Holding

The Court held that the evidence conclusively proved murder, not suicide, and that Virbhan Singh and Gyani Devi were guilty of murder under Section 302 IPC read with Section 34.

Summary

The deceased wife was alleged to have been repeatedly harassed by her husband Virbhan Singh and his parents for being childless, leading them to murder her. The prosecution proved that she was assaulted, suffered multiple ante‑mortem injuries, and was subsequently hung to simulate suicide. Medical and post‑mortem evidence showed that the injuries made self‑hanging impossible, and the accused were present in the house at the relevant time. The trial court and the High Court convicted Virbhan Singh and his mother Gyani Devi under Section 302 IPC read with Section 34, while acquitting the father Sileti Singh. The Supreme Court affirmed that the circumstantial and forensic evidence was sufficient to establish murder and rejected the suicide theory, dismissing the appeal and confirming the conviction and life sentences.

Issues considered

Whether the circumstantial and medical evidence is sufficient to prove murder beyond reasonable doubt.
Whether the death was a suicide or a homicide staged as suicide.
Whether the accused acted with common intention under Section 34 of the IPC.

Legislation cited

Indian Penal Code, 1860s. 302, s. 34

Subjects

murdercircumstantial evidencesuicidehomicideSection 302 IPCSection 34 IPCpost‑mortemcommon intentionbride killing

Judgment

VIRBHAN SINGH AND ANR.
A . '
v.
./
STATE OF U.P.

August 12, 1983
B
[E.S. VENKATARAMIAH AND V. BALAKRISHNA ERADI, JJ.]

Evidence-Circun1stantial evidence-Several circumstances supported by
medi"cal evidenc.J lead to the only conclusion that the deceased was murdered in a
most brutal and heinpus fashion and then hung by rope by the accused so as to
C give an appearance of a case of suicide-Conviction and sentence for the offence
of murder shauld be confirmed.

For the offence of inurde; of Smt. Gyani, her husband Virbhan Singh his
mother Smt. Gyani Devi (both appellants before the Supreme Court) alongwith
his father Sileti Singh were arraigned before the Sessions Judge, Etawah, u/s.
· 302 read with Section 34 Indian Penal Code. According to the prosecution the
D motive was the selfish ani1nal nature in the husband and his parents which has·
come out in the form of their determination that the husband. should remarry
after doing away with the obstacle in the shape of his existing wife on the sole
ground that she was inauspicious due to the fact that she did not bear children
for four or five years after the marriage and that even though thereafter she
cone eived.twice and successfully'.gave birth to two n1ale babies, both those
E babies did not survive beyond a few weeks or days. The further ev~dence .of
the prosecution were that the accused assaulted the deceased and then hung
her with a rope to give the imp~ession of suicide, did not inform anyone and
kept the body in the room, that an attempt made by Sileti Singh to remove the
body in a Jorry failed, that when P.W.l, the sister of the deceased went along-
with P.W.4 her brothef-in-law to see the deceased on the 14th of August, 1968,
the husband and the mother told a lie that the deceased ·had gone out to get
F medicine, that again on the 15th August, 1968 after P.W,l's repeated insistence.
the dead body was shown to her in a decomposed condition, t~at Sileti Singh
only thereafter lodged a report at the police station Jawaharnagar to t_he effect
that thedeceased committed Suicide which version was accepted by the Police
and the Panchas; that on the insistance of P.W.1, the dead body was sent for
postmortem, that the postmortem revealed (a) five ante-mortem injuries includ-
ing the brCakage of the right side hyoid bOne under the ligature niark, (b) death
G should have taken place between 5.30 P.M. on August 13th. 1963 and 5,30 A.M.
on August 14th, 1968, (c) death was· due to shock and haemorrhage a5 a
resnlt of injury to liver aud ston1ach as well as asphyxia due to hanging and (d)
in view of the antemortem injuries found, there was littl~ possibility of the
deceased hanging herself.
H
The Sess"ions Judge'found, on a careful and analytical consideration of
the evidence, all the accused guilty, convicted them under Section 302 I.P.C. and
sentenced the tl~ree of thCm to: Jife impri&onment. In the appeal filed the
Vli>.iiitAN SINGH I>. tl.P. 601
High Court confirmed the conviction and sentence of the present appellants
and acquitted· Sileti Singh; the father. There was no appeal by the State against A
the acquittal.

