Holding

The prosecution failed to prove beyond reasonable doubt the participation of any accused in the homicidal death, so the convictions were set aside and the acquittal restored.

Summary

Krishna Kumari, a well‑educated teacher, was found burnt in the kitchen of her matrimonial home about two months after her marriage. The prosecution alleged that her father‑in‑law, husband, sister of the husband and sister‑in‑law killed her over dowry demands, relying on motive, alleged extra‑judicial confessions, their subsequent conduct and the scene of the offence, while medical evidence indicated a homicidal death with post‑mortem burns. The trial court acquitted the accused, the High Court reversed the acquittal and convicted them under Section 302 read with Section 34 IPC, and the State appealed. The Supreme Court examined the reliability of the extra‑judicial confessions, the adequacy of motive evidence, the relevance of the accused’s conduct and the forensic findings, and held that the prosecution failed to prove the participation of any accused beyond reasonable doubt. Consequently, the Court set aside the convictions, restored the trial court’s acquittal and ordered the appeal allowed.

Issues considered

Whether the death of Krishna Kumari was a homicidal death or a suicide.
Whether the accused can be held guilty of murder under Section 302 read with Section 34 IPC (and Section 201) based on the evidence presented.
Whether the extra‑judicial confessions recorded by witnesses are admissible and reliable.
Whether motive, subsequent conduct and the scene of the offence constitute sufficient circumstantial evidence to establish common intention.

Legislation cited

Indian Penal Code, 1860s. 201, s. 302, s. 34
Supreme Court (Enlargement of Criminal Appellate Jurisdiction) Act, 1970s. 2

Subjects

dowry deathhomicidal deathcircumstantial evidenceextra‑judicial confessionbenefit of doubtpost‑mortem evidencemurderIPC 302IPC 34IPC 201

Judgment

. .. MULAK RAJ AND ORS .
v.
STATE OF HARYANA
A

JANUARY 19, 1996

[G.N. RAY AND S.B. MAJMUDAR, JJ.] B
-. + Indian Penal Code, 1860: Sections 302 read with 34 and 201.

Dow1y death-Husband and other relatives-Circumstantial evidence-
Conviction based on-Validity of c
Deceased a highly qualified and manied lady-Dead body found in
kitchen-No suicide note found-Prosecution version-Deceased done to
death by gagging-Dead body planted in kitchen-Version corroborated by
medical evidence-Held it was a case of homicidal death and not suicide.
D
Circumstances in support of guilt of accuserJ-Motive-Dowiy-Held
established on facts-Extra-judicial confession of accused--Unreliable and
uncon-oborated version-Held not a circumstance establishing guilt of ac-
cuserJ-Subsequent conduct of accused-Not revealing culpability of ac-
cused-Mere fact that all accused lived in same house where dead body was E
found-Held by itself not sufficient to connect accused with crime-Accused
held entitled to benefit of doubt.

Police-lnvestigation-Lukewann and cursory approach-Deprecation
of
F
K was found dead after about two months of her marriage. Her burnt
dead body was found in the kitchen of her matrimonial home. K's father-
in-law, A-1, her husband, A-2, younger sister of the husband, A-3 and
sister-in-law of K's father-in-law, A-4, who were all living in the same
house, were charged with the offence of murder under Section 302 read

- \
with section 34 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860. The prosecution case was G
that K was done to death by gagging her nose and mouth and she died
because of suffocation and thereafter her dead body was planted in the
kitchen and was subjected to post mortem burning. The prosecution relied
upon four aspects of the case viz. (i) motive; (ii) extra-judicial confession
of A-1 and 2; (iii) subsequent conduct of the accused persons; and (iv) the H
791
(
'
792 SUPREME COURT REPORTS (1996] 1 S.C.R.

A situation of the scene of offence.
The alleged motive for the crime was dissatisfaction of the accused
persons with dowry. The evidence in this regard was that of the father of
deceased K, PW-23. He deposed that at the time of the marriage he gave
seven tolas of gold and other articles worth Rs. 25,000. He could not
B provide refrigerator, television and tape-recorder as demanded by the
accused person dnring 'Shagun' ceremony in the presence of PW-13, an
employee of PW-23. Further during her visit to her parent's house after
marriage K told her elder sister, PW-16 that her in-laws were harassing
and threatening her for insufficiency of dowry. The evidence was also
C corroborated by other independent witnesses viz. PW-22, a doctor, PW-17
and PW-26 to whom K had complained about dowry demands and conduct
of the accused persons.

K's husband and father-in-law were also stated to have made extra
judicial confessions to two persons viz. PW-IO, a member of the adhoc
D committee of Janata party and PW-13, an employee of the father of
deceased K.

To substantiate the guilt of the accused persons their subsequent
conduct was also relied on by the prosecution. Firstly, they did not inform
E the father of the deceased who was staying in the near vicinity about the
death of his daughter. Secondly, none of the accused was found to be
lamenting or' weeping when being apprised of the incident. Lastly the
father- in-law of the deceased K wanted to remove the dead body for
prompt cremation but only on the insistence of PW-23 he was not per-
mitted to do so.
F
As to the scene of occurrence the version of PW-6, a neighour of the
accused person was that on the day of occurrence he heard the cries of
accused No. 4 that there was fire in the kitchen. As the kitchen was bolted
from inside he broke open the door and found the dead body lying there

-
in a burnt condition. There was evidence to show that there was a service
G window in the kitchen about 3 feet from the ground floor level which was
open and from which at least with difficulty anyone from inside could come '
out. Further evidence in this regard was that of PW-14, sister-in-law of
deceased K, who on the date of occurrence went to the house of accused
·persons to invite K for the meals on the Baisakhi day. On coming to know
H of K's death she informed the father of the deceased K who immediately
•
MULAKRAlv. STATE 793

rushed to the spot and by that time the husband and father-in-law of the A
deceased had reached back to the spot from their respective offices. On
the insistence of deceased father accused No. 1 lodged a complaint in the
police station that K had committed suicide.

The prosecution case was fully supported by medical evidence con-
sisting of post-mortem which revealed that (i) K died before and was burnt B
later and that death was due to asphyxia which was a result of suffocation;
(ii) the burns found on the body were post mortem i.e. the body was burnt
after death; (iii) blisters which are normally found if an alive person is
burnt were not found on the body of the deceased. On the basis of post
mortem report the police registered criminal cases against all the accused c
persons as it was felt that K had not committed suicide but had died a
homicidal death. However proceedings lingered on at the investigation
stage and the accused persons were arrested and chargesheeted only after
the father of the deceased lodged a private complaint.

D
In their defence accused Nos. 1 and 2 stated that on the date of
incident the former had gone to his factory while the latter had gone to
attend office.

