STATE OF PUNJABversusHARI KISHAN AND ORS.

                               STATE OF PUNJAB                                      A
                                       v.
                             HARi KISHAN AND ORS.

                              SEPTEMBER 26, 1997

            · [G.T. NANA VA Tl AND M. JAGANNADHA RAO, JJ.]                          B


          Criminal Trial :

           Circumstantial evidence-Offences under Sections 302 and 201 IPC-
    Demand of dowry and ill treatment by husband and his two brothers-No eye C
    witness to the murder-Post m<;>rtem report shows death as a result of
    strangulation-Circumstances created a strong suspicion that her death was
    caused by someone residing in her house and in all probability by her
-   husband as he had some motive to do so-No evidence led by the prosecution
    to controvert the statement of the accused under Section 313 Cr. P.C. to the D
    effect that they were not present in the house at the time of death-Held, even
    if the evidence regarding motive is believed, prosecution has failed to prove
    that it was the husband who had caused the death of his wife-Section 3 I 3
    Cr. P. C.-Statement made thereunder by the accused-Relevance of

          Unreliable witness-Confession of the guilt by the accused before a        E
    witness-Material improvement made by him during the trial-Held, such
    evidence of the witness not reliable.

          Court witnesses-Testimony of-Two doctors examined by the Trial
    Court who had given treatment to the accused who became unconscious due
    to shock of the death of his wife when he returned back from the field-No       F
    injury on his person-Thus, he had not become unconscious because of injury
    received by him while pulling down the roof as was tried to be made out by
    the prosecution-No cross examination by the prosecution whether the
    husband was unconscious or not and how he had become unconscious-
    Held, husband's version that he was unconscious proved.
                                                                                    G
          JR, deceased, was married to R-1. Soon after the marriage, respondents
    started pressing her either to get Rs. 20,000 or to secure an employment for
    R-1. On return to her father's place, she told this to her brother, PW-5. On
    3.12.1983, PW-3 who had brought about this marriage, when went to the
    village where the deceased was married to R-1 to meet his sister and brother-   H
                                        299
    300                      SUPREME COURT REPORTS [1997] SUPP. 4 S.C.R.

A   in-law, PW-2, JR told PW-3 about the demand of dowry from R-1 and the ill
    treatment for not bringing that amount. In the same evening, PW-2 and PW-
    3 went to the house of respondents, when they saw respondents pulling the
    deceased to one of the rooms of the house and on seeing PW-2 and PW-3,
    they let her free. PW-2 and PW-3 requested the respondents not to ill treat
B   the deceased JR. On the following day, i.e. on 4.12.1983, PW-4 had come to
    the residence of the respondents at. about 1 I .00 a.m. to purchase a bullock
    from them when he saw the respondents demolishing the roofofthe 'Kotha'
    of their house. The respondents' father told PW-4 that as the respondents
    were busy replacing the roof, the sale of bullock could not be finalised. Before,
    12.00 noon, PW-5 along with his sister came to the house of respondents to
C   meet their sister, and they saw JR lying on a cot inside one of the rooms and
    R-1 was on a cot in the adjoining room. R-2 and R-3 told PW-5 that JR has
    died because of the collapse of the roofofthe 'Kotha'. He then informed PW-
    2, Sarpanch of the village, who after verifying the death JR went to the police
    station and the dead body was sent for post mortem. The post mortem report
    disclosed that she had died as a result of strangulation. Ultimately, R-1 was
D   charged under Section 302 and 201 lPC, whereas R-2 and R-3 were charged
    under Section 201 IPC.

         Trial Court convicted the respondents on the above charges. However,
    on appeal, High Court set aside the r.onviction and acquitted the respondents.
                                                                                         •
E   Hence this appeal by the State.

