# JADUNATH SINGH & ANR v. STATE OF U.P

- **Citation:** [1971] 2 S.C.R. 917
- **Court:** Supreme Court of India
- **Decided:** 1970-12-07
- **Case number:** Criminal Appeal No. 55 of 1970
- **Bench:** S. M. Snoo, V. Bhargava, I. D. Dua
- **Source:** https://unisonlegal.in/judgment/supreme-court-of-india/jadunath-singh-anr-v-state-of-u-p-5154
- **Pages:** 10

## Headnote

Evidence Act, 1872, s. 9-ldentit,y of accused-Witnesses claiming to
have known accused from before-Accused denying claim and r.equestlng
ttst identifisation-Refusal of test identification whether vitioted trial.
The appellants were accused of an offence under s. 302
read with
s. 34 of the Indian Penal Code.
Apart from P who was injured in the
I
incident there were, according to the prosecution, two other eye-wit·
nesses M and D who knew the appellants from before. The names of the
appellants were mentioned in the First Information Report liut not their
parentage. The appellants, at the stage of inquiry, made an application
to the Additional District Magistrate (Judicial) requellting that a test
identification parade be held.
According to the appellants P knew them
from ·before but not the other two alleged eye-witnClises. The Magistrate
rejected the application on the ground that the charge sheet had already
been filed. The same request made at the trial stage to the Sessions Judge
was again rejected on the ground it was not bona fide.
The trial court,
believing the eye witnesses, convicted the appellants.
The High Court
upheld their conviction and did not accept their plea that the trial had
been vitiated because they had been denied a test indentification parade.
In appeal to this Court by special leave,
HELD : As laid down bv this Court in Perkash Chand Sogani's case
the absence of teu identification in all cases is not fatal, and if the accus·
ed person is well-known by sight it would be waste of time to put him
up for identification. But if there is any doubt in the matter the prose·
cution should hold an identification parade specially if an accused says
that the alleged eye-witnesses did not know him previously. It may be
that there is no express provision in the Code of Criminal Procedure
enabling an accused to insist on an identification parade but if the accused
does make an application and that application is turned down and It
transpires during the course of the trial that the witnesses did not know
the accused previously, the prosecution will, unless there is some evidence,
run the risk of losing the case on this point. [924 G-925 C]
Perk,,sh Ch~nd Sogani v. State of Rajasthan, Cr. A.No. 92/1956 dt.
15-1-1957, applied.
·
Sajjan Singh v. Emperor, A.I.R. 1945 Laj. 48, State of U.P. v. Jagnoo,
A.l.R. 1962 All. 333, In re Sangish, A.LR. 1948 Mad. 113, Awadh Singh
& Ors. v. Patna State, A.l.R. 1954 Pat 483, Provash Kumar Bose v. Tiie
King, A.I.R. 1951 Cal. 475, Kanta Prasad v. Delhi Administration [1958)
S.C.R. 1218. 1221, referred to.
·
'
In the .present case it could be said about D that his knowledge of
the accused was very scant. The claim of the other witness M that h&
had. known the accused for about four years was not challenged in ctoss·
examination
Therefore on the facts of the case the trial of the appellants
918
SUPREME COURT REPORTS
[1971] 2 S.C.R.
could not he held to be. vitiated because of the denial of test identification
A
although the reason given by the Magistrate for refusing it, namely, that
the charge-sheet had already been filed, was wrong. [925 G-926 CJ