The Trial Court acquitted all the accused persons holding that the
prosecution was not able to establish beyond reasonable doubt that K had E
died a homicidal death and that the accused. were guilty of murdering her.
Though in the light of the medical evidence the trial Judge himself enter-
tained doubt and concluded that the death of K was shrouded in mystery
yet relying on the evidence of PW-6 it came to the conclusion that this was
not a case of murder but probably of suicide. p

The· version of the witnesses regarding motive was disbelieved by the
Trial Court on the ground that in their police statements they have not
given details about the dowry complaint of the deceased to which they
referred in their evidence before the Court. The extra judicial confession
made by accused No. 1 and 2 was held uncorroborated and unreliable. G

The High Court reversed the acquittal order and convicted all the
accused persons. Relying on the medical evidence and other related
evidence it came to the conclusion that K had not committed suicide but
had suffered a homicidal death. H
(
\
794 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [1996] 1 S.C.R.

A In appeal to this Court on the questions whether (i) K died a
~--<
homicidal death or committed suicide? and (ii) whether the accused or
anyone or them had played part in liquidating K?

Allowing the appeal and setting aside the conviction, this Court

B HELD : 1. The finding of the High Court that deceased K would not
have committed suicide but had suffered a homicidal death are well estab-
lished on record. K was highly qualified and was serving as a teacher in a
school. If she was out to commit suicide it would be natural that she would
leave any suicide note. No such note was found at the place of the incident.
Secondly, if she had committed suicide by setting herself on fire then at least
c some cry or sound would have escaped from her mouth. No such evidence is
found in the case. The bolting of the door of the kitchen from inside was not
a clinching circumstance which could rule out homicidal death of.deceased
K. From the medical evidence also it becomes clear that deceased K had
died a homicidal death and the burn injuries found on her dead body were
D post mortem and not ante mortem. (803-F-G, 806-A)

2. The Trial Court obviously erred in placing implicit faith in the
omissions in police statements and in discrediting the version of the
witnesses before the conrt in connection with the motive evidence deposed
to by them. The police allowed the investigation to drag on in a cursory
E •
manner without taking any serious interest in the investigation. Conse-
quently the statements of witness~s recorded by the police could not be
treated to have represented a faithful and complete version recorded by
the investigating agency so far as these witnesses are concerned. The
reasoning adopted by the High Court that the evidence regarding motive
F as laid by the prosecution through its witnesses is quite reliable. (808-C-F)

3. In the circumstances or the case no reliance could be placed on the
extra-judicial confession said to have been made by the accused to PW-10.
This witness was not known to any or the parties and hence it was unlikely
that accused would confine in him and confess their guilt before him. So far
G as the extra-judicial confessions said to have been made by the accused to
the employees of K's father, PW-13, is concerned it is still on a weaker
footing. If the accused had confessed their crime then this witness in the
normal course of conduct would have rushed to his employer i.e. K's father
and told him about the same. Bur curiously enough he informed no one
H about the so-called extra-judicial confessions and only when his further
MULAK RAJ v. STATE 795

statement was recorded by the police he stated about this so-called confes- A
sion. Evidence of extra-judicial confessions apart from being inherently
weak is not at all established on record. No reliance can be placed on this
evidence. Once th~t conclusion is reached the most important connecting
link between the accused on the one hand and the homicidal death of
deceased Kon the other gets snapped and eliminated. [810-A-D, 811-D]
B
4. The subsequent conduct of the accused had not revealed any
' clinching circumstance to necessarily connect the accused with the crime.
[811-G]

5. There is no clear evidence led by the prosecution to show as to
what was the exact time of death of the deceased even though she died a
c
homicidal death in the household of the accused. Under these circumstan-
ces it is possible to visualise that when accused nos. 1 and 2 came back
from their respective places of work after being informed about the death
of the deceased there was no occasion for them to inform the father of the
deceased at any prior time as by the time they reached the scene of offence D
the father of deceased had already been informed. [812-C]

6. So far as accused nos. 3 and 4 are concerned both of them were
ladies. The former being a girl aged about sixteen-and- a-half years .and
the latter being an elderely lady. Both of them might not have thought it E
fit to inform the father of the deceased about the tragedy till the elder
males were informed. Consequently this cimdnct on their part also cannot
clinchingly show that they were co-conspirators who had shared a common
intention with accused nos. 1 and 2 to liquidate deceased K or that they
were the principle accused. [812-E] F
7. The insistence of accused nos. 1 and 2 to cremate the body also
cannot by itself be a circumstance which would necessarily lead to their
culpability as accused no. 1 had already lodged a complaint before the
police about the suicide of his daughter-in-law. [812-G]

-' 8. Merely because deceased K who was staying with the accused had
died a homicidal death in their household and her body was found in the
G

kitchen with post mortem burns it cannot be said that the said cir-
cumstance by itself would·connect all the accused or any one of them with
the crime. [813-E] H
I

(
796 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [1996] 1 S.C. R.

A 9. However strong the suspicion may, it cannot take the place of
proof. It is impossible on the state of evidence on record to bring home
the offence under Section 302 read with Section 34 beyond the shadow of
reasonable doubt to any of the accused. (814-B]

CRIMINAL APPELLATE JURISDICTION : Criminal Appeal No.
B 5. of 1996.

From the Judgment and Order dated 10.12.81 of the Punjab &
Haryana High Court in Cr!. A. No. 1451 of 1979

U.R. Lalit, R.L. Kohli, H.M. Singh and K.K. Gogia for the Appel-
C !ants.
LS. Goyal for Ms. Indu Malhotra for the Respondent.

The Judgment of the Court was delivered by

D S.B. MAJMUDAR, J. This is an unfortunate case in which a young
bride named Krishna Kumari lost her life on the altar of dowry demands
on the morning of 12th April 1977 in the household of present appellants
who were charged with the offence of murder under Section 302 read with
Section 34 of the Indian Penal Code (in brief 'IPC'). The Trial Court
acquitted them. The respondent-State's appeal against acquittal was al-
E lowed by High Court and the appellants were convicted under Section 302
read with Section 34 of the !PC and were sentenced to undergo imprison-
ment for life. Appellant Nos. 1 and 2 were further sentenced to pay a fine
of Rs. 3000. each and in default, to suffer further rigorous imprisonment
for two years each. Fine, if realised, was ordered to be paid to Wasanda
Ram Taneja, P.W.23, father of the deceased Krishna Kumari and that is
F how the appellant-accused are before us in the statutory appeal invoking
Section 2 of the Supreme Court {Enlargement of Criminal Appellate
Jurisdiction) Act, 1970.

