{"id":187712,"date":"2005-01-18T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2005-01-17T18:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.legalindia.com\/judgments\/state-of-karnataka-vs-k-gopalakrishna-on-18-january-2005"},"modified":"2018-05-26T08:00:09","modified_gmt":"2018-05-26T02:30:09","slug":"state-of-karnataka-vs-k-gopalakrishna-on-18-january-2005","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.legalindia.com\/judgments\/state-of-karnataka-vs-k-gopalakrishna-on-18-january-2005","title":{"rendered":"State Of Karnataka vs K. Gopalakrishna on 18 January, 2005"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"docsource_main\">Supreme Court of India<\/div>\n<div class=\"doc_title\">State Of Karnataka vs K. Gopalakrishna on 18 January, 2005<\/div>\n<div class=\"doc_author\">Author: B.P.Singh<\/div>\n<div class=\"doc_bench\">Bench: B.P.Singh, Arun Kumar<\/div>\n<pre>           CASE NO.:\nAppeal (crl.)  1204 of 1999\n\nPETITIONER:\nSTATE OF KARNATAKA\t\t\t \n\nRESPONDENT:\nK. GOPALAKRISHNA\t\t\t\n\nDATE OF JUDGMENT: 18\/01\/2005\n\nBENCH:\nB.P.SINGH &amp; ARUN KUMAR\n\nJUDGMENT:\n<\/pre>\n<p>J U D G M E N T <\/p>\n<p>B.P.SINGH, J.\n<\/p>\n<p>\tThis appeal by special leave has been preferred by the State<br \/>\nof Karnataka against the Judgment and Order of the High Court of<br \/>\nKarnataka at Bangalore dated December 18, 1998 in Criminal<br \/>\nAppeal No.640 of 1996 whereby the appeal preferred by the<br \/>\nrespondent herein was allowed and he was acquitted of all the<br \/>\ncharges levelled against him. The respondent was tried<br \/>\nby the Principal Sessions Judge, Belgaum in Sessions Case No.62<br \/>\nof 1994 charged of offences under Sections 302, 201 and 498A<br \/>\nIPC, and alternatively under Section 304B IPC. The learned<br \/>\nSessions Judge by his Judgment and Order dated 27.6.1996 found<br \/>\nthe respondent guilty of the offence under Section 302 IPC and<br \/>\nsentenced him to undergo imprisonment for life. He also found him<br \/>\nguilty of the offence under Section 201 IPC for which he was<br \/>\nsentenced to undergo rigorous imprisonment for two years and to<br \/>\npay a fine of Rs.1,000\/- and  in default to undergo six months&#8217;<br \/>\nsimple imprisonment. Under Section 498A IPC, the respondent<br \/>\nwas sentenced to undergo two years&#8217; rigorous imprisonment. As<br \/>\nnoticed earlier, the High Court set aside the aforesaid Judgment<br \/>\nand Order of the Sessions Judge.\n<\/p>\n<p>\tAn occurrence is said to have taken place in the morning of<br \/>\n22nd November, 1993. The case of the prosecution is that the<br \/>\nrespondent strangulated to death his wife Veena and thereafter set<br \/>\nher on fire along with her infant child aged a year and a half. The respondent<br \/>\nhimself reported the matter to the local police making it appear that<br \/>\nthe deceased and her child had died in an accidental fire, but the<br \/>\npost mortem disclosed that Veena had died of throttling and not on<br \/>\naccount of burn injuries suffered by her.\n<\/p>\n<p>\tThe facts of the case may be briefly noticed.\n<\/p>\n<p>\tThe deceased Veena was the daughter of Laxmamma (PW1)<br \/>\nand was married to the respondent on June 3, 1991. Laxmamma<br \/>\n(PW1) is a resident of Shimoga while the respondent at the time of<br \/>\nhis marriage was a resident of Gundlupet. A male child was born to<br \/>\nthe couple on March 7, 1992. The case of the prosecution is that<br \/>\nthe respondent out of greed had been pressing his wife (deceased)<br \/>\nto get money from her mother so that he could start a business.<br \/>\nThere is evidence on record to indicate that the respondent then<br \/>\nwas employed in a private firm and was looking for better opportunities<br \/>\nin life. Ultimately with the help of one Mr. Umapathy who was<br \/>\nthen a Special Deputy Commissioner, and who was another son-in-<br \/>\nlaw of PW1, the respondent was able to secure the job of a<br \/>\nLecturer in the Government Pre University College at Nesargi in<br \/>\nthe district of Belgaum. On 26th July, 1993 respondent joined as a<br \/>\nlecturer in the aforesaid college and started living there. On or<br \/>\nabout 25.10.1993 he came to the house of his mother-in-law at<br \/>\nShimoga and took away his wife Veena to Nesargi. It appears that<br \/>\na sister of the deceased namely Vijaya (PW11) was to get married<br \/>\nand the betrothal ceremony was to be held on 25.10.1993 at<br \/>\nBangalore. In that connection most of the family members had<br \/>\ngone to Bangalore but some of them remained at Shimoga to look<br \/>\nafter the house. The case of the prosecution is that despite the<br \/>\nrequest made to the respondent, he refused to attend the marriage<br \/>\nceremony of Vijaya (PW11). Ultimately, the marriage of Vijaya (PW11) took place on<br \/>\n18.11.1993 with PW24 at Bangalore. Four days thereafter, on<br \/>\n22.11.1993 the occurrence took place in which Veena as well as<br \/>\nher child lost their lives. The evidence on record discloses that in<br \/>\nthe morning at about 9.30 A.M. the respondent made an oral report<br \/>\nto the Station House Officer at Nesargi to the effect that his wife<br \/>\nhad been burnt along with her child in an accidental fire. Two<br \/>\nHead Constables of police came to the place of occurrence and<br \/>\npushed the door open. They tried to extinguish the fire. It was then<br \/>\nthat they discovered that Veena and her child were both dead and<br \/>\ntheir bodies were burnt. After returning to the police station the<br \/>\nreport of the respondent was recorded which is Exhibit P-13 and<br \/>\nthereafter a case was registered as Crime No.120\/93 under Section<br \/>\n302 IPC.\n<\/p>\n<p>\tOn receiving the news about the incident Laxmamma (PW1),<br \/>\nthe mother of the deceased along with her son (PW2), her daughter<br \/>\n(PW11) and her son-in-law (PW24)and other relatives rushed to Nesargi<br \/>\nby car and saw the dead bodies of Veena and her child. The investigating<br \/>\nofficer (PW26) held inquest over the dead bodies of Veena and her child. He also<br \/>\nseized a plastic can lying nearby which contained some quantity of<br \/>\nkerosene oil.\n<\/p>\n<p>\tThe post-mortem examination of the dead body of the<br \/>\ndeceased and the child was conducted by Dr. Munyyal (PW26) and<br \/>\nanother doctor namely Dr. Chavarad (not examined) on 23.11.1993<br \/>\nbetween 10.00 A.M. and 12.30 P.M. and 12.45 P.M. and 3.00 P.M.<br \/>\nrespectively. The post-mortem reports are Exhibit P-5 and P-6.<br \/>\nAccording to the post-mortem report of Veena (deceased) Exhibit<br \/>\nP-5, her body was burnt completely except back and buttocks and<br \/>\nboth the lower limbs below knee joints. On internal examination, it<br \/>\nwas found that the cornue of hyoid bone was fractured. The<br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t&#8230;7\/-\n<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"hidden_text\">\t\t\t-7-<\/span><\/p>\n<p>examination of the Larynx and Trachea disclosed that in the lumen<br \/>\nof the trachea and bronchus carbon particles were not present. Both<br \/>\nthe lungs were shrunken and pale. The time of the death was<br \/>\nestimated to be between 16 and 36 hours. The doctor further<br \/>\ncertified that after careful examination both external and internal of<br \/>\nthe dead body the cause of death was found to be asphyxia due to<br \/>\nthrottling.\n<\/p>\n<p>\tIn the case of her child the cause of death was found to be<br \/>\nshock due to burns.\n<\/p>\n<p>\tThe prosecution examined a large number of witnesses to<br \/>\nprove that the respondent used to illtreat Veena and used to<br \/>\npressurise her to get money from her mother. On this aspect of the<br \/>\nmatter, the witnesses examined by the prosecution are Pws 1, 2, 3,<br \/>\n4, 5, 11, 12, 13 and 21. The prosecution also examined evidence to<br \/>\nprove that only an hour before the<br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t&#8230;8\/-\n<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"hidden_text\">\t\t\t-8-<\/span><\/p>\n<p>occurrence there was a quarrel between the deceased and the<br \/>\nrespondent and soon thereafter the occurrence took place. Such<br \/>\nevidence was examined to bely the assertion of the respondent that<br \/>\nhe was not present in his house when the occurrence took place.<br \/>\nThe prosecution also relied upon the medical evidence to establish<br \/>\nthat the deceased had died on account of strangulation and was not<br \/>\nthe victim of accidental fire.