Full Judgment Text
Crl.A. No. 711 of 2008
1
IN THE SUPREME COURT OF INDIA
CRIMINAL APPELLATE JURISDICTION
CRIMINAL APPEAL NO. 711 of 2008
MD. MASOOD ALAM @ MD. MASOOD ..... APPELLANT
VERSUS
STATE OF BIHAR ..... RESPONDENT
O R D E R
1. This is a rather unfortunate case. The first
informant P.W. 10 is the father of the appellant. As
per the prosecution story, P.W. 10 had contracted a
second marriage with the deceased Nazeema Khatoon
sometime before the incident and she was pregnant as on
that date. It appears that the appellant was upset
with the second marriage of his father as he felt that
his property would now be divided into two parts. As
nd
per the prosecution story, on the 2 of March, 1995,
at about 7:45p.m., PW 10 went to the village Mosque
for namaz and while he was offering prayers he received
information that his wife had been killed. He rushed
back home and found that the appellant, his wife and
his mother in law who had been present in the house
Crl.A. No. 711 of 2008
2
when he had gone to the mosque, were missing. He,
accordingly, lodged a report against these three
persons as well as Mohd. Masi and Mohd. Shaukat who had
been encouraging the appellant to sort out his step
mother. The trial court relied on the evidence of P.W.
9 Tarsem who claimed to be an eye witness of the
occurrence and after noticing some of the
contradictions and differences vis-à-vis his evidence
and that of P.W. 10, gave the benefit of doubt to four
of the accused, but convicted the appellant for
offences punishable under Section 302 and 120B of the
IPC. The matter was thereafter taken in appeal by the
accused. The High Court has given a finding that the
presence of P.W. 9 had to be ruled out as he lived in a
village some distance away, but relying on the
circumstances of the case has arrived at the conclusion
that it was the appellant who had been involved in the
murder. The matter is before us after the grant of
special leave.
2. The learned Amicus Curiae has argued that in the
light of the fact that the High Court itself had given
a positive finding that PW 9 was a witness who could
not be relied upon there was no other evidence against
the appellant and he was entitled to be treated in the
same manner as the other accused who had been acquitted
Crl.A. No. 711 of 2008
3
by the trial court. He has further submitted that
there was no motive for the murder as there was no
evidence to show that the property would be divided
between appellant and the child who was yet to be born
to his father and step mother. Mr. Rudreshwar Singh
appearing for the State of Bihar has, however, pointed
out that the High Court had itself identified five
circumstances which went against the appellant
notwithstanding the fact that the presence of P.W. 9
had been ruled out. We reproduce paragraph 12 of the
judgment of the High Court in which this matter has
been dealt with:-
“From the aforesaid discussions
it is clear that the factum of unnatural
death of the deceased as well as the
place of occurrence have been proved
beyond all reasonable doubts. The case
against the appellant rests only upon
five main circumstances proved by the
prosecution particularly through the
informant (PW 10) who is none else but
father of the appellant and found to be
fully reliable. The circumstances are
following - (I) The deceased was last
seen in the court yard of informant's
house along with the appellant, his wife
and mother-in-law; (ii) information of
the occurrence taking place in the
courtyard of the house was not given to
the informant by the appellant, his son
or by wife or mother-in-law of
the appellant; (iii) as soon as the
informant got information of the
occurrence he rushed to his house but
found that appellant, his wife and his
mother-in-law were not present and had
left the house; (iv) the dead body was
found in the court-yard of the house of
Crl.A. No. 711 of 2008
4
the informant where appellant also lived
and (v) there was annoyance and anger on
the part of the appellant ever since the
informant had contracted second marriage
with the deceased more so because she
was in the family way which seemingly
posed a threat to his property
interests.”
3. A bare reading of the aforesaid extract would
reveal that the circumstance culled out are germane to
the matter and do reflect that the appellant was guilty
of the offence. It cannot be forgotten that PW 10 was
none other than the father of the appellant. We are,
therefore, of the opinion that no case for interference
is made out. The appeal is dismissed.
`
4. Fee of the learned Amicus is fixed at 7,000/-
.........................J
[HARJIT SINGH BEDI]
........................J
[CHANDRAMAULI KR. PRASAD]
NEW DELHI
APRIL 19, 2011.