Dismissing the appel, the Court

HELD : 1 : 1. The conviction and senctence of the appellant$ are
perfectly correct and sound, as they are guilt of the murder of the deceased in n
a brutal and heinous fashion.

l : 2. The-case no doubt turns purely on circllmstantial evidence. But
the circumstances are so telling that the on!y conclusion reasonably possible is
the one arrived at by the courts below that the deceased. did not commit
suicide by hanging hereself hilt was done to death by being brutally assaulted
and thereafter hung by the neck with a rope. The medical evidence clearly goes c
tO prove that it would hot have heen possible for the deceased·, 'who. had sus-
tained severe injuries of the _type and nature decribed in the post-mortem report
in the stomach and liver, to hang herself. The husband, Virbhan Singh and
his mother, Smt.Gya~i Devi, were throughout present in the house and nq
outsider had come to the house at ihe relevant time. According to the opinion
of the doctor, the latest point of time at which the death of the deceased could
D
have taken place was 5,30 a.m. on-14.3.1968 but even on the evening of that
day when P.W.l, Shrimati Ram Kumari, sister of the deceased Went to their
house and enquired for the deceased, she was Jold by _Virbhan_ Singh and his
•.""" J mother that the deceased had gorie out with the father-in-law for getting some
medicip.e. On the next da)' (15th August, 1968) rumours spread in the village
that the deceased had been done to death and it was only when P.W. 1
accompanied by her brother-in-law, P.W. 4 went to the house of the accused E
and insisted on being shown the body that she was finally allowed to see the
dead body of her sister which, by then, was already in a state of decomposition.
Significantly, it is only subsequent thereto that Sileti Singh went to the police
Station and lodged the report stating that the deceased had committed suicide
by hanging. The conduct of the appeUants is consistent only with their active
involvement in the commission of the crime. It has come out in the evidence
that on the evening of the 14th August 1968 at ·about 7.30 or 8.00 p·.m. Si!eti F
Singh had made attempts to remove clandestinely the dead body froffi the
locality for which purpose he had met Brahma Nand (P.W. 3), a trlick owner,
and unsuccessfully tried to hire his true~ to transport the dead bOdy.
{605 G·H, 606 A·EJ

Observations (i) If society should be ridden of this growing evil, it is G
imperative that whenever dastardly crimes of this nature are detected and the
offence brought home to the accused, the courts must deal with the offender
most ruthlessly and impose deterrent punishment. [602 ·E]

(i.i) Most strangely, in spite of the body being in a fairly advanced· state H
of decomposition, thereby clearly indicating that the death had taken place a
long time prior to .the report given by Sileti Singh, which should have norm<illy
uoused serious suspicion in the mind of any reasonable person about thC
602 suP!lilMB eoilRt REPoR'i's (i9ti3i 3s.c.d.
version of suicide given by him, the Sub-Inspector and the panchas were
A inclined to record the cause of death as suicide by hanging and oelose the case
without any further investigation. (603 H-604 A] ·

(iii) Though the reasons stated by the High Court in acquitting Sileti
Singh by giving the benefit of doubt are not sound arid convincing since the
State has not preferred an appeal, his acquittal will stand. (606 F-G]
B
CRIMINAL APPELLATE JURISDICTION : Criminal Appeal No. 154
of 1974.

From the Judgment and Order dated the 25th September, 1973
of the Allahabad High Court in Criminal Appeal No. 1809 of 1969.
c
R. K; Garg, V. J. Francis and Nikhil Chandra for the appellants.

Dalveer Bhandari, H. M. Singh and Ranbir Singh Yadav for the
respondent.

D The following Judgment of the Court was delivered by :

BALAKRISHNA ERADI J. It is an unfortunate and disturbing
phenomenon that has recently arisen in many parts of our country
that instances of bride killing are. alarmingly on the increase. If
E society should be ridden of tWs growing evil, it is imperative that
whenever dastardly.crimes of this nature are detected and the offence
brought home to the accused, the courts must deal with the offender
most ruthlessly and impose deterrent punishment. The case before
us is one of its kind. While, in the vast majority of such cases, the
harassment and killing of the bride is traceable to the abominable
F and peruicious practice of demanding and extracting dowry, and the
failure on the part of the brid~'s parents to adequately satMy the
greedy demands of the husband's people, the reason for the torture
and murder of the innocent wife in the present case was that she was
considered an "inauspicious" girl. That was for the reason that she
did not bear children for four or five years after the marriage and
G
even though thereafter, she conceived twice and successively gave
birth to two ni'ale babies, both those babies did not survive beyond
a few weeks or days: Having branded the young wife as inauspicious,
the selfish animal nature in the husband and his parents came out in
the form of their determination that the husband should remarry
H
after doing away with the obstacle in the shape of hjs existing wife.
That Jed the husband and his mother to commit the dastardly murder
of the young wife in a most gruesome fashion.
VIRBHAN SINGH v. U.P. (Ba/akrishna Eradi, J.) 603

