DEBAPRIYA PALversusSTATE OF WEST BENGAL

                             (2017] 1 S.C.R. 566



A                            DEBAPRIYA PAL
                                      v.
                        STATE OF WEST BENGAL
                      (Criminal Appeal No. 623 of2013)
B                            JANUARY 11,2017
                [A. K. SIKRI AND R. K. AGRAWAL, JJ.]
           Penal Code, 1860: s.302 r/w s.34 - Double murder -
    Circumstantial evidence - Prosecution case was that Al had love
c   affair with deceased-girl which was objected by deceased-mother
    who advised her daughter to severe relationship with A-1 and
    deceased-girl parted the company of A-1 - A-1 was angry with this
    move and he with his friend-appellant committed murder of mother
    and daughter - Both the accused made disclosure statements which
    led to certain recoveries - Courts below convicted A-1 and appellant
D   on the basis of depositions of witnesses and recoveries - Supreme
    Court upheld the conviction of A-1 - In case of appellant, held:
    Matching of blood group on the blood stained clothes of the
    appellant recoveredfrom his house and recovery of laptop belonging
    to the sister of the deceased would not itself indicate that appellant
    was responsible for commission of crime - These were neither
E
    weapon of crime nor have any connection with the commission of
    crime - Under s.27 of the Evidence Act only so much of recovery,
    as a result of the disclosure statement, which directly pertains to the
    commission of crime is relevant - Otherwise, such an evidence is
    barred uls.2 5 of the Evidence Act -. Jn the absence of any motive on
F   the part of the appellant, weak linkage of his alleged friendship
    with Al and hardly any circumstance clinching to point accusing
    finger on the appellant, he is given benefit of doubt as his culpability
    was not proved by the prosecution beyond reasonable doubt -
    Evidence Act, 1872 - ss.25, 27.
G         Allowing the appeal, the Court
          HELD: Insofar as the appellant is concerned, the only reason
    given is that he was a friend of Al and that is why he joined Al in
    commission of the said crime. The testimonies of the witnesses
    on this particular aspect are not very strong inasmuch as the
H   nature of friendship and the thickness of such friendship has not
                                     566
        DEBAPRIYA PAL v. STATE OF WEST BENGAL                                567


come on record. One of the witnesses stated in a cursory manner              A
that he had seen the appellant in the company of Al on certain
occasions. There are three circumstances which weighed with
the trial court to convict the appellant. These are: recovery of
blood stained clothes of the appellant from his house on his
disclosure statement; recovery of laptop belonging to the sister
                                                                              B
of the deceased from the house of the appellant with cushion
cover; finger prints of the appellant on the cello tape which was
found in the house of the deceased. Mere matching of the blood
group on the blood stained clothes, which was even on the bed
sheet, would not lead to the conclusion that it is the appellant
who had committed the crime. Same reasoning goes with the                     c
recovery of laptop as well. Under Section 27 of the Evidence Act
only so much of recovery, as a result of the disclosure statement,
which directly pertains to the commission of crime is relevant.
Otherwise, such an evidence is barred under Section 25 of the
Evidence Act. In the absence of any motive on the part of the
                                                                              D
appellant, weak linkage of his alleged friendship with Al and hardly
any circumstance clinching to point accusing finger on the
appellant, the appellant should have been given the benefit of
doubt as his culpability has not been proved by the prosecution
beyond reasonable doubt. [Paras 6, 7, 8, 10] [569-E-H; 570-A,
E-G; 571-F-G]                                                                 E
      Jaffar Hussain Dastagir v. State of Maharashtra
      (1969) 2 SCC 872 : 1970 (2) SCR 332 - relied on.
                    Case Law Reference
1970 (2) SCR 332            relied on               Para 8
                                                                              F
      CRIMINAL APPELLATE JURISDICTION : Criminal Appeal
No. 623 of 2013.
      From the Judgment and Order dated 11.04.2011 of the High Court
of Calcutta in C.R. A. No. 258 of2009.
       Pradip Ghosh, Sr.Adv., Rauf Rahim, Ms. Poulami Das Dey, Advs.
for the Appellant.                                                            G
      Mrinal Kanti Manda!, PanJat Sinha, Ad vs. for the Respondent.
      The Judgment of the Court was delivered by
       A. K. SIKRl, J. I. We have h.:a;\:i learned counsel for the parties
at length.
                                                                              H
568            SUPREME COURT REPORTS                          [2017] I S.C.R.