          Dismissing the appeal, this Court

          HELD : I. Even if the evidence regarding motive is believed, the
    prosecution in this case has failed to establish that R-1 was present in the
F   house when the death of JR took place. According to evidence of PW-I (doctor),
    the death of deceased had taken place any time between 9.30 p.m. on 3rd and
    9.30 p.m. on 4th December, 1983. PW-1, who had performed the autopsy, had
    not ruled out the possibility of death having taken place in the morning of 4th
    December after 7.00 a.m. Therefore, it can not be said that the explanation of
G   R-1 that he had left for the field at about 7.00 a.m., his wife was alive then and
    he found her dead when he returned from the field at about I 1.00 a.m. is
    inconsistent with the medical evidence. Moreover, the evidence of PW-1
    discloses that when he had gone to the house of respondents on 4th December
    at about I I.30 a.m. or 12 noon, he had seen many women sitting nearby the
    dead body of his sister. It is quite natural that on coming to know about the
H   death of JR the neighbours and relatives of the respondents must have gone
                    STATE OF PUNJAB v. HARi KISHAN                         301
there. However, the prosecution did not examine any witness from the locality A
to establish as to when they came to know about the death of JR.
                                                        (307-F-H; 308-A-C) ·

       2. Only other evidence which could have established that R-.1 and his
brothers were present in the house at about 11.00 a.m. and at that time were      B
engaged in pulling down the roof of the 'Kotha' room and which could have
falsified the version of the respondents, is that ofwitness PW-4. According
to this witness, when he had gone to the house of the respondents he had found
the outer door of the house closed. He opened it by pushing the flaps of the
door and from there he saw that the respondents were demolishing the roof
of the 'Kotha' of the house with spades. He did not say that he had gone inside   C
the house by crossing the front room and then the open space and from there
he had seen the respondents trying to pull down the roof. From the sketch of
the house which has been exhibited in this case, it clearly appears that he
could not have seen the 'Kotha' room either while standing near the entrance
door or even after entering the front room. Therefore, apart from the
reasoning given by thcef High Court, his evidence becomes doubtful for the        D
aforesaid reasons. Moreover, if JR was already dead by that time and the
respondents were trying to create evidence that her death was because of
injuries received as a result of accidental falling of the roof then they would
not have kept the front door unchained so that any one could open it and come
inside and see what was going on there. It, therefore, cannot be said that the    E
High Court has committed any error in discarding his evidence. (308-D-F]

       3. No other evidence was led by the prosecution to prove the presence
of R-1 in the house at the time of the death of JR. The medical evidence being
inconclusive and the evidence of witness PW-4 having been rejected, the High
Court was right in holding that the prosecution has failed to establish that it   F
was R-1 who had caused the death of JR His version was that he had left for
the field at 7.00 a.m. and when he had returned therefrom at about 11.00 a.m.
he had found his wife lying on a cot and many women were sitting and weepi~g
near that cot and due to the shock he had become unconscious. His version
that he had become unconscious received support from the evidence of PW-5         G
and the two doctors viz., CW-1 and CW-2 who were examined as Court
witnesses. PW-5 has stated in his evidence that when he went to his sister's
house at about 11.30 a.m. he found the dead body of his sister placed on a cot
in one of the rooms and in the adjoining ~oom his brother-in-law R-! was
seen lying on a cot. When he had gone near him and attempted to talk to him
he had not responded. CW-1 who is a private medical practitioner from a place     H
    302                      SUPREME COURT REPORTS (1997] SUPP. 4 S.C.R.

A   which is at a distance of about 3-4 kms from the village has deposed that on
    4.12.1983 he was approached by R-2 who requested him to go to village J to
    treat his brother R-1. When he went to the house of the respondents he found
    R-1 lying unconscious. He gave him medicines but considering his condition
    he advised them to remove him to the Primary Health Centre. According to
B   the evidence ofCW-2, R-1 was brought to Primary Heath Centre at about 1-
    30 p.m. and at that time he had found him unconscious. His condition improved
    on 7.12.1983 and he was discharged on 10.12.1983. Both the Doctors have
    thus categorically stated in their evidence that they have found R-1
    unconscious. No questions were put to these doctors by the prosecution as to
    whether he was really unconscious or not and how he had become unconscious.
c   From the evidence of these doctors, it further appears that there was no injury
    on his person. Thus he had not become unconscious as a result of any injury
    received by him while pulling down the roof as was tried to be made out by the
    prosecution. These circumstances thus make the version of R-1 more probable.
                                                               [308-G-H; 309-A-E)
D          4. R-2 and R-3 in their statements under Section 313, Cr. P.C. had stated
    that they knew nothing about how JR had died and that they returned from
    the field at about 12.00 noon. Even if it proceeded on the basis that R-2 and R-
    3 had given a false explanation for the death of JR that by itself cannot lead
    t'o an inference that R-1 had caused the death and that they had tried to
E   fabricate the evidence to save him. [309-G-H)