As the acquittal of the appellants is reversed by the High Court in
G appeal and they have been sentenced to imprisonment for life we have
carefully gone through the entire evidence on record, both oral and
documentary, with the assistance of learned counsel appearing for both the
sides with a view to finding out whether deceased Krishna Kumari died a
homicidal death or had indulged in self-effacement by committing suicide
and whether appellants or any one of them had been guilty of murdering
H her.
MULAK RAJ v. STATE [S.B. MAIMUDAR, J.] 797

Prosecution Case A

It will be apposite to note at the outset the salient features of the
prosecution case laid against the four appellants who _will be referred to as
accused nos. 1 to 4, for the sake of convenience, in the latter part of this
judgment. Accused no. 1 was the father-in-law of deceased Krishna
Kumari. Accused no. 2 was her husband. Accused no. 3 is the younger
B
sister of accused no. 2 while accused no. 4 is the sister-in-law of accused
• no. 1. It is not in dispute that all the accused were living together in the
same house situated at Urban Estate, Gurgaon in the State of Haryana.
The prosecution story as emerging from the record is that marriage of
Krishna Kumari deceased with accused no. 2 was settled by her father c
Wasanda Ram Taneja P.W. 23. This 'Shaggan' ceremony was performed
two days before. the date of marriage, Gopal Dass, P.W. 13Joginder Singh,
P.W. 18 had also accompanied Wasanda Ram on that occasion. When they
reached the house of the accused all the four accused were present there.
As soon as the articles of 'Shaggan' were placed before them, they asked D
• as to what had been brought in the 'Shaggan'. They remarked that no
refrigerator, television, tape recorder etc. had been brought. Wasanda
Ram, P.W. 23 got puzzled and requested the accused with folded hands
that he would supply these articles slowly and slowly. All these persons
returned after the 'Shaggan' ceremony. Krishna Kumari deceased then was
married to Hira Lal accused no. 2 on 10th February 1977. Wasanda Ram E
gave seven Talas gold and other necessary articles worth Rs. 25,000. He,
however, could not provide refrigerator and television.

After marriage Krishna Kumari had been visiting the house of her
parents occasionally. A month prior to this occurrence she happened to p
meet Saroj, P.W. 16, her elder sister while she was at Gurgaon. The
deceased was in a depressed mood at that time and on enquiry by Saroj
she replied with heavy heart and tears in her eyes that her in-laws were
harassing her as television and refrigerator were not given in the dowry.
Saroj, P.W. 16 told her that their father would satisfy the demand slowly
and slowly. The deceased further told that her in-law were keen to see their G
demands fulfilled immediately. She further told Saroj that her in-laws were
threatening her that in case the demand was not satisfied early she would
be finished.

Krishna Kumari deceased was P.Sc. B.Ed. M.A. in History and M.A. H
(

798 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [1996] 1 S.C.R.

A Previous in English. She was employed as a teacher in a school at Far-
rakhnagar drawing a salary of Rs. 600 p.m. On her journey to Farrakhnagar ' J
in a bus Krishna Kumari was seen upset upon which Dr. Onkar Kapoor,
P.W. 22 talked to her and she commented that the system of giving and
taking dowry should be abolished. She wanted to consult Dr. Kapoor
otherwise also.
B
That one and a half months after the. marriage Krishna Kumari also
happened to meet Madan Lal, P.W. 17 and finding her in a depressed
mood he made enquiries from her upon which she told that the marriage
was a gamble and she had lost the same. One further enquiry she told that
C her in-law were demanding refrigerator and television, and were greedy
persons to which Madan Lal Kapoor, P.W. 17 told the deceased that she
was earning more than her husband and what else was needed by her
in-laws. Thereupon Krishna Kumari started weeping and went away.

D Krishna Kumari, deceased, was also a private tutor of children of
Saroj Chopra, P.W. 26. Even after her marriage and on her visit to the
house of her parents she had been doing that work. She told her that she
was not happy and was in trouble. On enquiry by Saroj Chopra, P.W. 26,
the deceased told her that her in-laws were troubling her and she had been
tolerating. Some days later Smt. Saroj Chopra, P.W. 26 had gone to the
E house of Wasanda Ram, P.W. 23 where she met Santosh Kumari, P.W. 14
and told her that if Krishna Kumari comes to their house, she should be
sent to her house ( Saroj Chopra's house). She was informed that Krishna
Kumari would be coming on Baisakhi day for dinner.

F That a month prior to the occurrence Krishna Kumari deceased had
come to the house of her parents where she talked to Santosh Kumari,
P.W. 14, her sister-in-law that her in-laws were demanding refrigerator and
television in the dowry.

At the end of March, 1977 Krishna Kumari, deceased had gone to
G the house of her parents when Mohan Lal Grover, P.W. 15 met her at her
house and found her in a depressed mood and weak in health. On enquiry
the deceased told him that her in-laws were harassing her by taking up the
demand of adequate dowry. Krishna Kumari stayed for a week at the house
of her parents before this occurrence and then she had gone to her in-laws'
H house telling that they were going to Vaishno Devi.
\
\

MULAKRAJv. STATE(S.B.MAJMUDAR,J.) 799

The deceased and her husband actually went to Vaishno Devi and A
had returned two days earlier to the occurrence.

Coming to the date of incident it is revealed as per prosecution
evidence that on the fateful day of 12th April 1977 at about 11.30 a.m. to
11.45 a.m. Santosh Kumari, P.W. 14 had gone to the house of Krishna B

- Kumari, deceased, to enquire about her and to invite her for the meals on
the Baisakhi day. when she reached Krishna Kumari's house she found 2-3
boys present there besides 1 or 2 ladies including accused nos. 3 and 4. On
enquiring about the whereabouts of Krishna Kumari, deceased, accused
no. 4 told Santosh Kumari, P.W. 14 that she should go inside and see for
herself. Thereupon Santosh Kumari, P.W. 14 went inside the house of the c
accused and found dead body of Krishna Kumari lying in the kitchen. Her
tongue was protruding out. There was bleeding from the nose. Santosh
Kumari, P.W. 14 informed the father of the deceased, P.W.23 who was her
father-in-law. She requested him to come immediately to the house of the
accused. Her father-in-law, P.W. 23, immediately rushed to the spot. D
Mother-in-law of Santosh Kumari also came to the spot. By that time
accused no. 1 had also reached there from the factory where he used to
go. He had been informed of the incident by his daughter, Veena, accused
no. 3 on phone. It is the further case of the prosecution that accused no.
2 also came on spot. That accused no. 1 wanted to cremate the dead body
of Krishna Kumari but on the objection taken by her father Wasanda Ram. E
P.W. 23, accused no. 1 went to the police station and lodged a complaint
alleging that the deceased Krishna Kumari had committed suicide. There-
after Assistant Sub-Inspector Amar Chand, P.W. 25 took up investigation.
He came to the spot and prepared an Inc;uest Report. He recorded the
statements of Santosh Kumari, Vidya Wati, Ram Asra, Wasanda Ram and F
of accused no. 1 accused no. 2 and Rajesh Kumar, brother of accused no.
2. Dr. S.K. Gupta, P.W. 1 conducted the post-mortem on the dead body
of Krishna Kumari on 13th April 1977 at 9.00 a.m. We shall refer. to the
result of the post-mortem examination a little later. Suffice it to say at this.
stage that on the basis of the said post mortem report the police registered
criminal case against all the accused under Section 302 read with Section G
34 of the !PC as it was felt that Krishna Kumari had not committed suicide
but had died a homicidal death. Thereafter it appears that the proceedings
lingered on at investigation stage but the accused were not arrested.
Ultimately the father of the•W;.cel!sed, P.W. 23 after making various at-
tempts for attracting the attention of the higher authorities including the H
800 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [1996] 1 S.C.R.