Sil et i Singh, bis wife, Smt. Gyani Devi, and bis son, Virbban
Singh, were arraigned before the Sessions Judge, Etawab, charged A
. with the murder of Smt. Gyani, the wife of Virbban Singh, in furtber-
~nce of the common intention of all of them, by intentionally causing
death by beating the deceased and then banging her with a rope.
The deceased was married to Virbban Singh about 9 years prior to
the time of the occurrence. She did not give birth to any child for
about five to six years after marriage. According to the prosecution
8
case, the husband of the deceased and bis parents used to harass her
and beat her on this account and they used to say that they would get
the second marriage performed for Virbban Singh. In or about the
seventh year after the marriage, ·the deceased gave birth· to a male

--1
child but that child survived only for about 9 or 10 months. There- c
after, the ill-treatment of the deceased at the bands of the husband
and bis parents is said to have commenced again. A few months
prior to the occurrence, the deceased gave birth to another male
_child but that baby too died within 6 or 1 days of its birth This
precipitated matters and the deceased is said to have been branded
as an "inauspicioUJ" woman, who could no longer be retained in the D
family. According to the prosecution, she used to make complaints
of severe harassment by the accused to her sister, Sbrimati Ram
Kumari (P.W.1), who too was married to a person in t~e same
village-Nangla Incba. On 14th August 1968 at about 5.00 p.m.,
Shrimati Ram Kuniari had gone to the house of the deceased with E
an intent to meet her buf she was told by the husband, Virbban
Singh and his mother that the deceased had gone with the father-in
law to obtain some medicine. The next morning, P.W 1 heard a
general rumour in the village that her sister had been killed. There-
upon, she called her husband's younger brother, Krishna Gopal
(P. W.4) and again went to the house of the accused along with him. F
She found Virbban Singb and his - mother, Smt. Gyani Devi, in the
house and she asked them to_ show her the dead body of the deceased.
At first they refused but on a hue and cry being raised by her, they
showed her the dead body lying in a roon in a swollen condition
emitting a foul smell. On 15th August 1968, at about 9.30 a.m'. G
Sileti Singh lodged a report at the Poliee Station Jaswantnagar to the
effect that the deceased had committed suicide by hanging herself with
a rope. Sub-Inspector Netrapal Singh (P.W.11) went to the place of
occurrence and held an inquest on the dead body with the assistance
of panchas. ~ost strangely, in spite of the body )leing in a fairly H
advanced state of decomposition, thereby clearly indicating that the
qeath bad taken pla_ce a Ion'? time prior to the report given bf Sil~tj
604 SUPREME COURT REPORTS (1983) 3 S.C.R.

Singh, which should have normally aroused serious suspicion in the
mind o(any reasonable person about the version of suicide given by
him, the Sub-Inspector and the panchas were inclined to record the
cause of death as suicide by hanging and close the case without any
further investigation. However, Ram Kmilari (P.W.1) and her
brother-in-law, Krishna Gopal (P.W.4), strongly protested an<!
B demanded that the body should be sent for post-mortem and due to
their persistence, the request was acceded. to. The post-mortem
· examination was conducted by Dr. Lakhotia on 15-8-1968 at 5.30
pm. In the opinion of the.doctor, the death had taken place between
one and a half to two days prior to the time of his exqmination, i.e.
between '5.30 p.m. on 13-8-1968 and 5.30 a.m. on 14-8-1968. The
c post-motem report disclosed that there were the following ante mortem
.injuries on the person of the deceased.

I. Ligature mark 8' x l' on the neck in the upper part
between larynx and chin, in front and on sides just
D below the chin. On dissection the margins were found
congested. It was directed upwards obliquely
following the lower jaw and was · almost behind. . Its
base was pale, hard and leathery.
'
E 2. Abrasion tt"xi" on the neck lower part left side.

3. Contusion covering whole of the upper eye lid of left
eye. Conjunctive was con.gested. ·

4. Contusion covering the whole of upper eye lid of
F right eye. Conjunctive was congested.

5. Contusion 4' x 4' on the chest left side upper part
below the claVicle.

.G Under the ligature mark greater curve of hyoid bone
was broken on the right side. There was congestion
around the big vessels of the neck.