          5. The High Court has given good reasons for not placing reliance on
    the evidence of PW-6. This witness cannot be regarded as a reliable and
    independent witness in view of the material improvement made by him while
    deposi~g before the Court. His version also does not appear to be natural.
F   The High Court was, therefore, justified in not placing any reliance upon the
    evidence of this witness. [310-C)

           6. Though it is a fact that JR died as a result of strangulation and that
    too in the house of the respondents and that does create a strong suspicion
    that her death was caused by someone residing in the house and in all
G   probability by R-1 as he had some motive to do so, it is not possible to convict
    him as the evidence led by the prosecution on the basis of which it can be said
    that the explanation given by him in his examination under Section 313, Cr.
    P.C., is not probable. The evidence led by the prosecution against R-2 and R-
    3 is also not sufficient to warrant their conviction under Section 201 IPC.
H                                                                            [310-D)
           STA TE OF PUNJAB v. HARi KI SHAN [NANA VA TI, J.]                 303

      CRIMINAL APPELLATE JURISDICTION : Criminal Appeal No. 480                     A
of 1987.

     From the Judgment and Order dated 25.1.85 of the Punjab & Haryana
High Court in Crl. A. No. 360 of 1984.

      A.S. Sohal and R.S. Sodhi for the Appellant.                                  B
     U.R. Lalit, Dipak Bhattacharya, K.K. Lahiri Rathin Das for the
Respondents ..

      The Judgment of the Court was delivered by
                                                                                    c
      NANA VA Tl, J. The State has filed this appeal against the acquittal of
the three respondents who were convicted by the Sessions Court but acquitted
by the High Court. The Respondent No. 1, HarlKishan was convicted under
Sections 302 and 201 IPC and his two brothers, Baldev Kumar and Jagdev
Kumar (Respondent Nos. 2 and 3 respectively) were convicted under Section
201 IPC.                                                                            D

       The prosecution case was that Jai Rani (since deceased) had married R-
   of village Jagatpur on 18th August, 1983. Soon after the marriage, the
respondents started pressing her either to get Rs. 20,000 from her parents or
to secure an employment for R-1. When Jai Rani returned to her parents'             E
house after about 25 days from the date of her marriage, she told her brother
Ram Lubhaya (PW-5) about the said demand. Ram Lubhaya told her that it
was not possible for them to pay Rs. 20,000 but they would help R-1 in
securing employment. After staying at the parents' house for a few days, Jai
Rani returned to her in-laws' house. On 3rd December, 1983, Ajit Singh (PW-
3) who had brought about this marriage, went to village Jagatpur to meet his        F
sister and bother-in-law, Bhajan Singh. Jai Rani went to the house of Bhajan
Singh at about 2.00 p.m. and told Ajit Singh about the demand of Rs. 20,000
by R-1 and his brothers and the ill-treatment given to her for not bringing that
amount. He advised her to return to her house and consoled her by saying
that he would after some time meet her in-laws. In the evening at about 7 or        G
8 p.m., Ajit Singh along with his brother-in-Jaw, Bhajan Singh went to the
house of the Respondents. They saw that R-1, R-2 !ind R-3 were pulling her
towards one of the residential rooms of their house. On seeing Ajit Singh anj:I
Bhajan Singh there, they became nervous and left her free. Ajit Singh requested
the respon'dents not to ill-treat her and then he returned to his in-laws' house.
On the next day, Ajit Singh.went back to his village in the morning. In the         H
     304                    SUPREME COURT REPORTS (1997] SUPP. 4 S.C.R.