A Prime Minister, Chief Minister of Haryana and others, lodged a private
complaint before the learned Magistrate in August 1977. Thereafter further
statements of witnesses were recorded. We will refer to them at an ap-
propriate place hereafter. Ultimately the accused were arrested in
February 1978 and after completing investigation chargesheet was sub-
mitted against the accused for offences under Section 302 read with Section
B 34, !PC and after usual committal proceedings the case reached the
Sessions Court being Sessions Case No. 26 of 1978 and Sessions Trial No.
39 of 1978. The offences with which the accused were charged were under
·•
Section 302 read with Section 34, !PC and also under Section 201 read with
Section 34, !PC. The learned Additional Sessions Judge, Gurgaon, who
C tried the accused, after recording evidence offered by the prosecution as
well as by the defence, came to the conclusion that the prosecution was
not able to establish beyond reasonable donbt that deceased Krishna ·
·Kumari had died a homicidal death and that prosecution had also failed
to establish that the accused were guilty of murdering her. Consequently
D they were acquitted of the offences with which they wer~ charged. As noted
earlier it is this acquittal by the Trial Court that has been reversed by the
Division Bench of the High Court of Punjab & Haryana at Chandigarh in
Criminal Appeal No. 1451 of 1979, moved by the State of Haryana against
the present appellants and that has resulted in the present proceedings.

E Rival co11tentio11s

Shri Lalit, learned senior counsel for appellant-accused has vehe-
mently contended that this is a case in which the prosecution has failed to
bring home the offences with which the appellants were charged. That
F there is no clear evidence of motive against the appellants. That the
prosecution tried io prove the motive by leading evidence of various
witnesses but their version stood contradicted with their police statements
and were not worthy of acceptance. That the married life of deceased
Krishna Kumari was a very short one being of only two months and seven
days and that there was no evidence on record that during that time
G deceased was in any way harassed or physically tortured by the accused or
any one of them. That the demand for refrigerator or television as alleged ·
by the prosecution was also not clearly established on record. On the
contrary the evidence showed that Krishna Kurnari and accused no. 2, her
husband had gone on a pilgrimage of 'Vaishno Devi' only two days before
H the date of incident and even on the date of incident Krishna Kumari had
MULAK RAJ v. STATE [S.B. MAJMUDAR, J.] 801

served breakfast to accused no. 2, her husband who thereafter had gone to A
attend his duties as stenographer in the Agricultural Office at Delhi while
accused no. 1, father-in-law had gone to his factory at Gurgaon which he
reached before 8.00 a.m., that being the time at which the factory started
working. That there was nothing to show as to at what time exactly the
deceased died and accused or any one of them were involved in her death.
B
That the dead body was found in the kitchen in a burnt condition and the
door of the kitchen was closed from inside. That these circumstances
clearly ruled out case of murder but would remain a case of suicide. It was
further contended that the co-called extra judicial confessions said to have
been made by accused nos. 1 and 2 before P. Ws. 10 and 13 could not be
relied upon and were rightly rejected by the Trial Court. That the high c
Court had believed these extra-judicial confessions without considering the
infirmities with which the evidence about these extra-judicial confessions
suffered. That once these extra-judicial confessions were ruled out there
remained nothing in the prosecution case to bring home the offences to
the accused. That this was a case of circumstantial evidence which suffered D
from absence of complete links and the entire chain of circumstances for
linking the accused with the crime was not established by the prosecution.
It was further contended that the appellant-accused nos. 1 and 2 could
establish by leading cogent evidence in defence that they were not present
on spot when the incident occurred. That accused no. 2 had gone to the
office of Agricultural Department where he served under the Marketing E
Officer and his duty hours started from 10.00 a.m. onwards while accused
no. 1 had gone to his factory before 8.00 a.m. and was actually in the factory
from 8.00 a.m. onwards. That the prosecution has equally failed to establish
by cogent evidence the involvement or accused nos. 3 and 4 in the incident
in question. He, therefore, contended that this was a case of suicide for F
which the accused cannot be held responsible and in any case there is no
charge against them under section 306 of the !PC. That if the main charge
under Section 302 read with Section 34, !PC failed nothing survived for
bringing home charge under Section 201, !PC to the accused. It was further
contended that the reasons which weighed with the Trial Court for acquit -
ting the accused represented a possible view and could not be treated to G
' be an impossible or unreasonable view and hence in appeal against acquit-
tal the High Court ought not to have interfered.

Learned counsel for respondent-State on the other hand tried to
support judgment and order of the High Court convicting the appellants H
(
802 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [1996] 1 S.C.R.

A and sentencing them as aforesaid.

In the light of the aforesaid rival contentions the followingpoints arise
for our detennination :

(i) Whether deceased Krishna Kumari died a homicidal death on
B the morning of 12th April 1977 or whether she had committed
suicide.
;
,,.
(ii) If it is held that deceased Krishna Kumari died a homicidal death
whether accused or any one of them can be held guilty of offences
under Section 302 read with Section .34, !PC for murdering
c deceased Krishna Kumari.