## Text

c
D
E
F
G
H
JADUNATH SINGH & ANR.
v.
STATE OF U.P.
December 7, 1970
[S. M. Snoo, V. BHARGAVA AND I. D. DUA, JJ.]
Evidence Act, 1872, s. 9-ldentit,y of accused-Witnesses claiming to
have known accused from before-Accused denying claim and r.equestlng
ttst identifisation-Refusal of test identification whether vitioted trial.
The appellants were accused of an offence under s. 302
read with
s. 34 of the Indian Penal Code.
Apart from P who was injured in the
I
incident there were, according to the prosecution, two other eye-wit·
nesses M and D who knew the appellants from before. The names of the
appellants were mentioned in the First Information Report liut not their
parentage. The appellants, at the stage of inquiry, made an application
to the Additional District Magistrate (Judicial) requellting that a test
identification parade be held.
According to the appellants P knew them
from ·before but not the other two alleged eye-witnClises. The Magistrate
rejected the application on the ground that the charge sheet had already
been filed. The same request made at the trial stage to the Sessions Judge
was again rejected on the ground it was not bona fide.
The trial court,
believing the eye witnesses, convicted the appellants.
The High Court
upheld their conviction and did not accept their plea that the trial had
been vitiated because they had been denied a test indentification parade.
In appeal to this Court by special leave,
HELD : As laid down bv this Court in Perkash Chand Sogani's case
the absence of teu identification in all cases is not fatal, and if the accus·
ed person is well-known by sight it would be waste of time to put him
up for identification. But if there is any doubt in the matter the prose·
cution should hold an identification parade specially if an accused says
that the alleged eye-witnesses did not know him previously. It may be
that there is no express provision in the Code of Criminal Procedure
enabling an accused to insist on an identification parade but if the accused
does make an application and that application is turned down and It
transpires during the course of the trial that the witnesses did not know
the accused previously, the prosecution will, unless there is some evidence,
run the risk of losing the case on this point. [924 G-925 C]
Perk,,sh Ch~nd Sogani v. State of Rajasthan, Cr. A.No. 92/1956 dt.
15-1-1957, applied.
·
Sajjan Singh v. Emperor, A.I.R. 1945 Laj. 48, State of U.P. v. Jagnoo,
A.l.R. 1962 All. 333, In re Sangish, A.LR. 1948 Mad. 113, Awadh Singh
& Ors. v. Patna State, A.l.R. 1954 Pat 483, Provash Kumar Bose v. Tiie
King, A.I.R. 1951 Cal. 475, Kanta Prasad v. Delhi Administration [1958)
S.C.R. 1218. 1221, referred to.
·
'
In the .present case it could be said about D that his knowledge of
the accused was very scant. The claim of the other witness M that h&
had. known the accused for about four years was not challenged in ctoss·
examination
Therefore on the facts of the case the trial of the appellants
918
SUPREME COURT REPORTS
[1971] 2 S.C.R.
could not he held to be. vitiated because of the denial of test identification
A
although the reason given by the Magistrate for refusing it, namely, that
the charge-sheet had already been filed, was wrong. [925 G-926 CJ
CRIMINAL APPELLATE JURISDICTION : Criminal Appeal No.
55 of 1970.
Appeal by special leave from the judgment and order dated
B
September 26, 1969 of the Allahabad High Court in Criminal
App!lal No, 1037 of 1969 and Referred No. 82 of 1969.
Yogeshwar Prasad, S. K. Bagga and Sureshta Bagga, for the
appe!llants.
0. P. Rana, for the respondent.
The Judgment of the Court was delivered by.
c
Sikri, J.-This appeal by special leave is directed against the
judgment of the High Court of Judicature at Allahabad confirming
conviction of the two appellants by the Sessions Judge, Mainpuri,
0
under s. 302/34 of the Indian Panel Code. Appellant Jadunath
~
Singh was sentenced to death by the Sessions Judge and appellant
Girand Singh was sentenced to undergo imprisonment for life.
Jn order to appreciate the points raised before us by the learned
counsel for .the appellants it is necessary to state a few facts. It is
alleged against the appellants that on.February 26, 1968, at about
E
7 .30 a.m., in furtheran9e of their common intention, they murdered
one Ram Swamp Pandey by repeatedly stabbing him to death,
when iie was passing on the Grand Trunk road in the town of
Bewar to catch a truck. As many as 34 injuries were found on
th~ deceased at .the post-mortem conducted on his body on the
same day at about 3 p.m.
F
The prosecution case in brief is as follows : It is cmmhllll
ground that there was great enmity between . the deceased and