·A morning of 4th December, 1983, at about 11 a.m. one Pokhar Ram (PW-4), a
   dealer in cattle, visited the house of the respondents along with one Santokh
   Singh as Santokh Singh was desirous of purchasing a young bullock and the
   father of the respondents had told Pokhar Ram earlier that he wanted to sell
   one. At that time, they saw the three respondents demolishing the roof of the
   'kotha' of their house. The respondents' father told him that they were busy
B replacing the roof and, iherefore, it was r.ot possible for him to finalise the
   sale on that day. Some time thereafter and before 12 noon, Ram Lubhaya (PW-
   5) along with his sister Asha Rani went to the house of the respondents to
   meet her sister. When they reached there, they found her lying on a cot inside
   one of the rooms. R-1 was seen lying on a cot in the adjoining room. When
C Ram Lubhaya tried to talk to him, he did not respond. R-2 and R-3 told him
   that Jai Rani had died due to collapsing of the roof of the 'kotha'. So he
   returned to his village and informed his father Harbans Lal about the death
   of his sister. He then contacted Bhajan Singh (PW-2), Sarpanch of that village,
   and both of them along with one Mohinder Singh went back to village
   Jagatpur on a motor cycle. Bhajan Singh (PW-2) after verifying the d~ath of
D Jai Rani went to the police station at Banga and reported the death of Jai Rani.
   It was recorded in the Daily Diary as the information given by him did not
 . disclose commission of any offence. However, after preparing the· inquest
   report, the dead body of Jai Rani was sent for post mortem examination. The
   post mortem report disclosed that she had died as a result of strangulation.
E Therefore, on 6.12. 1983, a case was registered for the offence punishable
   under Sections 302 and 201 !PC. Ultimately, all the three respondents were put
   up for trial in the court of Sessions Judge, Jalandhar who framed a charge
   against R-1 under Sections 302 and 201 !PC and under Section 20 I against
   R-2 and R-3.

F          In order to prove its case, the prosecution had mainly relied upon the
     evidence of Ajit Singh (PW-3), Pokhar Ram (PW-4), Ram Lubhaya (PW-5),
     Prem Kumar (PW-6) before whom the respondents were alleged to have made
     an oral confession and the medical evidence which ruled out the possibility
     of Jai Rani's death being accidental or suicidal and established that it was
G    homicidal.

            On the basis of the evidence of Dr. Pahwa (PW- I), the trial Court held
     that the death of Jai Rani was due to asphyxia resulting from strangulation,
     that her death was not accidental or suicidal but was homicidal and that she
     died during the night intervening 3-4/1211983. Believing the evidence of
·H   Pokhar Ram (PW-4), it held that on 4.12.1983 at about 11.00 a.m. when he had
            STATE OF PUNJAB v. HAR! KISHAN [NANA VAT!, J.]                   305
  gone to the house of the respondents all the three were present, that they        A
 were demolishing the roof of their 'kotha' and that. they had told this witness
 that they were replacing the roof. The trial Court partly believed the evidence
 of Prem Kumar (PW-6) and the extra-judicial confession made before him by
 R-1. Relying upon the evidence of Pokhar Ram (PW-4) and Sub-Inspector
 Sardul Singh (PW-9), it held that the roof of their · kotha' was really pulled     B
 down and it had not accidentally fallen. The trial Court also took into
 consideration the circumstance that the respondents had at the outset
 attempted. to explain the death of Jai Rani and R-1 becoming unconscious due
 to falling of the roof. A5 the death took place during the night and as all the
 three respondents were occupying separate rooms, the trial Court held that
 it was incumbent upon R-1 to explain the circumstances under which his wife        C
 died during that night. The trial Court also held that the version of R-1 that
 he had left for his field at about 7.00 a.m. and when he had returned at about
  11.00 a.m. he had found his wife lying on a cot inside one of the rooms of
 the house and due to shock he had become unconscious, was false. The trial
 Court considered this false explanation as a missing link in the chain of
 circumstances. Though there was no direct evidence as to who out of the            D
 three respondents had caused the death of Jai Rani, the trial Ceurt held that
 R-1 had caused the death of Jai Rani: It, therefore, convicted R-1 under
 Section 302 !PC and as all of them had tried to fabricate evidence in order to
 save R-1, it held them guilty under Section 201 !PC.
                                                                                    E
          The respondents challenged their conviction by preferring an appeal
  before the High Court. The High Court disbelieved the evidence of Ajit Singh
  and Ram Lubhaya as regards the demand of Rs. 20,000 and ill-treatment given
  to Jai Rani and held that the prosecution has failed to prove the motive. Ram
  Lubhaya's (PW-5) evidence was disbelieved as he had not stated anything
  before the Police regarding the demand of Rs. 20,000 and Jai Rani's visit to      F
  their house. Evidence of Ajit Singh (PW-3) was disbelieved treating his
  conduct as unnatural as he had done nothing except requesting the
  respondents not to misbehave with Jai Rani when he had seen them pulling
  her on 3.12.1983 and after his return to the village on 4th he had not informed
· the relatives of Jai Rani about it. The High Court disbelieved the evidence of    G
  Prem Kumar and the confession made to him in view of the material improvement
  made by him, by-trying to make all the three respondents responsible for the
  murder of Jai Rani. In his evidence before the Court this witness had stated
  that "Hari Kishan, Baldev Kumar and Jagdev Kumar accused asked me that
  t):iey had killed Mst. Jai Rani and I should bring about a compromise between
  them and Harbans Lal father of the deceased". Whereas before the Police he        H
    306.                     SUPREME COURT REPORTS [1997] SUPP. 4 S.C.R.

