Holding

The conviction under Section 302 IPC is upheld; the investigating officer’s deposition, supported by forensic evidence, is sufficient even in the absence of corroboration.

Summary

Pattu Lal was convicted of murdering his wife Chameli Devi under Section 302 IPC. The prosecution’s case rested on the deposition of the investigating officer that the son, Bishan Dial, lodged the FIR and produced his father with blood‑stained clothes and the weapon (toka) at the police station. Bishan later turned hostile, denying that he had seen the murder or lodged the FIR, but forensic tests confirmed human blood on the seized items. The Supreme Court examined whether the conviction could stand despite the lack of corroboration of the son’s testimony and held that the investigating officer’s deposition, together with the forensic evidence, was sufficient and that corroboration is a rule of prudence, not a mandatory requirement. Consequently, the appeal was dismissed and the conviction upheld.

Issues considered

Whether a conviction for murder under Section 302 IPC can be sustained on the basis of the investigating officer’s deposition without corroboration of the eyewitness testimony.
Whether the lack of corroboration of uncorroborated evidence warrants setting aside the conviction.
Whether the son’s hostile witness status and denial of lodging the FIR affect the admissibility and weight of the FIR and related evidence.

Legislation cited

Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973s. 161
Indian Penal Code, 1860s. 302

Subjects

murderSection 302 IPCcorroborationhostile witnessforensic evidenceconvictionappealspecial court

Judgment

A PATTU LAL
v.
STATE OF PUN.JAB

MARCH 27, 1996

B jG.N. RAY AND S.B. MA.JMUDAR, .I.I.)

Penal Code : 1860 ;

S.302-Accused causing death of his wij(:-Son of accused lodging FIR
C and handing over accused to }Jo/ice with blood stained clothes and weapon
of crinu.~Prosecation exanzining son of accused and investigating of-
fice1-Son tumed hostile dwing uial-Evidence of Investigating Office1-He/d
the factwn of lodging FIR by son and producing the accused with blood
stained clothes and the weapon with which the nzllrder !tad been conunitted
by the accused have been clearly established by the deposition of investigating
D officer--171erc is no reason to discard the evidence of the investigating of-
ficer--Conviction upheld.

C1in1inal Law :

Corroboration of evidence-Convboration is a rule of prudence-
E Evidentia1y value of a deposition ivhich is othe1wise adnzissible is not just
iviped out in the absence of co1Toboration-Even in the absence of co1Tobora-
tion, a deposition for its quality may be safely accepted to be cmrect-It will
be unfortunate if on account of over enzplzasis for convboration, a crinze goes
un11unished by not givinK due weight to unco11nborated evidence when such
F evidence is othenvisc reliable.

CRIMINAL APPELLATE JURISDICTION : Criminal Appeal No.
165 of 1985.

From the .Judgment and Order dated 28.11.84 of the Special Court
G at Ferozepur in Case No. 96/84 and Trial No. 27 of 1984.
O.K. Khullar and R.C. Kohli for the Appellant.

N. Natarajan, A.C., Ranbir Yadav and R.S. Suri for the Respondent.

H The Order of the Court was delivered by
1016
/'
. '

