AMAR SINGH YADAV v. STATE OF U.P

Judgment

6 S.C.R. 1044 A B AMAR SINGH YADAV V. STATE OF U.P. (Criminal Appeal Nos. 967-968 of 2010) JULY 01, 2014 [SUDHANSU JYOTI MUKHOPADHAYA AND DIPAK MISRA, JJ.] . Penal Code, 1860: ss. 302, 307 and 436 - Conviction C based on dying declaration - A/legation that the appellant having illicit relations with other women - Wife starled taking half of his salary from his office directly and on account of that, appellant was annoyed with his wife - On the fateful day, appellant took his wife, daughters and son to market on the D pretext to do shopping for marriage of elder daughter - On return, he got down from the van, locked the van and set it ablaze - Wife and two daughters died - Courls below convicted the appellant on the basis of dying declarations of wife and daughters and passed death sentence - Held: The dying E declaration of the wife and two daughters corroborated the statements of injured eye witnesses - There was no discrepancy in the statement of eye-witnesses to disbelieve them - There was no reason why wife and daughters would falsely implicate appellant - Conviction upheld - Accused F committed the crime in a most cruel and inhuman manner - However, there was no reason to believe that the accused cannot be reformed or rehabilitated and that he is likely to continue criminal acts of violence as would constitute a continuing threat to the society - Thus, imposition of death G sentence is not warranted - Sentence commuted to life impriso'nment - Accused to serve minimum of 30 years in jail without remission - Sentence. The prosecution case was that the appellant accused H 1044 AMAR SINGH YADAV v. STATE OF U.P. 1045 developed illicit relationship with two women which A caused differences in his family. The wife of the appellant started taking half of the salary of the appellant directly from the office of the appellant. On account of this, the appellant became determined 1o cause death of his wife :and all four children. On the fateful day, the appellant B took his wife and four children to the market on the pretext to do shopping for the marriage of elder daughter. On return from the market, the appellant stopped the van and came out with the driver. After locl5ing \he van, he poured kerosene on the van and set it ablaze. Thereafter, c the appellant and the driver fled from the said place. Meanwhile two police officers saw the van burning. They broke open the doors of the burning van and removed the people inside to hospital. The wife and two daughters of the appellant died. Based on their dying declarations, the trial court convicted the appellant under Sections 302, 307 and 436 IPC and passed death sentence. The -High Court confirmed the conviction and death sentence. The instant appeal was filed challenging the order of the High Court. 0 E Disposing of the appeal, the Court HELD:1. The facts brought out in the dying declarations of the wife and the two daughters of the accused-appellant has corroborated the statements of injured eye-witnesses, PW-5 and PW-6. There was no room but to suggest that the accused caused the death of the deceased. The dying declarations clearly implicated the accused. There were no suspicious features which affected the credibility of the dying declarations particularly the deceased being related to G the accused. There was no apparent reason as to why the deceased wife, and daughters would falsely connect their husband/father with the murderer attack. Mere fact that Doctor in whose presence the dying declaration was recorded and/or who endorsed it, was not examined, did H F 1046 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [2014] 6 S.C.R. A not affect the evidentiary value of the dying declaration. The evidence of Inspector (PW-4) was also corroborated by the evidence of eye-witnesses PW-5 and PW-6. There was no discrepancy in the statements of the eye witnesses to disbelieve them. The trial court rightly B convicted the appellant for the offence under Section 302, 307 and 436 IPC as affirmed by the High Court. [Para 18) [1050-0-G]

#2. The prosecution had proved the guilt of the accused beyond all reasonable doubt, the accused C committed the crime in a most cruel and inhuman manner. The helpless wife and young children, who fell victims to the avaricious conduct and lust of the appellant still the case did not fall within the four corners of the principle of "the rarest of the rare case", though D no leniency can be shown to the appellant. There was no reason to believe that the accused cannot be reformed or rehabilitated and that he is likely to continue criminal acts of violence as would constitute a continuing threat to the society. In the instant case, taking into the facts and E circumstances of the case in hand, the imposition of death sentence to the accused was not warranted. Accordingly the sentence imprisonment. Further, the accused must serve a minimum of 30 years in jail without remissions before F consideration of his case for premature release. The acccused Amar Singh Yadav as one of the life and he should undergo sentence for a fixed period of 30 years without any remissions. [Paras 26, 27 and 30] (1065-B-F; 1066-8-C) is commuted G