A   had stated that "Hari Kishan told me having apprised his brothers at their
    tube-well regarding the murder of Jai Rani". Another reason given by the
    High Court is that even though he claims to have cordial relations with the
    respondents, he had not come to know of the death of Jai Rani till 16th and
    had not made any attempt to bring about a settlement. He went on his own
    to the police on 18th and gave a statement. The High Court held that even
B   though the death of Jai Rani had taken place in the house of the respondents
    and that it was by strangulation and as such it raised a strong suspicion yet
    in absence of any direct evidence, R-1 cannot be held guilty for the offence
    of murder. In support of its conclusion, the High Court relied upon the
    evidence of Ram Lubhaya that only R-2 and R-3 were pressurising Jai Rani
C   to bring money or get a job for her husband and that no complaint was ever
    made by Jai Rani against her husband. The High Court also relied upon the
    circumstance that R-1 had become unconscious and was required to be
    admitted in a hospital at 1.30 p.m. According to the High Court, if R-1 had
    the courage to strangulate his wife, then so soon after her death he would
    not have become unconscious. The High Court also took into consideration
D   the absence of any effort by the respondents to cremate the dead body in
    a hurry or to conceal it from the gaze of others. Taking this view of the
    evidence, the High Court allowed the appeal, set aside the conviction and
    acquitted them.

E          It was contended by the learned counsel for the State that the High
    Court has neither appreciated the evidence of witness Ram Lubhaya correctly
    nor given good reasons for discarding the evidence of Ajit Singh. He submitted
    that their evidence clearly established motive on ~he part of Respondent- I to
    cause the death of his wife. He further contended that the High Court has
    rejected the evidence of Pokhar Ram (PW-4) for no good reasons. It clearly
F   established that all the three respondents were present in the house at about
    11.00 a.m. on 4th and at that time they were in the process of pulling down
    the roof of their · kotha' room. He also submitted that the High Court not
    having disagreed with the finding of the trial Court that the death of Jai Rani
    had taken place during the night intervening 3rd and 4th, ought to have held
G   that the explanation given by R-1 that his wife was alive when he left for the
    field in the morning at about 7.00 a.m. was false. He also submitted that as
    witness Prem Kumar had cordial relations with the families of the deceased
    and the respondents, he was really an independent witness and had no
    reason to falsely involve the respondents by stating that they had confessed
    before him that they had caused the death of Jai Rani. He lastly submitted
H   that the High Court committed a grave error of law in holding that in absence
           STATE OF PUNJAB v. HARi KISHAN [NANA VA Tl, J.]                 307

of any direct evidence R-1 cannot be held guilty for the offence of murder.        A
With respect to R-2 and R-3, the learned counsel submitted that in view of
the evidence of witness Prem Kumar, their explanation ought to have been
held as false and their conviction under Section 201, should have been
con finned.

