Penal Code, 1860 — Sections 302, 120-B & 201 r/w Section 34

August 29th, 2013

Penal Code, 1860 — Sections 302, 120-B & 201 r/w Section 34 — Conviction under — Plea of long gap between last seen and time of death, Effect of — Appeal alleging that no material evidence to suggest that the accused was in the company of the deceased for two days — Held, deceased was taken away from Zanda Chowk in a Maruti car by appellant, who has been identified by PW-13 and PW-15, and their evidence remains totally embedded in all material particulars — It has been proven by the prosecution that the Maruti Zen car belongs to the appellant — From the testimony of Dr., PW-16, who had conducted the autopsy, injuries found on the dead body were approximately four days old — Thus, the argument that there is long gap between the last seen and the time of death melts into insignificance inasmuch as the time the deceased was seen in the company of A-1 and the time of death is not long and the said fact has been duly established by the medical evidence and no reason to discredit the same — Thus, the circumstance pertaining to the theory of last seen deserves acceptance.

(Para 17)

Harivadan Babubhai Patel v. State of Gujarat[Bench Strength 2], Criminal Appeal No. 1044/2010(01/07/2013), 2013(8) SCALE 17: 2013(9) JT 274: 2013(6) SLT 197 [B.S. Chauhan, J.: Dipak Misra, J.]

Entry Filed under: Legal Updates