A           2. For the purpose of this appeal, it is not necessary to state the
      facts of the matter in detail. Suffice it to state that the appellant was
      charged under Section 302 read with Section 34 of the Indian Penal
      Code, 1860 (hereinafter referred to as '!PC') for committing the murder
      of Anusha Sarkar and her mother Maya Sarkar.
B            3. As per the prosecution, there was love affair between Subhankar
      Sarkar (hereinafter referred to as 'A I') and Anusha Sarkar. However,
      this relationship was not acceptable to the mother of Anusha Sarkar
      who advised Anusha to sever her relation from A I. Al did not like this
      move on the part of Anusha Sarkar and this became the motive for A I
      to finish Anusha Sarkar as well as her mother. Insofar as the incident of
c     murder is concerned, it came to light in the following manner:
             As Anusha Sarkar did not respond to A I, A I along with his friend
      Debapriya Pal (appellant herein) on the fateful day when Anusha's
      mother, i.e. Maya Sarkar, was alone in the house - 'Kalamban' in Air
      View Complex, P.S. English Bazar, Maida, committed her murder and
D     then waited for Anusha Sarkar to come and after she arrived, she was
      also brutally murdered by them. On the next day, i.e. 27.09.07, in the
      morning when their maid servant Saraswati Sarkar came to the house
      she saw the dead bodies of Smt. Maya Sarkar and Anusha Sarkar in
      their bedroom with bleeding injuries and raised an alarm. On hearing her
E     cry, Nabarun Paul, their driver came into the house and saw the dead
      bodies. These two servants informed the police, neighbours and relations
      of Smt. Maya Sarkar. In the meantime, Ananya Sarkar, elder daughter
      of deceased Maya Sarkar who was prosecuting her studies outside Maida
      was inf()rmed. Sujit Sarkar, brother-in-law ofSmt. Maya Sarkar, lodged
      a written complaint of the incident to the English Bazar Police Station.
F     The police registered a case on the basis of the aforesaid information.
             4. As per the prosecution, during investigation the aforesaid facts
      oflove affair between Anusha Sarkar and A 1 surfaced because of which
      A 1 became a suspect. He was arrested. The appellant was also roped
      in on the ground that he was a friend of A 1 and has helped A I to commit
G     the said double murder. Both the accused persons denied the charge
      which led to the trial against them. As many as, 38 witnesses were
      examined. We may also record at this stage that after their arrest, both
      the accused had made disclosure statements which led to certain
      recoveries. After analyzing the depositions of these witnesses as well as
H     recoveries, the Trial Court came to a conclusion that the prosecution
         DEBAPRIYA PAL v. S1ATE OF WEST BENGAL                                 569
                     rA. K. SIKRI, J.l

was able to prove its case beyond reasonable doubt against both the            A
accused persons under Sections 302/20 l/380/4 l I of the !PC and awarded
the sentence of death to both of them. Death reference was made to the
High Court for confirmation of the sentence. Both the accused persons
filed appeals in the High Court. The High Court vide the impugned
judgment has confirmed the conviction of A 1 as well as the appellant.
                                                                                B
However, insofar as award of death sentence by the Trial Court is
concerned, the same is modified to that of rigorous imprisonment for
life. The appellant as well as A 1 had challenged the judgment of the
High Court by filing special leave petitions. The special leave petition of
A 1 was dismissed by this Court. In this manner, as far as conviction and
sentence awarded to A 1 is concerned, that has attained finality. In the        c
Special Leave Petition filed by the appellant, leave was granted. That is
how the present appeal comes up for final hearing.
       5. It is clear from the aforesaid that there is no eye witness to the
crime and the conviction is based on circumstantial evidence. It also
becomes clear that no direct motive is attributed to the appellant herein.      D
As per the prosecution, the motive to commit the crime was with A 1
who could not digest the stand of Anusha Sarkar's mother because of
whichAnusha Sarkar parted the company of A 1. We need not to discuss
the evidence that was led and proved against Al since his special leave
petition has already been dismissed. Insofar as the appellant is concerned,
the only reason given is that he was a friend of A I and that is why he         E
joined A 1 in commission of the said crime. We may state at the outset
that after examining the testimonies of the witnesses on this particular
aspect, we find that it is not very strong inasmuch as the nature of
friendship and the thickness of such friendship has not come on record.
One of the witnesses has stated in a cursory manner that he had seen            F
the appellant in the company of Al on certain occasions.
       6. Insofar as other material/evidence, which is led against the
appellant and can become the basis of his conviction is concerned, we
find that there are three circumstances which weighed with the Trial
Court to convict the appellant. These are:                                      G
       1.     Recovery of blood stained clothes of the appellant from his·
              house on his disclosure statement.
       2.     Recovery oflaptop belonging to the sister (PW 23) of the
              deceased Anusha Sarkar from the house of the appellant
              with cushion cover.                                               H
570              SUPREME COURT REPORTS                          (2017] I S.C.R.