We shall deal with these points seriatim :

Point No. (i)
D
So far as the nature of the death of Krishna Kumari is concerned it
has to be appreciated that P.W. 6 Balbir Singh has stated that on 12th April
1977 he was sitting in the 'verandah' of his Premises at about 10.30 a.m.
His premises are situated in the vicinity of the house the tragic event of
death of Krishna Kumari took place. The witness stated that he heard the
E cries of accused no. 4 that there was fire. Hearing these cries he and his
worker Ram Asra came to the house of accused no. 1. On enquiry from
Raj Rani, accused no. 4, he was told that the fire was in the kitchen. He
tried to break open the door of the kitchen but it was bolted from inside.
When the door could not be opened he asked Ram Asra to bring 'Saddal'
F (a small hammer) from the factory. Consequently he brought the 'saddal'
and with the held of the same the door of the kitchen was opened. On
opening the door he found the dead body lying there duly burnt inside the
kitchen. He felt the pulse of the body and it was not functioning. The
aforesaid evidence of the '.Vitness shows that the dead body of the deceased
Krishna Kumari was lying inside the kitchen in a burnt condition and the
G door of the kitchen was bolted from inside. It is this evidence which
,
prompted the learned Trial Judge to come to the conclusion that this is
not a case of murder but probably of suicide. Though in the light of the
medical evidence the learned Trial Judge himself entertained doubt and
had to conclude that the death of deceased Krishna Kumari is shrouded
H in mystery. The High Court, on the other hand on considering medical
\
MUIAKRAlv. STATE[S.B. MAIMUDAR,J.] 803

A

-
evidence and other related evidence to which we will presently refer, took
the view that deceased Krishna Kumari would not have committed suicide
but had suffered a homicidal death, ;,,e are inclined to agree with the said
finding of the High Court for obvious reasons which are well established
on record.

It must firstly be kept in view that deceased Krishna Kumari was B
having normal health and was a working woman. She was highly qualified
and was serving as a teacher in a school. She was earning Rs. 600 per month
which was more than what her husband accused no. 2 was earning. If she
was out to commit suicide it would be natural tL 1t she would leave any
Suicide Note. No such note was found at the place of the incident. c
Secondly, if she had committed suicide by setting herself on fire then at
least some cry or sound would have escaped from her mouth. No such
evidence is found in the case. Her mouth was not found gagged or closed.
On the contrary tongue was found protruding out when dead body was
detected on spot. It is true that the kitchen door was found bolted from
inside as witness Balbir Singh, P.W. 6 has stated and tbe door had to be D
broken open. There is evidence on record to show that there was a service
window about 3 ft. from the ground floor level which was open and from
which at least with difficulty any one inside could come out. The evidence
of photographer, P.W. 3 Surinder Singh as well as the evidence of inves-
tigating officers Amar Chand, P.W. 25 and Om Parkash, P.W. 27 clearly E
bring out this fact. Th~re are photographs, P. 7 and P. 9 to P.14 produced
by police photographer, P.W. 3 Surinder Singh which clearly show that the
kitchen which was the scene of incident could be approached or an exit
form there could be affected by any one from the service window though
may be with little difficulty. Consequently the reasoning of the High Court
that even though the kitch.en was found bolted from inside, and the dead F
body could be found after breaking open the door of the kitchen, if any
one had committed the crime of liquidating Krishna Kumari then after
putting her dead body in the kitchen the concerned person could escape
through the service window even after bolting the door of the kitchen from
inside, cannot be faulted. The bolting of the door of the kitchen from inside G
was not a clinching circumstance which could rule out homicidal death of
deceased Krishna Kurnari. At this stage it is necessary to note that accord-
ing to the prosecution case deceased Krishna Kumari was done to death
by earlier gagging her nose and mouth and she had died because of
suffocation and thereafter it was her dead body which was planted in the
kitchen and was subjected to post mortem burning. So far as this part of H

•
804 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [1996] 1 S.C.R.
I
A the case of the prosecution is concerned it gets fully supported by medical
evidence on which strong reliance is placed by the High Court: The said
evidence consists of the post mortem notes Ex. p. 8 proved by P.W. 1 Dr.
S.K. Gupta. The witness stated that on 13 th April 1977 at about 9.00 a.m.
-
he performed post mortem examination on the dead body of Smt. Krishna
Kumari, wife of Hira Lal (accused no. 2), aged about 25 years. The
B observation of the witness in connection with the dead body was as follows:

"The length of the body was 5'2". A blackened body of medium
built. A young woman wearing a charred Kutcha Rigor Mortis was
present. There was bleeding through both the nostrils. Tongue
found protruded 1/3" outside the lips. Outer angles of the eyes
c were congested and red. No mark of legature could be found.
Dissection did not show any redness and congestion under the skin
of the neck. Thyroid bone was in tact. The following were found
on the body -

D (1) The body showed extensive burns of mostly second degree
and third degree (At the groins) from the head to the lower
one third of the legs, excepting the fast.

(2) The body showed incomplete peeled of dried and burnt
epidermis all over.
E
(3) There were no blisters present.
.....
(4) No red line was found around the margins of the burnt areas.

(5) The floors of the burnt areas were of glistening white ap-
F pearance.

(6) There were no signs of congestion any where.

(7) Separating epidermis did not contain any serum. There was
a dry appearance of the burnt areas all over.
G
(8) There were no signs of information.

Right and left lungs were highly congested and haemorrhagic
at several areas.11

H In the opinion of the doctor death was probably because of asphyxia

,
\.
)
MULAK RAJ v. STATE [S.B. MAJMUDAR • .T.] 805

. ;
and the clear signs of the burnt area strongly suggested that burns were
post mortem in nature. It is pertinent to note that in the light of the
A

aforesaid observations of the doctor as recorded in the post mortem notes
the police registered case under Section 302 read with Section 34 against
the appellants on 13th april 1977 itself. Still, curiously enough none of the
accused was arrested and the police appeared to have adopted a lukewarm
attitude. In the meantime the investigating agency appears to have
B
solicited the opinion of the another doctor, P.W. 2 Dr. Agrawal. Senior
Superintendent of Police sent a letter on 19th July 1977 to the witness to
give his opinion on the post mortem report of Dr. Gupta. According to Dr.
Agrawal the person may die due to suffocation as a result of inhalation of
fumes and a smoke in the respiratory passages produced by burning of C
cloths. He further opined that the line of redness in burns caused during
life may take sometime to appear and therefore it is possible that the line
of redness may be absent if the death is immediate. There is medical
evidence of third doctor, P.W. 7 Dr. Radha Mohan. Witness was Chief
Medical Officer, Lucknow and Chief Medico Legal. Expert to the State of
U.P. He was Professor Forensic Medicines in medical colleges at Lucknow D
and Meerut. He had seen the post mortem examination report of the dead
body of Smt. Krishna Kumari. The witness clearly stated that in his opinion
Krishna Kumari died before and was burnt later and the death was due to
asphyxia which was a result of suffocation. His further opinion was that the
burns found on the dead body were post mortem. They did not show any E
signs of body reaction which invariably occurs if death was due to burns.
In this case the characteristic attitude of the body known as the pugilistic
attitude was not present. In deaths due to burns this sort of attitude is
found. This confirmed that the body was burnt after death had occurred.
There were no red lines and no blisters. There was no sign of congestion
in the skin. The lungs showed deep congestion but the wind pipe did not F
show the presence of any soot or carbon particles. In cases of death
resulting from burns soot particles are found in the wind pipe because they
go in with the breathing. Bleeding from nostrils showed that the death had
occurred from asphyxia which was of forceful nature, i.e., the patient must
have tried hard to breath. The protruding of the tongue showed that the G
deceased tried to breath hard or if something was introduced into the
mouth or the mouth was closed and the patient might have tried to breath
' hard to overcome the obstruction, the tongue may have come out. Or if
something was introduced into the mouth and if that thing was taken out
after death, the tongue will come out. If an alive person is burnt there is
bound to be blister formation. But there will be no blister at all if the dead H
806 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [1996] l S.C.R.
(
A body is burnt, because blister formation is sign of life. Nothing substantial
could be brought out in his cross examination. In view of this evidence it A •
becomes clear that deceased Krishna Kumari had died a homicidal death
and the burnt injuries found on her dead body were post mortem and not
ante mortem. The doubt expressed by learned Trial Judge about the nature
of death and which, according to learned Trial .Judge, was a mystery did
B nut really remain a mystery in the light of the aforesaid clinching :nedical
evidence. Consequently we agree with the finding of the High Court that
deceased Krishna Kumari died a homicidal death on the fateful morning
of 12th April 1977 in the household of the accused. We answer Point No.
(i) accordingly. That takes us lo the consideration of the moot question as
C to whether the accused or any one of them had played part in liquidating
deceased Krishna Kumari.