H The lower ribs of the deceased from 8th to I 0th on the left side were
found broken.· The abdomen was distended and discoloration .was
.present in the flanks. Peritoneum was deeply congested. The
~l;>dominal cavity was f1,1U of blood weighing about It lbs. There
VIRBHAN SINGH v. U.P. (Balakrishna Eradi, J.) 605

was a big tear 6' long in the stomach. The abdominal walls were
congested. There was a lacerated wound 3" x·i" on the front of left A
lobe of the liver. Both kidneys were congested and decomposing.
Both sides of her heart were empty. Larynx was congested deeply.
Both lungs were deeply congested and deeply decomposing. The
large vessels were co~gested in the neck on both sides. In the opinion
of the doctor, the· death was due to shock and haemorrhage as a B
result ·of injury to liver and stomach as well as asphyxia due to hang-
ing. The doctor, on being examined as a witness, stated categorically
that in view of the injuries mentioned in poSt'mortem report, there
was little possibility of the deceased hanging herself.

c
°The sessions Judge found, on a careful and analytical considera-
tion of the evidence, that the death of the deceased was caused as a
result of the injuries inflicted on her by the accused, followed by
asphyxiation resulting from the deceased having been hung by her
neck by the accused. He found all the acQused -guility of the offence
of murder, convicted them u/s 302 I.P.C. and sentenced the three _of D
them to undergo imprisonment for life. in the appeal filed by the
three accused, the Hjgh Court confirmed the finding that the case was
{ · not one o(suicide but one of calculated murder, the hanging by rope
being part of the process of the deceased being put to death by her
assailants. The High Court, however, took the view that the presence
E
of Sileti Singh at the time of the commission of offence was not
established beyond doubt and hence it acquitted him giving him the
benefit of doubt. The .conviction of Virbhan Singh and his mother,
Smt. Gyani Devi, u/s 302 I.P.C. was confirmed by the High Court.
This appeal has been preferred by , the afore-mentioned· two
accused. F

'We find no merit at all in the appeal. Since we are in complete
agreement with the findings entered by the Sessions Judge and the
High Court regarding the cause of the death of the deceased and the
manner in which she was done to death, it is .unnecessary for us to G
burden this judgment with a repetition of the details of the evidence.
The case no doubt turns purely on circumstantial evidence. But the
circumstances are so telling that the only conclusion reasonabiy
possible is the one arrived at by the courts below that the deceased
_) ·H
did not commit suicide by hanging herself but was done to death by
l)ein¥ brutually assaulted an~ . thereafter hun9 hr the neclc wjth
606 SUPREME COURT REPORTS (1983} 3 s.c.R.

a rope. The medical evidence clearly goes to prove that it would
A not have been possible for the deceased, who had sustained severe
injuries of the type and ·nature described in the post-mortem report
in the stomach and liver, to hang herself. The husband, Virbhan ....
Singh and his mother, Smt. Gyani Devi, were throughout present in
the house and no outsider had come to the house at the relevant time.
B According to the opinion of the doctor, the latest point of time at
which the death of the deceased could have taken place was 5.30 a.m.
· on 14-8-1968 but even on the evenirig· of that day when P.W.1,
Shrimati Ram Kumari, sister of the deceased went to their house
and enquired for ttie deceased, she was told by Virbhan Singh and
his mother that the deceased had gone out with the father-in-Jaw for
c getting some medicine. On the next day {15th August 1968) rumours
spread in the village that the deceased had been done to death and it
was only when P.W.I accompanied by her brother-in-law, P.W 4
went to the house of the accused and insisted on being shown the
body that she was finally allowed to see the dead body of her sister
which, by then, was already in a state of decomposition. Significantly,
it is only subsequent thereto that Sileti Singh went to the Police
Station and lodged the report stating that the deceased had commit·
ted suicide by hanging. The conduct of the appellants is consistent
only with their active involvement in 'the commission of the crime.
It has come out in the evidence that on the evening of the 14th
E August 1968 at about 7.30 or 8.00 p. m. Sileti Singh had made attempts
to remove clandestinely the dead . body from the locality for which
purpose he had met Brahma Nand (P.W.3), a truck owner, and
unsuccessfully tried to hire his truek to transport the dead body.
On a scrutiny of the evidence, we are fully satisfied that the
F conclusion recorded by the learned Sessions Judge and by the High
Court, that the appellants are guilty of the. murder of the deceased in
a most brutai and heinous fashion, is perfectly .correct and sound.
We may observe that the reasons stated by the High Court in acquitt-
ing Sileti Singh, by giving him the benefit of doubt, have not appealed
G to us as sound and Convincing but since the State has not preferred an
· appeal, his acqittal will stand.

In the result, the conviction and sentence are confirmed in
respect of Virbhan Singh and Smt. Gyani Devi and this appeal is
dismissed. The appellants will forthwith surrender to their bail
H bonds and will be taken into the custody to serve out their sentence. .(

S.R. Appeal dismissed.