A           3.     Finger prints of the appellant on the cello tape which was
                   found in the house of the deceased.
             7. As far as recovery of blood stained clothes is concerned, two
      public witnesses are examined who, purportedly, were the witnesses to
      the seizure list of wearing apparels of the appellant. These are PW-12
B     and PW-13. According to their deposition, they saw the policemen along
      with the accused person going to the house of the appellant and they
      also joined the police party. It is how they became the witnesses and
      were associated with the recovery. For the sake of argument, we are
      presuming that they were present at the time when the appel !ant brought
      blood stained clothes from his house and gave the same to the police.
c     What is material is the reliance on these blood stained clothes for the
      culpability of the appellant herein. As per the prosecution, the blood group
      on these blood stained clothes matched with the blood on the bed sheet
      on which the body of one of the deceased person is found. The record
      reveals that though blood of both the decea.sed persons was drawn and
D     sent for examination, it is not known as to what was the report thereupon
      and what was the blood group of the deceased persons. No such blood
      report has been produced. So much so, blood group of the accused persons
      was also not ascertained. Even if we presume that the blood on the bed
      sheet was that of the deceased, the possibility cannot be ruled out that
      the same blood group as of the accused appellant thereof. Therefore,
E     mere matching of the blood group on the blood stained clothes, which
      was even on the bed sheet, would not lead to the conclusion that it is the
      appellant who had committed the crime. Same reasoning goes with the
      recovery oflaptop as well. Merely because laptop belonging to the sister
      of the deceased Anusha Sarkar is not indicative that the appellant is
F     responsible for the commission of the crime. Under Section 27 of the
      Evidence Act only so much of recovery, as a result of the disclosure
      statement, which directly pertains to the commission of crime is relevant.
      Otherwise, such an evidence is barred under Section 25 of the Evidence
      Act. Recovery of laptop does not have any bearing. It i.s neither the
      weapon of crime nor it has any cause of connection with the commission
G     of.crime. The law on this aspect is succinctly said in the case "Jatfar
      Hussain Dastagir vs. State o[Maharash1ra ( 1969) 2 SCC 872 in the
      fQllowing manner:
             "5. Under Section 25 of the Evidence Act no confession made by
             an accused to a police officer can be admitted in evidence against
H
         OEBAPRIYA PAL v. STATE OF WEST BENGAL                                   571
                     (A. K. SIKRI, J.]

       him. An exception to this is however provided by Section 26 which          A
       makes a confessional statement made before a Magistrate
       admissible in evidence against an accused notwithstanding the
       fact that he was in the custody of the police when he made the
       incriminating statement. Section 27 is a proviso to Section 26 and
       makes admissible so much of the statement of the accused which
                                                                                  B
       leads to the discovery of a fact deposed to by him and connected
       with the crime, irrespective of the question whether it is
       confessional or otherwise. The essential ingredient of the section
       is that the info1mation given by the accused must lead to the
       discovery of the fact which is the direct outcome of such
       information. Secondly, only such portion of the information given          c
       as is distinctly connected with the said recovery is admissible
       against the accused. Thirdly, the discovery of the fact must relate
       to the commission of some offence."
   Third ingredient does not seem to have been satisfied.
       8. As far as finger prints on the cello tape are concerned, the            0
report is that print marked 'O' on cello tape matched with specimen of
the appellant and prints marked' A' to 'C' were unfit for comparison and
print 'B' did not match with either of the accused.
       9. From the aforesaid, it is clear that only on print mark 'D', the
finger prints were found to be matching with the specimen of the appellant.       E
However, what is significant is that in the court it was found that print
'0' was missing on the cello tape roll. In view thereof, print 'D' could
not be relied upon. Insofar as print marks 'A' to 'C' are concerned, the
report of the expert is that they were unfit for comparison. Therefore,
this circumstance has also not been satisfactorily proved. In the absence         F
of any motive on the part of the appellant, weak linkage of his alleged
friendship with A I and hardly any circumstance cl inching to point accusing
finger on the appellant, we are of the opinion that the appellant should
have been given the benefit of doubt as his culpability has not been
proved by the prosecution beyond reasonable doubt.
                                                                                  G
      10. For these reasons, we allow this appeal and set aside the
conviction. Since the appellant is in jail he shall be released forthwith. -


Devika Gujral                                                  Appeal allowed.