Dayal Das. It is further admitted by Bhagwai1 Kaur that she regained her consciousness at 5 a.m. If Bhagwan Kaur had been handed over a dying declaration by the deceased and had also been told by the deceased regarding the .forcible administering of acid to her by the accused, Bhagwan Kaur in that event could not have failed to convey that information to Dayal Das soon after regaining consciousness. Dayal Das in that event would .have immediately reported the matter to the police. The fact that no such intimation was given to the police till 2.45 p.m., as deposed by ASI Hem Raj, creates considerable doubt regarding the authenticity of dying declaration PW I/ A as well as about .the testimony of Bhagwan Kaur and Kamla regarding the oral dying declaration of Shanti Devi deceased. Another significant circumstance which emerges evidence on record is that Maharaj Krishan came out with the version of suicide at the earliest stage. According to Dr. Chadha, he was told by Maharaj Krishan immediately on arrival of Dr. Chadha that the deceased had taken something. Maharaj Krishan and his mother also gave account of suicide by the deceased in their statements recorded in the inquest report PW 5/J. As against that, the evidence of ASI Hem Raj shows that Bhagwan Kaur came· out with the story of dying declaration at a subsequent stage. In our opinion, the various circumstances of the care irresistibly poi~t to the c?nclu~jon that the deceased committed suicide by ta~mg sulphunc acid. The appeal consequently fails and is dis missed. G.C. Appeal dismissed.