Poilll No. (ii)

For bringing home the offence under Section 302 read with Section
D 34, !PC to the accused the prosecution has relied upon the following
aspects of the prosecution case :

(a) Motive;

(b) Extra-judicial confession.s of accused nos. l and 2;
E ( c) Subsequent conduct of the accused; and

(d) Situation of the scene of offence.

(a) Motive

F We shall first deal with the prosecution evidence regarding motive.
The case of the prosecution as revealed by the evidence of P .W. 23, father
of the deceased Krishna Kumari, is to the effect that at the time of her
marriage he gave seven Tolas of gold and other necessary articles worth
Rs. 25,000 but he could not provide refrigerator and television, tape
G recorder etc. and that the accused were dissatisfied with the dowry. That
at the time of the betrothal ceremony the accused were not satisfied as the
father of the deceased had given only Rs. 101. After marriage Krishna
Kumari used to visit the house of her parents occasionally. This part of the
evidence is corroborated by the evidence of witness Saroj. P.W. 16, elder
sister of the deceased and the evidence of independent witnesses Dr.
H Onkar Kapoor, P.W. 22, Madan Lal, P.W. 17 and Saroj Chopra, P.W. 26
'•
,
!
MULAKRAJv. STATE [S.B. MAJMUDAR,.T.J 807

to which we have made reference while narrating the prosecution case. A
Similar is the evidence of witness Santosh Kumari, P.W. 14 who stated that
deceased had complained about the conduct of the accused a month prior
to the occurrence. In our view the High Court has rightly relied upon the
aforesaid evidence for reaching the conclusion that the accused nos. 1 and
2 were dissatisfied with the dowry amount given by Krishna Kumari's father
at the time of her marriage with accused no. 2 and that they were
B
demanding refrigerator and television etc. The learned Trial judge on the
other hand disbelieved these witnesses on the spacious plea that in their
police statements they had not given details about the complaint of
deceased Krishna Kumari to which they referred to their evidence before
court and to that extent their version stood contradicted by their police c
statements. In this connection it is to be noted that once it is observed
agreeing with the High Court that police investigation in the present case
was unfortunately most unsatisfactory and cursory, that aspect loses its
significance. It has to be kept in view that on the next day of the incident,
that is, 13th April 1977 on receipt of the post mortem notes of Dr. S .K.
Gupta the police authorities had themselves registered the ca<,e under D
Section 302 read with Section 34, !PC against the accused, still, the accused
were not arrested. Not only that but the police adopted a lukewarm attitude
and developed cold feet. Months rolled by. Despite there being clear
opinion of the doctor as found in post mortem notes, instead of arresting
the accused the investigating agency tried to obtain opinion of another E
doctor, Dr. Agrawal, and that too was done after about three months, i.e.,
on 19th July 1977. Even despite that opinion which was in a way non-com-
mittal no attempt was made to tighten the investigation and it dragged its
> feet. That in the meanwhile exasperated father of the deceased, P.W. 23,
moved from pillar to post. As noted earlier, his evidence reveals that
because the police had taken no steps to arrest the accused the witness F
sent telegrams to Prime Minister, Home Minister and Chief Minister of
Haryana, requesting that a fair investigation be got done. One S.P. from
Chandigarh had also come for enquiry. In the meantime one Mr. Atre had
joined as S.S.P., Gurgaon who had also received a copy of Mr. Taneja's
complaint from the higher authorities. He called him and listened to him G
and then a further investigation started in the matter. According to the
witness, earlier the police was not doing proper investigation because they
were bribed by the accused. He got the news published in various
newspapers and when the police did not take any action in the matter he
filed complaint before the Addi. Chief Judicial Magistrate. He attached
the cuttings appearing in the newspapers with the complaint. The court H
808 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [1996] 1 S.C.R.

A then issued process against the accused and thereafter further investigation
started. The aforesaid evidence which has stood the test of cross-examina-
tion really reveals that the police for reasons best known to them after
registering the offence under Section 302 read with Section 34, !PC against
the accused as early as 13th April 1977 allowed the investigation to drag
on in a cursory manner without taking any serious interest in the investiga-
B tion. Consequently the statements of witnesses recorded by the police at
this stage could not be treated to have represented a faithful and complete
version recorded by the investigating agency so far as these witnesses are
concerned. The Trial Court Obviously erred in placing implicit faith in the
omissions in police statements and in discrediting the version of the wit-
C nesses before the court in connection with the motive evidence deposed to
by them. It was unfortunate that when offence of such a heinous nature
which the medical evidence prima facie made out was found to be commit-
tal and on the basis of which case under Section 302 read with Section 34,
!PC was registered against the accused, the police took no steps to find
out as to how this homicide took place in the household of the accused on
D that fateful morning. No effort was made to find out as to where tlie
accused no. 2 and deceased, his wife, had spent the earlier night? What
was the situation of the bed room? How far it was from kitchen where the
dead body was found in a burnt condition having suffered from post
mortem burns, as seen from the post mortem report? It appears that for
E reasons best known to the investigating agency at that time all relevant
evidence which could have been gathered with promptness and efficiency
in connection with such a heinous crime, was allowed to escape and as will
be seen a little later, the result, is that such a crime committed in the
household of the accused wherein a young lady had lost .her life has to go
unpunished. Under these circumstances we entirely concur with the
F reasoning adopted by the High Court that the evidence regarding motive
as laid by the prosecution through the aforesaid witnesses is quite reliable
and has to be accepted. It has to be kept in view that accused no. 1 was
serving as a Foreman getting about Rs. 1200 p.m. while accused no. 2 was
serving as a stenographer earning Rs. 600 p.m. As compared to that
G deceased was . a highly educated lady having Post Graduate degree in
English and she was serving as a teacher earning more than what her
husband earned. Witness, P.W. 23, father of the deceased girl was com-
paratively in a better economic condition as he was having his own tailoring
shop wherein he was employing assistants. It is, therefore, just quite
reasonable to presume that the accused nos. 1 and 2 would have demanded
H refrigerator and television as deposed to by the aforesaid witnesses finding
MULAK RAJ v. STATE [S.B. MAJMUDAR, J.] 809

