The Apex Court on 28.01.2019, in Satya Raj Singh v State of Madhya, dismissed the appeal that had been made against the High Court of Madhya Pradesh’s final judgment and order where the Division Bench of the High Court had dismissed the appeal while upholding Additional Sessions Judge’s judgment , wherein the appellant was held guilty of offences under Section 302/34 of the IPC, 1860 while being sentenced of undergoing life imprisonment as well as fine of Rs.1000/followed by rigorous imprisonment for a period of months in case of default in fine.
FACTS:
The three accused persons had been prosecuted for the commission of murder of a person under Section 302/34 IPC. The Appellant was held guilty for the commission of the offences under Section 302/34 IPC by the Additional Sessions Judge while being sentenced imprisonment for life while the other two were acquitted. Being grieved, an appeal had been by the Appellant before the High Court of Madhya Pradesh at Jabalpur. However, no appeal had been made against the Additional Sessions Judge’s order wherein the other two accused were acquitted, making the acquittal order final. Subsequently, the appeal had to face dismissal at the hands of the High Court, resulting in an appeal by special leave was made in the Apex Court.
DECISION HELD BY THE APEX COURT:
The Apex Court while dismissing the appeal upheld the the High Court‘s order of conviction against the appellant as the evidence cited by prosecution was beyond any reasonable doubt, further quashing the contention raised by the appellant regarding the delay while filing the FIR by opining that it was impossible to form the part of the complainant to visit the Police Station that very far away from the site of occurrence immediately in that night for lodging of the report/FIR.
Judgment:
[embeddoc url=”https://www.sci.gov.in/supremecourt/2012/25895/25895_2012_Judgement_28-Jan-2019.pdf” download=”all”]