\n<\/p>\n<p>\tThe Trial Court relying upon the evidence of prosecution<br \/>\nwitnesses came to the conclusion that the respondent was ill<br \/>\ntreating his wife and was making demands of money and had  the<br \/>\nmotive to commit the offence. It further held that medical evidence<br \/>\non record clearly establish that the deceased had not died of burns<br \/>\nbut the cause of death was asphyxia caused by strangulation. It,<br \/>\ntherefore, held the <\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t&#8230;9\/-\n<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"hidden_text\">\t\t\t-9-<\/span><\/p>\n<p>appellant guilty of the offence of murder and other offences and<br \/>\nconvicted and sentenced him as earlier noticed.\n<\/p>\n<p>\tThe High Court has considered the evidence on record and<br \/>\nreached the conclusion that the prosecution witnesses who deposed<br \/>\nto the existence of motive were not reliable and their evidence was<br \/>\ninconsistent. PW1, the mother of the deceased deposed that the<br \/>\nrespondent had been making demands for payment of Rs.10,000\/-<br \/>\nto Rs.15,000\/- which after two years of the marriage was increased<br \/>\nto Rs.1,00,000\/-. PW2, the brother of the deceased has also<br \/>\ndeposed that the respondent had been pressing the deceased for<br \/>\nbringing Rs.50,000\/- from her mother. According to him, at<br \/>\nShimoga, just before he left for Nesargi, he had demanded a sum<br \/>\nof Rs.10,000\/-. PW3, Kamalamma is a maid servant of PW1<br \/>\nserving her family for the last 20 years. Pws 4, 5 and 12 are the<br \/>\nneighbours and family friends. They have<br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t&#8230;10\/-\n<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"hidden_text\">\t\t\t-10-<\/span><\/p>\n<p>also deposed that whenever Veena came to her mother&#8217;s house she<br \/>\nused to tell them about the demands being made by the respondent<br \/>\nas also about the ill treatment meted out by him. PW4 stated that<br \/>\nthe respondent had demanded a sum of Rs.1,00,000\/- for starting a<br \/>\nbusiness, as was told to him by the deceased herself. PW5 also<br \/>\ndeposed that he was told by the deceased that she was being ill<br \/>\ntreated by the respondent and that he was asking her to get<br \/>\nRs.10,000\/- from her mother. Later on, he was pressing the<br \/>\ndeceased to bring a sum of Rs.1,00,000\/-. PW11, the younger sister<br \/>\nof the deceased namely Vijaya, stated that few months before the<br \/>\noccurrence when she was in Bangalore, the respondent had made a<br \/>\ntelephone call and had demanded Rs.25,000\/-. PW12 deposed that<br \/>\nhe did not know exactly what amount was demanded, but the<br \/>\ndeceased had complained to him about the harrasement meted out<br \/>\nto her by her husband and the constant demand of money made by<br \/>\nher husband. PW13 deposed that when the<br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t&#8230;11\/-\n<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"hidden_text\">\t\t\t-11-<\/span><\/p>\n<p>respondent and the deceased were going to Nesargi, PW2, brother<br \/>\nof the deceased went to see them off at the bus stand. At that time a<br \/>\nrequest was made to the Respondent to attend the marriage of<br \/>\nVijaya (PW11) but in reply he retorted that he will send the dead<br \/>\nbody of the deceased. No doubt, PW2 does not narrate these facts,<br \/>\nbut has stated that on that occasion the respondent had demanded a<br \/>\nsum of Rs.10,000\/-. In fact, he was also told by his sister Veena<br \/>\n(deceased) that the respondent had told her that if his demands<br \/>\nwere not met, her photograph will also be kept next to the<br \/>\nphotograph of her father, meaning thereby that she will also be<br \/>\ndead and her photograph kept next to the photograph of her<br \/>\ndeceased father. PW21 also deposed that whenever the deceased<br \/>\ncame to Shimoga, she complained about her ill treatment and<br \/>\ndemand of Rs.1,00,000\/- made by the respondent.