the father of the deceased to be in a better economic position. The finding A
' ' of learned Trial Judge to the contrary is totally lopsided and quite un-
reasonable and the view taken by the learned Trial Judge on this aspect
must be treated to be an impossible one. The High Court in appeal against
acquittal was, therefore, quite justified in holding that the prosecution has
established by satisfactory evidence that there was a strong motive for the
accused to threaten the deceased and to pester her by demanding dowry B
articles, having not received refrigerator and television from her father.

(b) Evidence regarding extra-judicial confessions

That takes us to the consideration of the evidence regarding extra- c
judicial confessions of accused nos. 1 and 2. We may at once state that
coupled with the evidence of motive, if the evidence of extra-judicial
confessions of accused nos. 1 and 2 stood the test of scrutiny then there
would have been cast iron case against accused nos. 1 and 2. However,
unfortunately for the prosecution, on this score it has drawn blank. It is the D
case of the prosecution that in the months of November, December 1977
accused nos. 1 and 2 approached P.W. 10 Hari Kishan who was a member
of the Ad-hoc Committee of the Janata Party and P.W. 13, Gopal Dass
who was an employee of the father of deceased Krishan Kumari and stated
before them that they had committed mistake and that they had killed the
girl in anger and they should get the matter amicably settled. That again E
after 15 days the accused met the witness Hari Kishan and stated that the
girl cannot come back and that they are prepared to compensate. The
evidence of this witness was disbelieved by the learned Trial Judge as in
the court itself the witness was not in a position to point out accused no.
2 and he pointed out instead one Vinod Kumar, who was alleged to have F
made the confession before him. Even that apart the statement of the
witness that he had informed Shri Taneja, that is, father of deceased
Krishna Kumari about this confession, is not corroborated by the evidence
of P.W. 23, Shri Taneja himself. The witness also did not inform any one
about the co-called confessional statements of the accused. His further
statement was recorded by the police on 20th January 1978 in connection G
with this alleged extra-judicial confession of the accused. If there was any
such confession made by the accused before him in November or Decem-
ber there is no reason why he should not have gone to the police immedi-
ately and reported about the same when investigation was in progress and
et<en a criminal complaint was filed by the father of the deceased in the H
(
810 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [1996] 1 S.C.R.

A Magistrate's court and summons were issued to the accused. Consequently
no reliance could be placed on the extra-judicial confessions said to have ' '
been made by the accused before him. The witness was also not known to
any of the parties and hence it was unlikely that accused would confide in
him and confess their guilt before him. The learned Trial Judge was,
therefore) justified in not placing reliance on extra-judicial confessions of
B
accused nos. 1 and 2, said to have been made before this witness.

So far as the extra-judicial confessions said to have been made by the
accused during the same period of November and December 1977 before
witness Gopal Dass, P.W. 13 is concerned it is still on a weaker footing.
C Gopal Dass was an employee o.f Krishna Kumari's father Wasanda Ram,
P.W. 23. If the accused had told him as alleged by him confessing their
crime of having killed Krishna Kumari in anger the witness in the normal
course of conduct would have rushed to his employer Krishna Kumari's
father and told him about the same. But curiously enough he informed no
D one about the so-called extra-judicial confessions and only on 20th January
1978 his further statement was recorded by the police wherein he stated
about this so-called confession about the death of Krishna Kumari. Witness
Gopal Dass, P.W. 13 was present on the scene of offence after the incident
and his statement was earlier recorded by the police. Under the cir-
cumstances nothing prevented him from immediately approaching the
E investigating agency in November/December 1977 and in informing them
about the so-called confession of the accused. Still he kept mum and did
not do so. Consequently the version of this witness regarding the extra-judi-
cial confessions was rightly not believed by the learned Trial Judge. So far
>as the High Court is concerned, in a very cursory manner the reasoning of
F the learned Trial Judge was brushed aside by the High Court and .reliance
was placed on these extra-judicial confessions. We may profitably extract
that the High Court had to say in this connection :

"P.W. 10 Hari Kishan and P.W. 13 Gopal Dass are the witnesses
of extra-judicial confession made by Mulakh Raj and Hira Lal
G respondents. Hari Kishan P.W. is a resident of the same locality
and is a retired Military Officer. He is also a member of theAd-hoc
Committee of Janta Party. He is not inimical to the respondents.
As it was the J anta Party regime in those days, it was quite natural
for the two respondents to approach him. These respondents
H admit.ted their guilt before him and sought his intervention.
\
I

MULAKRAlv. STATE[S.B. MAIMUDAR,J.] 8ll

Similarly, there is nothing against Gopal Dass, P. W. to whom these A
respondents approached with the same request. He is a person,
who is known to both the respondents and the complainant. These
prosecution \Vitnesses are also consistent in their statements
recorded by the Magistrale. The trial Court fell in error in not
relying upon their testimony and the reasoning adopted by it is not
convincing.
B

' It is difficult to appreciate this reasoning of the High Court for placing
reliance on the extra-judicial confessions as deposed to by these witnesses.
None of the infirmities noted in the evidence of these witnesses have been
considered by the High Court. Shri Lalit, learned senior counsel for the C
appellants was, therefore, right in contending that evidence of extra-judicial
confessions apart from being inherently weak is not at all established on
record of this case and no reliance can be placed on this evidence. Once
that conclusion is reached the most important connecting link between the
accused or at least accused nos. l and 2 on the one hand and the homicidal
death of deceased Krishna Kumari on the other gets snapped and D
eliminated.