PATTU LALv. STATE IG. N. RAY,J.] 1017

G.N. RAY, J. This is an appeal under Section 14(1) of the Terrorists A
Affected Areas (Special Courts) Act, 1984. This appeal is directed against
the order dated November 28, 1984 passed by the learned Judge, Special
Court, Ferozpur, in Trial No. 27 of 1984 arising out of F.I.R. No. 141 of
1984 of the Police Station, Abohar, under Section 302 of the Indian Penal
Code and was sentenced to suffer imprisonment for life.
B
The prosecution case in short is that the appellant had a strained
relation with his wife Chameli Devi, the deceased, on account of Chameli
Devi having illicit relation with one Kirpal Singh, On May 8, 1984. P.W. 1
- Bishan Dial, his brother Tej Ram and the wife of Bishan Dial, Daropati,
went to the house of the appellant Patlu Lal to get the dispute between C
the deceased and Pattu Lal Settled. The deceased threatened to get divorce
and marry Kirpal Singh. On the night of May 24 and 25 of 1984, PW.1
Bishan Dial, said Tej Ra;,, and Daropati slept at the house of Pattu Lal
and at about 6.00 a.m. on May 28, 1984, Bishan Dial got up on hearing
alarm and saw Pattu Lal giving injuries to Chameli Devi with 'toka' and D
Chameli Devi died at the spot. PW.1 Bishan Dial took his father with his
b1ood stained clothes and the said toka Ex.M/G/1 to the police station,
Abohar, where he lodged the F.I.R. Ex. P. 1 at about 7.00 a.m. On the basis
of the said F.l.R., a case under Section 302 of the Indian Penal Code was
registered. PW.3 Shri Thakur Singh, Additional Station House Officer,
took up the investigation who placed Pattu Lal under arrest and the blood E
stained toka and also blood stained clothes produced before him were
seized. Thereafter, the said Investigating Officer (PW-3) proceeded to the
spot and collected blood stained earth under memo of seizure Ex. P.7 and
also seized the blanket and chadar of the deceased by seizure Memo effects
Ex. P.8. Autospy of the dead body of Chamcli Devi was performed by Dr. F
Dalip Kumar on May 25, 1984 at about. 3.30 p.m. In the opinion of the
doctor, the death was caused due to shock and haemorrhage due lo injury
No. 1 which was sufficient in the ordinary course of nature to cause death.
The prosecution examined Bishan Dial PW.1. the son of the accused and
also the doctor holding the post mortem examination (PW. 2 Dr. Dalip
Kumar), the said investigating Officer PW. 3 and other formal witnesses G
P.W. 1 Bishan Dial was, however, declared hostile and he was cross-ex-
amined by the learned Public Prosecutor. It appears from the deposition
of PW.1 that his father and the mother were living together and Bishan
with his wife and brother Tej Ram had been living separately in a different
hotKe. The said witness also admitted that at the police station he had given H
(\

1018 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [1996] 3 S.C.R.

A a thump mark under the F.l.R. He also admitted that his brother Tej Ram
also accompanied him to the police station. No plausible reason has been
indicated by the said witness which might have promoted the said Inves-
tigating Officer to fabricate the said F.I.R. on making false allegations. The
investigating officer specifically stated in his deposition that the accused
was produced at about 7.00 a.m. al the police station by PW. l Bishan Dial
B himself and I he blood stained clothes and the 'toka' with which murder had
been committed were also produced by the said Bishan Dial. It may be
stated here that the blood stained clothes and the toka with which the
murder is alleged to have been committed had been sent for forensic test
and the report is to the effect that the said clothes and the toka contained
C human blood. . "'
•
The learned counsel for the appellant has very strongly contended
before us at the hearing of this appeal that in the instant case, the
prosecution wanted to prove the charge of murder by examining Bishan
D Dial who was stated to be an eye witness. But the said Bishan Dial has
denied in his deposition that he had seen the occurrence and he has also
denied that he lodged the F.I.R. with the police station. He has specifically
stated that in the police station, a thumb impression was taken from him.
The learned counsel has submitted that such thumb impression has since
been utilised in F.l.R. and no reliance should be placed on such F.I.R. The
' .
E learned counsel for the appellant has also contended that the prosecution
has not come up with a case of murder to be established by circumstantial
evidences. On the contrary, the positive case of the prosecution was that
the case of murder was witnessed by the son of the deceased. But the
prosecution has failed to establish such case because of the denial about
F the said case of murder by the son, Bishan Dial. The learned counsel for
the appellant has submitted that simply on the basis of the deposition of
the Investigating Officer, the case against the appellant cannot be accepted
in the absence of any convincing evidence by way of corroboration. He has,
therefore, submitted that the prosecution case must fail by holding that it
was a case of blind murder not proved by any convincing and clinching
G evidence.

Mr. Ranbir Yadav, learned counsel for the State, has, ho\vevcr, -'J.-1
submitted before us that in the instant case, the police did not arrest the
acc;,psed on the basis of any inforn1ation received fron1 any other source.
H The accused was arrested at the time of lodging the F.I.R. by Bishap Dial
PATIU LALv. STATE [G. N. RAY,l.J 1019

because the accused was produced by his son Bishan at the police station, A
ai the time ~f lodging the FJ.R. with the blood stained clothes of the
appellant and the toka, the weapon with which the murder had been
committed. The investigating officer has clearly deposed in this case that
the said Bishan Dial lodged the said F.I.R. and handed over his father
along with blood stained clothes and the weapon. In view of such evidence, B
there is no difficulty in convicting the appellant for the said offence of
murder and in the facts of the case, no interference by this Court is called
for.