\n<\/p>\n<p>\tNoticing the evidence on record, the High Court opined that<br \/>\nthere was no consistency as to the exact<br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t&#8230;12\/-\n<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"hidden_text\">\t\t\t-12-<\/span><\/p>\n<p>demand made by the respondent. The High Court, therefore, found<br \/>\nthe evidence of all these witnesses to be unreliable. We find this<br \/>\napproach to be wholly unreasonable. Apart from the fact that the<br \/>\nrespondent used to press the deceased to get money from her<br \/>\nmother, there is also clear evidence on record to establish the fact<br \/>\nthat she was being ill treated by the respondent. The evidence in<br \/>\nthat regard is consistent and has been deposed to by a large number<br \/>\nof witnesses, some of whom were family members and others were<br \/>\nthe residents of Shimoga and were family friends. Even as to the<br \/>\namount demanded, there could be no consistency because if the<br \/>\nrespondent demanded different amounts at different times, the<br \/>\nwitnesses could not have deposed otherwise. The evidence on<br \/>\nrecord clearly establishes the fact that the respondent had been<br \/>\nmaking demands and the quantum differed from time to time. On<br \/>\nsome occasion he had demanded Rs.10,000\/- and on other<br \/>\noccasions Rs.15,000\/- or Rs.1,00,000\/-. It appears to us wholly<br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t&#8230;13\/-\n<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"hidden_text\">\t\t\t-13-<\/span><\/p>\n<p>unreasonable to reject the evidence of such witnesses merely on<br \/>\nthe ground that there is no consistency as to the exact amount<br \/>\ndemanded by the respondent.\n<\/p>\n<p>\tThere is yet another reason given by the High Court for<br \/>\nrejecting this part of the prosecution&#8217;s case. The High Court<br \/>\nobserved that no neighbour from Gundlepet was examined to prove<br \/>\nthe fact that the deceased was being ill treated by her husband. The<br \/>\nHigh Court completely lost sight of the fact that the matrimonial<br \/>\nhome of the deceased was at Gundlepet and therefore, it was not<br \/>\npossible for the prosecution to get witnesses from Gundlepet who<br \/>\nwould have supported the case of the prosecution. Moreover, the<br \/>\ndeceased had gone to Gundlepet as a newly married daughter-in-<br \/>\nlaw and it was not expected, even if she was ill treated, to go about<br \/>\nin the neighbourhood complaining against her husband. In any<br \/>\nevent this is not a good enough reason to reject the testimony of<br \/>\nsuch a large<br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t&#8230;14\/-\n<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"hidden_text\">\t\t\t-14-<\/span><\/p>\n<p>number of witnesses who have deposed on this aspect of the case.\n<\/p>\n<p>\tAnother reason given by the High Court is that in Exhibit D-<br \/>\n3 a letter written by the deceased to her husband quite sometime<br \/>\nback, there is no mention of any ill treatment meted out to her by<br \/>\nthe respondent, and that no other letter has been produced to show<br \/>\nthat she had even mentioned in any such letter that she was being<br \/>\nill treated. This approach of the High Court is again highly<br \/>\nunreasonable. Merely because in one of the letters written to her<br \/>\nhusband she had not complained about ill treatment, is no ground<br \/>\nto hold that she was never ill treated. We have read that letter from<br \/>\nwhich it appears that it was one of those letters written by her in<br \/>\nwhich there is no reference to bitterness in their marital life.<br \/>\nHowever, it is not expected that in every letter that a wife writes to<br \/>\nher husband, she must complain to him about his ill<br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t&#8230;15\/-\n<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"hidden_text\">\t\t\t-15-<\/span><\/p>\n<p>treatment. Merely because in one solitary letter there is no<br \/>\nreference to ill treatment by the respondent, would be no ground to<br \/>\narrive at the conclusion that she was never ill treated by her<br \/>\nhusband, particularly in the face of evidence of a large number of<br \/>\nwitnesses. We, therefore, find no justification for the finding of the<br \/>\nHigh Court that the deceased was not ill treated by the respondent,<br \/>\nor that there was no motive to commit the offence.