( c) Subsequent conduct of the accused

So far as the subsequent conduct of the accused is concerned strong E
reliance was placed by learned counsel for the respondent relying upon the
observation of the High Court in this connection that the accused did not
immediately inform the father of the deceased who was staying in the near
vicinity after the alleged suicide of his daughter. That none of the accused
was found to be lamenting or weeping when being apprised of the incident.
F
That the accused wanted to remove the dead body for cremation but only
on the insistence of witness. Wasanda Ram, P.W. 23, father of the deceased
they were not permitted to do so. In our view the aforesaid conduct of the
accused had not revealed any clinching circumstance to necessarily connect
the accused with the crime. It has to be kept in view that so far as accused
~· nos. 1 and 2 were concerned they have led defence evidence to show that G
accused no. 1 had gone to his factory on the date of the incident before
8.00 a.m. as the working of the factory started at 8.00 a.m., and accused
no. 2 had gone from Gurgaon to Delhi to attend his office which started
working at 10.00 a.m. The evidence of Dr. Gupta shows that when he
performed the post mortem examination on 13th April 1977 at about 9.00 H
(
812 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [1996] 1 S.C.R.

A a.m. the physical condition of the dead body was such that death could be
taken to have occurred 22 hours before the post mortem examination. That
would bring that approximate time of death of the deceased to 11.00 a.m.
on 12th April 1977. However, leaving a margin of an hour or two in the
light of evidence of P.W. 6 Balbir Singh who heard the cries and commo-
B tion at about 10.30 a.m. it could be said that death might have occurred
within an hour prior to 10.30 a.m., namely, between 9.30 a.m. to 10.00 a.m.
However, this is also a guess work as there is no clear evidence led by the
prosecution to show as to what was the exact time of death of the deceased,
even though as we have found earlier, she died a homicidal death in the
C household of the accused on the fateful morning of 12th April 1977. Under
these circumstances it is possible to visualise that when accused nos. 1 and
2 came back from their respective places of work after being informed in
the afternoon of 12th April 1977 about the death of the deceased there was
no occasion for them to inform the father of the deceased P.W. 23 at any
D prior times as by the time they reached the scene of offence P.W. 23 had
already been informed by witness Santosh Kumari, P.W. 14 and had
reached the spot. So far as accused nos. 3 and 4 were concerned both of
them were ladies. Accused no. 3 was a girl aged about sixteen and a half
years while accused no. 4 was an elderly lady and both of them might not
have thought it fit to inform father of the deceased about the tragedy till
E the elder males were informed, namely, accused nos. 1 and 2. Consequently
this conduct on the part of the accused nos. 3 and 4 also cannot clinchingly
show that they were co-conspirators who had shared a common intention
with accused nos. 1 and 2 to liquidate deceased Krishna Kumari or that
they were the principal accused. Similarly whether the accused lamented
F or not is also an equivocal circumstance. On the other hand if it is held
that the accused had deliberately planted the dead body of Krishna Kumari
in the Kitchen after she was already killed, then to make a show of
innocence they would have easily resorted to mock lamenting and weeping.
Therefore, this circumstance is also an equivocal circumstance which does
G not necessarily lead to the culpability of the accused in the crime. The
insistence of accused nos. 1 and 2 to cremate the body also cannot by itself
•
be a circumstance which would necessarily lead to their culpability as
accused no 1 had already lodged a complaint before the police about the
suicide of his daughter-in-law,. Consequently the aforesaid subsequent
H conduct on which strong reliance has been placed by the High Court to
MULAKRAJv. STATE[S.B.MAJMUDAR,J.] 813

bring home the offence to the accused cannot really assist the prosecution A
and it does not represent a strong and clinching link in the chain of
circumstantial evidence which is incompatible with any other hypothesis
save and except the guilt of the accused.

(d) Situation of the scene of offence
B
That takes us to the last circumstance on which strong reliance was
t
placed by tbe High Court for convicting the appellants. That pertains to
the scene of offence. It is true that the scene of offence was shown to be
kitchen in the household of the accused where all the four accused were
staying. It is also true that at the time when the dead body of deceased was C
found lying in the kitchen witness Santosh Kumari, P.W. 14 found that the
kitchen was in perfect order and there was no smoke in the kitchen.
Kitchen was neat and clean and there was no smell emanating from the
kitchen. But even if that is so, it is difficult to appreciate how this cir-
cumstance itself points a guilty finger to the accused or any one of them. D
Merely because deceased Krishna Kumari who was staying with the ac-
cused had died a homicidal death in their household and her dead body
was found in the kitchen with post mortem burns it cannot be said that the
said circumstance by itself would connect all the accused or any one of
them with the crime.
E
The question still remains as to who killed the deceased Krishna
Kumari, whether it was accused no. 1 or 2 or 3 or 4 or whether all of them
joint!~ had taken part in killing her by suffocating her. Further question
remains as to who was the principal accused guilty of offence under Section
302 out of the four accused and who were guilty of offence under Section F
302 read with Section 34 for having shared the common intention to murder
her. It is difficult to appreciate how accused no. 3 a minor girl aged sixteen
and a half years bein10 sister-in-l~w of the deceased had shared such
common intention if at all there was any. All these questions remain
unanswered on the unsatisfactory state of evidence led by the prosecution. G
As we have noted earlier the basic flaw in the case lies in the lukewarm
and cursory investigation initiated by the police after registering the offence
under Section 302 read with Section 34, IPC against these accused. Result
was that prosecution case became lame from the very beginning and,
therefore, it must be visited with the logical consequence of failure to bring
home the offence of murder to the accused who may at the most remain H
!
I
814 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [1996] 1 S.C.R.

A under the cloud of a strong suspicion of havmg liquidated Krishna Kumari
in their household on that fateful morning. However strong the suspicion
may, it cannot take the place of proof. The High Court seems to have been
swayed by the unfortunate and untimely homicidal death of a young girl in
the household of her father-in-law and husband on the altar of dowry
demand. However, it is impossible on the state of evidence on record to
B
bring home the offence under Section 302 read with Section 34 beyond the
shadow of reasonable doubt to any of the accused. The High Court with
respect seems to have almost rendered a moral conviction against the
accused rather than a legal one.

C In view of the aforesaid discussion point no. (ii) is answered in the
negative.

In the result the appeal succeeds and is allowed. All the appellant-
accused are acquitted of the offence under Section 302 read with Section
34, !PC with which they were charged. Similarly they are entitled to be
D acquitted of offence under Section 201 read with Section 34, !PC as they
are not held to be criminally involved in the incident. All the accused are
given benefit of doubt. The judgment and order of the High Court are set
aside and the order of acquittal as rendered by the Trial Court is restored.
The accused were on bail pending this appeal. Now there is no occasion
E for them to surrender. Their bail bonds are ordered to be cancelled and
sureties shall stand discharged.

T.N.A. Appeal allowed.