We requested Mr. Natarajan, the learned Senior Advocate, to assist
the Court as amicus curaie and we place on record our deed appreciation C
for the valuable assistance given by Mr. Natarajan, Mr. Natarajan has
submitted before us that although PW.1 Bishan Dial has denied the factum
of lodging the F.I.R. and making the statement recorded in F.I.R. and has
also denied that he had witnessed the said occurrence of murder, but the
contradiction in his deposition with the statements recorded in the F.LR. D
and also in the statements made by him under Section 161 of Crl. Proce-
dure Code have been clearly established by the investigating officer PW.3

.. in his deposition. The statement of Bishambhar to the extent of contradic-
tion in his statement in F.I.R. and in the statement made before the police
became substantive evidence. Mr. Natarajan has also submitted that apart
from such evidence, the investigating officer has also deposed in this case E
by stating that the son of the deceased Bishan Dial lodged the F.LR. and
also produced the accused at the time of lodging the F.I.R. and blood
stained clothes of the accused and the weapon with which the murder had
been committed, had also deposited with the police by the said Bishan Dial.
There is no suggestion to the said investigating officer in cross examination
that he had any reason to depose falsely against the accused in this case. F
From the deposition of the son of the deceased it has been established that
the accused used to stay with the deceased in the house where murder had
been committed and no one else to stay in the said house. It has come out
in the evidence of the investigating officer that shortly after the said
incident of murder, the accused was presented in the police station with G
blood stained clothes and the toka, by the son of the deceased. It has been
established from the serological report that the said clothes and the
weapon contained human blood. 'Such evidence, even in the absence of
direct evidence of murder, clearly establish the prosecution case beyond
doubt. Accordingly, the conviction of the appellant for murder of his wife
cannot be held lo be bad or illegal. H
I\

1020 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [1996) 3 S.C.R.

A After giving our anxious consideration to th~ facts and circumstances
of the case and the evidences adduced in the case and submissions made
by the learned counsel for the parties and also by Mr. Natarajan, learned
amicus wraie, it appears to us :hat the factum of lodging the F.I.R. by P.W.
1 Bishan Dial and also the factum of producing the accused with blood
stained clothes and the said loka with which the murder had been com-
B mitted by Bishan Dial have been clearly established by the deposition of
investigating officer. We do n'ot find any reason to discard the evidence of
the investigating officer to the above effect. No suggestion was given to the
said investigating officer on behalf of the accused that he had any occasion
to have animus against the accused for which there was likelihood of
..
C fabricating false evidence . by the said investigating officer against the
· accused. P.W. 1 Bishan Dial has deposed to the effect that he along with
•
his brother had been to the police station. Although he has stated in his
deposition that his thumb impression was taken on a paper in the police
station but no attempt was made to support such contention by examining
his own brother as a defence witness. It has also been clearly established
D from the evidence of the son of the deceased that the accused used to live
with the deceased in the said house and nobody else used to live there.
Shortly after the incident, the appellant wa:c-. produced in the police station

., .
with his blood stained clothes and the toka. From the report of the '
serolo&<ist, it has been established that the said clothes and the toka
contained human blood. No explanation has been giving as to how and
E under what circumstances, the clothes of the accused contained blood
stains when he was apprehended shortly after the incident. The circumstan-
ces established by clear and clinching evidence only indicate that it was the
appellant and no one else had committed the said murder. It will be
appropriate to indicate here that corroboration is a rule of prudence.
Evidcntiary value of a deposition \vhich is otherwise admissible is not just
F
wiped out in the absence of corroboration. Even in the absence of cor-
roboration, a deposition for its quality may be safely accepted lo be correct.
It will be unfortunate if on account of over emphasis for corroboration, a
crime goes unpunished by not giving due weight, on uncorroborated
evidence when such evidence is otherwise. reliable. We, therefore, find no
G reason to interfere with conviction and sentence passed against the appel-
lant and the appeal is accordingly dismissed. The appellant has been
released on bail during the pendency of this appeal. He should be arrested
forthwith to serve out the sentence.

R.P. Appeal dismissed.