\n<\/p>\n<p>\tAs far as medical evidence is concerned, the High Court<br \/>\nrejected the evidence of the doctor (PW6) who had conducted the<br \/>\npost mortem examination of the dead bodies of the deceased and<br \/>\nher child. The reasoning of the the High Court appears to us to be<br \/>\nrather strange. The High Court noticed the fact that in the post<br \/>\nmortem report the cause of death was mentioned to be asphyxia<br \/>\ndue to throttling.  While deposing in Court PW6 supported his post<br \/>\nmorterm<br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t&#8230;16\/-\n<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"hidden_text\">\t\t\t-16-<\/span><\/p>\n<p>report. He asserted that the cause of death was asphyxia due to<br \/>\nthrottling, and the burns seen were post mortem burns. He further<br \/>\ndeposed that the throttling of the neck could have been done by<br \/>\nusing a rope or by any forceful action on the neck, like pressing.<br \/>\nHe further deposed that he found the burn injuries to be post<br \/>\nmortem since (i) burnt blebs were present filled with air (ii) in the<br \/>\nlumen of the trachea and bronchus carbon particles were not<br \/>\npresent and the lumen was pale. He also asserted that on account of<br \/>\nfracture of the cornue of hyoid bone and absence of carbon<br \/>\nparticles and fumes in the trachea and bronchus, he was of the<br \/>\nopinion that death of the deceased Veena was due to throttling.\n<\/p>\n<p>\tIf the evidence of the doctor (PW6) is fairly read, it will<br \/>\nappear that in his opinion the death was on account of asphyxia<br \/>\ncaused by throttling. This conclusion was supported by the fact that<br \/>\nthere was<br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t&#8230;17\/-\n<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"hidden_text\">\t\t\t-17-<\/span><\/p>\n<p>fracture of the cornue of the hyoid bone. It is well accepted in<br \/>\nmedical jurisprudence that hyoid bone can be fractured only if it is<br \/>\npressed with great force or hit by hard substance with great force.<br \/>\nOtherwise the hyoid bone is not a bone which can be easily<br \/>\nfractured. Moreover, the absence of carbon particles and fumes in<br \/>\nthe trachea and bronchus lead to the irresistible conclusion that the<br \/>\ndeceased must have died before she was set on fire. Some amount<br \/>\nof carbon particles and fumes would have certainly been found in<br \/>\nthe trachea and bronchus if she were alive when set on fire. The<br \/>\nHigh Court, in our view, has completely misread the evidence of<br \/>\nthe doctor. Rather than considering the reasons given by the doctor<br \/>\nfor reaching the conclusion that the deceased had died of asphyxia<br \/>\ncaused by throttling, the High Court over emphasised that one part<br \/>\nof a statement made by the doctor that the throttling of the neck<br \/>\ncould have been done by using a rope, or by any forceful action on<br \/>\nthe<br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t&#8230;18\/-\n<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"hidden_text\">\t\t\t-18-<\/span><\/p>\n<p>neck like pressing. The High Court completely ignored the latter<br \/>\npart of the opinion, and proceeded to examine the evidence as if in<br \/>\nthe opinion of the doctor throttling could be caused only with the<br \/>\naid of a rope. The High Court referred to the evidence on record<br \/>\nand found that there was no evidence to prove that the deceased<br \/>\nhad been strangulated with a rope. There is no evidence to prove<br \/>\nthat a rope was found anywhere near the place of occurrence. It<br \/>\nrejected the evidence of PW2, the brother of the deceased who had<br \/>\nstated that he had seen a nylon rope lying nearby. It, therefore,<br \/>\nreached the conclusion that the prosecution case was not consistent<br \/>\nwith the medical evidence on record, because no rope was found<br \/>\nwhich could substantiate the prosecution case that she had been<br \/>\nstrangulated with a rope. The High Court lost sight of the fact that<br \/>\nthere was no eye-witness of the occurrence. The medical evidence<br \/>\non record disclosed that there was a fracture of the hyoid bone of<br \/>\nthe<br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t&#8230;19\/-\n<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"hidden_text\">\t\t\t-19-<\/span><\/p>\n<p>deceased and there was complete absence of carbon particles or<br \/>\nfumes in the trachea or bronchus. No