       Though we find some substance in the contention thafthe High Court          B
has not correctly appreciated the evidence of witness Ram Lubhaya and that
the reasons given for rejecting his evidence and the evidence of Ajit Singh
are not proper, we do not think it necessary to point out how the High Court
has gone wrong in that behalf, as we are inclined to agree with the submission
made by Mr. Lalit, the learned counsel for the respondents, that even if the       C
evidence regarding motive is believed, the prosecution, in this case has failed
to establish that R-1 was present in the house when the death of Jai Rani took
place. Mr. Lalit submitted that the trial Court erroneously proceeded on the
basis that the death of Jai Rani had taken place during the night between 3rd
and 4th and even though the High Court has not specifically disagreed with
the said finding, it becomes apparent from the judgment of the High Court          D
that it did not agree with the same. This being the most important aspect of
the case, we have carefully scrutinised the evidence of the doctor who
conducted the autopsy on the dead body and also considered the reasons
given by the trial Court in support of its finding. Dr. Pahwa (PW-I) had started
examination of the dead body on the 4.12.1997 at 9.30 a.m. He has stated that      E
the death of Jai Rani had taken place 12 to 36 hours before he had started
the autopsy. This opinion was given by him after taking into consideration
the extent of rigor mortis on the dead body and the contents of stomach and
small and large intestines. Thus according to the evidence of this doctor, the
death of Jai Rani had taken place any time between 9.30 p.m. on 3rd and 9.30
p.m. on 4th. The other evidence on record discloses that she had died before       F
11.00 a.m. on 4th. The trial Court, however, relying upon some passages from
Dr. Modi's book on Medical Jurisprudence, to which attention of Dr. Pahwa
was not drawn, and what was found in the stomach and intestines of the
deceased as a result of the post mortem examination, had drawn an inference
that death of Jai Rani had taken place 6 to 7 hours after she had taken food       G
and thus in all probability, she had died during that night and most probably
in the early hours of the morning. Mr. Lal it submitted that the High Court has
rightly not agreed with that finding as it was not proper to jump to the
conclusion from the presence of some fluid in the stomach and some particles
of food in the intestines that the death had taken place in the early morning
hours of 4th. The contention raised by Mr. Lalit deserves to be accepted as        H
    308                     SUPREME COURT REPORTS (1997] SUPP. 4 S.C.R.

A   Dr. Pahwa who had performed the autopsy, had not ruled out the possibility
    of the death having taken place in the morning of 4th after 7.00 a.m. Therefore,
    it cannot be said that the explanation of R-1 that he had left for the field at
    about 7.00 a.m., his wife was alive then and he found her dead when he
    returned from the field at about 11.00 a.m., is inconsistent with the medical
    evidence. Moreover, the evidence of Ram Lubhaya discloses that when he
B   had gone to the house of respondents on 4th at about 11.30 a.m. or 12 noon,
    he had seen many women sitting nearby the dead body of his sister. It is quite
    natural that on coming to know about the death of Jai Rani the neighbours
    and relatives of the respondents must have gone to his house. However, the
    prosecution did not examine any witness from the locality to establish as to
C   when they came to know about the death of Jai Rani.
           Only other evidence which could have established that R-1 and his
    brothers were present in the house at about 11.00 a.m. and at that time were
    engaged in pulling down the roof of the 'kotha' room and which could have
    falsified the version of the respondents, is that of witness Pokhar Ram.
D   According .to this witness, when he had gone to the house of the respondents
    he had found tne outer door of the house closed. He opened it by pushing
    the flaps of the door and from there he saw that respondents were demolishing
    the roof of the 'kotha' of the house with spades. He did not say that he had
    gone inside the house by crossing the front room and then the open space
    and from there he had seen the respondents trying to pull down the roof.
E   From the sketch of the house which has been exhibited in this case,"it clearly
    appears that he could not hav~ seen the 'kotha' room either while standing
    near the entrance door or even after entering the front room. Therefore, apart
    from the reasons given by the High Court, his evidence becomes doubtful for
    the reason stated by us. Moreover, if Jai Rani was already dead by that time
F   and the respondents were trying to create evidence that her death was
    because of injuries received as a result of accidental falling of the roof then
    they would not have kept the front door unchained so that any one could
    open it and come inside and see what was going on there. It, therefore, cannot
    be said that the High Court has committed any error in discarding his evidence.