doubt, the doctor stated that a<br \/>\nperson may be strangulated with the help of a rope or by pressing<br \/>\nthe neck. The doctor did not depose that this was a case where the<br \/>\ndeceased must have been strangulated with the aid of a rope,<br \/>\nbecause admittedly it is not the prosecution case that any ligature<br \/>\nmark was found. On the contrary the case of the prosecution was<br \/>\nthat she had been throttled by forceful pressing of her neck by the<br \/>\nrespondent. We are surprised that the High Court has not cared to<br \/>\neven discuss the latter part of the doctor&#8217;s opinion namely, that<br \/>\nstrangulation may result if the neck is pressed with considerable<br \/>\nforce. The High Court has not even cared to notice the fact that the<br \/>\nhyoid bone was found to be fractured and there was complete<br \/>\nabsence of carbon particles or fumes in the trachea and the<br \/>\nbronchus. This was the most crucial finding of the doctor (PW6)<br \/>\nbut<br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t&#8230;20\/-\n<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"hidden_text\">\t\t\t-20-<\/span><\/p>\n<p>unfortunately this has been completely ignored. There is not a<br \/>\nword in the judgment of the High Court to satisfy us that the High<br \/>\nCourt was concious of the fact that the injuries found on the person<br \/>\nof the deceased were consistent only with the hypothesis that she<br \/>\nmust have died before she was burnt. The High Court has<br \/>\nconsidered several authorities on medical jurisprudence and has<br \/>\ncome to the conclusion that some of the features which are found<br \/>\nin the case of death by strangulation were not found in this case. It<br \/>\nis not always possible to find all the features in a given case<br \/>\nparticularly in a case where the body is burnt after killing. PW6,<br \/>\nthe doctor who conducted the post mortem examination was<br \/>\ncategoric in stating that the fracture of the hyoid bone and the<br \/>\nabsence of carbon particles and fumes in the trachea and bronchus<br \/>\ndid establish the fact that she must have died of asphyxia caused by<br \/>\nstrangulation before she was burnt. There is no reason recorded in<br \/>\nthe judgment of the<br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t&#8230;21\/-\n<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"hidden_text\">\t\t\t-21-<\/span><\/p>\n<p>High Court to reject this assertion. We are of the view that these<br \/>\nfindings of the doctor are consistent only with the fact that the<br \/>\ndeceased was dead before she was burnt. In the facts of the case,<br \/>\nthe respondent having been seen in the house only little before the<br \/>\nhouse was put on fire, the evidence implicating him in the<br \/>\ncommission of the offence is conclusive. The High Court rejected<br \/>\nthe evidence of the doctor observing that there was no<br \/>\ncorroboration from surrounding circumstances, completely<br \/>\nignoring the findings of the doctor which we have discussed above.\n<\/p>\n<p>\tThe High Court then discussed some discrepancy about two<br \/>\ntypes of reports having been recorded in the police station. We<br \/>\nhave considered the material on record and we find that there may<br \/>\nhave been some confusion about the recording of the case in the<br \/>\npolice station because earlier an oral report had been<br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t&#8230;22\/-\n<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"hidden_text\">\t\t\t-22-<\/span><\/p>\n<p>made and later a written report was made and therefore, initially a<br \/>\ncase was registered as UDR 27\/93 and another Case being<br \/>\nCr.No.120\/93 was registered later when it came to light that it was<br \/>\nnot a case of accidental fire but a case of murder, and only to<br \/>\ndestroy the evidence the deceased was set on fire.\n<\/p>\n<p>\tThe High Court has also made much of the fact that one of<br \/>\nthe daughters of Laxmamma (PW1) who was residing at Bangalore<br \/>\nand who was the person who had telephonically informed her<br \/>\nfriends and relatives about the death of the deceased, was not<br \/>\nexamined as a witness in this case. It does appear from the<br \/>\nevidence that she had made calls to her family members and told<br \/>\nthem that the deceased and her child had sustained burn injuries<br \/>\ndue to kerosene stove bursting. We do not attach much importance<br \/>\nto this evidence because Indu, the second daughter of PW1 who<br \/>\nwas residing at<br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t&#8230;23\/-\n<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"hidden_text\">\t\t\t-23-<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Bangalore was not an eye-witness. She had come to learn about<br \/>\nburn injuries suffered by the deceased and her child and she<br \/>\nimmediately passed on that information to her mother and others.<br \/>\nThe mere fact that she had mentioned about injuries sustained by<br \/>\nbursting of kerosene stove does not help the case of the defence<br \/>\nbecause Indu passed on such information as she may have<br \/>\nreceived. Initially, the incident was sought to be made out as a case<br \/>\nof accidental fire, but it was later revealed that it was a case of<br \/>\nmurder. In this view of the matter, we do not attach any<br \/>\nsignificance to the so called discrepancy found by the High Court.<br \/>\nMoreover, the adverse inference drawn by the High court on<br \/>\naccount of non examination of Indu, in our view, is not warranted.<br \/>\nThe prosecution relied upon an extra judicial confession said to<br \/>\nhave been made by the respondent before PW7. The High Court<br \/>\nrejected the said evidence and we also do not attach much weight<br \/>\nto the alleged extra judicial confessional<br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t&#8230;24\/-\n<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"hidden_text\">\t\t\t-24-<\/span><\/p>\n<p>statement made by the respondent. Nor do we attach much<br \/>\nsignificance to the fact that, according to the prosecution, the<br \/>\nrespondent was absconding. Even if the evidence in this regard is<br \/>\nignored, the remaining evidence on record clearly proves the<br \/>\ncomplicity of the respondent in the murder of his wife Veena.\n<\/p>\n<p>\tWe are concious of the fact that we are dealing with an<br \/>\nappeal against an order of acquittal. In such an appeal the<br \/>\nAppellate Court does not lightly disturb the findings of fact<br \/>\nrecorded by the Court below. If on the basis of the same evidence,<br \/>\ntwo views are reasonably possible, and the view favouring the<br \/>\naccused is accepted by the Court below, that is sufficient for<br \/>\nupholding the order of acquittal. However, if the Appellate Court<br \/>\ncomes to the conclusion that the findings of the Court below are<br \/>\nwholly unreasonable or perverse and not based on the evidence on<br \/>\nrecord, or suffers from serious illegality<br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t&#8230;25\/-\n<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"hidden_text\">\t\t\t-25-<\/span><\/p>\n<p>including ignorance or misreading of evidence on record, the<br \/>\nAppellate Court will be justified in setting aside such an order of<br \/>\nacquittal. We find this case to fall under the latter category. We<br \/>\nfind no rational justification for the conclusion reached by the High<br \/>\nCourt. The High Court has misread the evidence on record and has<br \/>\ncompletely ignored the relevant evidence on record which was<br \/>\naccepted by the Trial Court. We, therefore, allow the appeal, set<br \/>\naside the impugned judgment and order of the High Court and<br \/>\nrestore the judgment and order of the Trial Court. The respondent<br \/>\nshall be taken into custody forthwith to serve out the remainder of<br \/>\nthe sentence. His bail bonds are cancelled.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Supreme Court of India State Of Karnataka vs K. Gopalakrishna on 18 January, 2005 Author: B.P.Singh Bench: B.P.Singh, Arun Kumar CASE NO.: Appeal (crl.) 1204 of 1999 PETITIONER: STATE OF KARNATAKA RESPONDENT: K. GOPALAKRISHNA DATE OF JUDGMENT: 18\/01\/2005 BENCH: B.P.SINGH &amp; ARUN KUMAR JUDGMENT: J U D G M E N T B.P.SINGH, J. This [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-187712","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-supreme-court-of-india"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>State Of Karnataka vs K. 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