G         No other evidence was led by the prosecution to prove the presence
    of R-1 in the house at the time of death of Jai Rani. The medical evidence
    being inconclusive and the evidence of witness Pokhar Ram having been
    rightly rejected, the High Court was right in holding that the prosecution has
    failed to established that it was R-1 who had caused the death of Jai Rani.
    His version was that he had left for the field at 7.00 a.m. and when he had
H   returned .therefrom at about 11.00 a.m. he had found his wife lying on a cot
            STATE OF PUNJAB v. HARi KISHAN [NANAVATI, J.)                    309
  and some women were sitting and weeping near that cot and due to the shock         A
  he had become unconscious. His version that he had become unconscious
  received support from the evidence of witness Ram Lubhaya and the two
  doctors, viz., Dr. Hazari Lal (CW-I) and Dr. Laxmi Narayan (CW-2) who were
  examined as Court witnesses. Ram Lubhaya has stated in his evidence that
  when he went to his sister's house at about 11.30 a.m. he found the dead body      B
  of his sister placed on a cot in one of the rooms and in the adjoining room
  his brother in law R-1 was seen lying on a cot. When he had gone near him
  and attempted to talk with him he had not responded. Dr. Hazari Lal (CW-I)
  who is a private Medical Practitioner at Mukandpur, which is at a distance
  of about 3 to 4 kms. from village Jagatpur, has deposed that on 4.12.1983 he
  was approached by Baldev Kumar (R-2) who requested him to go to village            C
  Jagatpur to treat his brother Hari Kishan (R-1 ). When he went to the house
  of the respondents he found flari Kishan lying unconscious. He gave him
  medicines but considering his condition he advised them to remove him to
  Primary Health Centre at Mukandpur. According to the evidence of Dr. Laxmi
. Narayan (CW-2), Hari Kishan was brought to Primary Health Centre at about
  1.30 p.m. and at that time he had found him unconscious. His condition             D
  improved on 7.12.1983 and he was discharged on 10.12.1983. Both the doctors
  have thus categorically stated in their evidence that they had found R-1
  unconscious. No questions were put to these doctors by the prosecution as
  to whether he was really unconscious or not and how he had become
  unconscious. From the evidence of these doctors, it further appears that there     E
  was not injury on his person. Thus he had not become unconscious as a
  resuit of any injl'ry received by him while pulling down the roof as was tried
  to be made out by the prosecution. This circumstance thus makes the version
  ofR-1 more probable. .

      It was, however, contended by the learned counsel for the State that if        F
what the respondents have stated in their statements under Section 313, Cr.
P.C. was correct, why did they attempt to mislead Ram Lubhaya and the police
by stating that Jai Rani had died as a result of injuries caused to her by falling
of the roof. In .his cross-examination, Ram Lubhaya has admitted that it was
not R-1 but R-2 and R-3 who had stated so. R-2 and R-3 in their statements           G
under Section 313, Cr. P.C. had stated that they knew nothing about how Jai
Rani had died and that they returned from the field at about 12.00 noon. Even
if we proceed on the basis that R-2 and R-3 had given a false explanation for
the death of Jai Rani, that by itself cannot lead to an inference that R-1 had
caused the death and that they had tried to fabricate the evidence to save
him.                                                                                 H
    310                          SUPREME COURT REPORTS (1997] SUPP. 4 S.C.R.

A         It was lastly submitted by the learned counsel for the State that the
    confession made by the accused before witness Prem Kumar, deserved to be
    accepted. and that alone was sufficient to prove the guilt of the respondents.
    The High Court has given good reasons for not placing reliance on the
    evidence of Prem Kumar. This witness cannot be regarded as a reliable and
B   independent witness in view of the material improvement made by him while
    deposing before the Court. His version also does not appear to be natural.
    The High Court was, therefore, justified in not placing any reliance upon the
    evidence of this witness.

               Though it is a fact that Jai Rani died as a result of strangulation and
C that too in the house of the respondents and that does create. a strong
    suspicion that her death was caused by someone residing in the house and
    in all probability by ~-I as he had some motive to do so, it is not possible
    to convict him as the evidence led by the prosecution is not conclusive and
    no evidence was led by the prosecution on the basis of which it can be said
    that the explanation given by him in his examination under Section 313, Cr.
D   P.C., is not probable. The evidence led by the prosecution against R-2 and
    R-3 is also not sufficient to warrant their conviction under Section 20 I !PC.

          This appeal is, therefore, dismissed. Bail bonds of the respondents are
    ordered to be cancelled.

E   R.K.. S.                                                       Appeal dismissed.