Laturi Ahir and his sons, the two appellants .. The deceased apprehended danger to his life from them, and on November 23, 1967,
he sent an application to the Superintendent of Police, Mainpuri,
G
alleging that Laturi and his son, Jadunath, Brahma, Panna Lal and .
Anokhey, etc. were terrorising the weaker and poorer sections of
.the village community and declaring openly that they would kill
·the deceased t0 silence his opposi~ion for ever. He prayed that an
enquiry. may be made and suitable action taken against them.
·On February 25, 1968 ( the deceased came to Bewar in the evening
H
to meet the A.D.0. in connection with a,n enquiry on a complaint
made against Munshi Lal Pradhan of the village. ·He .could not
meet the A.D.0. as he was out of station. He stayed during the
A
JADUNATH I'. u.P. STATE {Sikri, J.)
91~
night with Prem Narain, P.W. 1, who happened to be a brother-in·
law of liis cousin Gulati Ram. According to Prem Narain, both
of them got up in the morning at 6.45 a.m. and since it was
Shivratri that day the deceased did not take any food and they left
for the bus stand at Bewar. When they reached the bus-stand at
8
about 7.10 a.m. they found that the bus for Etah via Sultanganj
had already left. The next bus was due to go at 9.30 a.m. but,,
as Pie deceased thought that he could get a seat in some truck near
the Prem Hotel and the <)ctroi barrier, they left the bus-stand for
thC Octroi barrier. When they reached the house of Kotwal Singh
on the way, both the accused attacked the deceased with chhuri
and knife, respectively; Jadunath had the chhuri and Girand Singh
C
had the knife. Both the deceased and Prem Narain were unarmed.
On hearing the cries of t.he deceased Prem Narain asked the
appellants why they were attacking the deceased.
Then Girand
Singh, appellant, advanced towards him and gave a knife cut at
his right wrist. On the deceased falling down both accused persons
attacked him with their respective weapons.
On his raising the
D
alarm Mahesh Chandra and Dwarka Prasad who were coming
along the same road came and they shouted at the appellants. On
hearing their shouts the accused ran awey. The deceased died on
the spot.
The First Information Report was lodged at 8 a.m., the Polii:e
Station being only two furlongs from the scene of occurrence. In
E
the First Information Report, in the second column, under t'he
heading "Name and residence qf accused", it was stateu as follows:
'' l. Jadu Nath Singh, hther's name not known and
2, Girand Singh father's name not known.
Ahirs by caste, residents of Garhia Kishunpur J'.S.
F
Bewar, Oistt. Mainpuri."
The accused surrendered on March 12, 1968, and it appears tha~
an application was ft.led by the advocate on their behalf that they
be kept ba pardah as they might claim identification. Another
application was put in on March 25, 1968, in which it was stated
that the witnesses other than Prem Narain were strangers and they
G
applied that there should be an identification parade.
On April
19, 1968, the then fublic Prosecutor submitted a report to the
Additional_ District Magistrate as under :
"Accused Jadu Nath Singh and Girand Singh in case
Cr. No. 24 under Section 302 I.P.C., P.S. Bewar, have
applied for identification, vide application herewith atH
tached. It may b~ submitted that they are named in the
F.I.R. and charge sheet against them has also been received: , The applications are moved to delay this case.
Submitted for n.u."
920
SUPREME COURT REPORTS
l1911) 2 $.C.R.
The Additional District Magistrate (Judicial) passed the following, A
order on the application, on April 20, 1968 :
"As charge sheet has already been received and the
accused have been named by P.Ws., there appears to be
no justification for ordering test identification. Accused
be informed accordingly. The jail authorities be informed not to keep them ba parda."
B
We have set out these facts in detail because, as will presently
appear, one of the points raised by the learned counsel is that
failure to put up the accused for identification either vitiated the
trial or, in any case, rendered tlhe evidence of P.W. 2, Mahesh
C
Chandra, and P.W. 3, D_warka Prasad, useless.
We may here notice that portion of the evidence of Dr. N. K.
Mital, who conducted the post-mortem examination and on which
one other point is sought to be founded. He found that the stomach
was empty and the small intestines were half full and the large in'
testines were also half full.
In cross-examination he stated that D
"since t;he stomach was empty, the deceased should have taken his
last meal about 4 to 6 hours before the infliction of the injuries."
He was asked : "The evidence is that the deceased took puris and
vegetable at 8 p.m. on 25-2-68; and according to the case for the
prosecutjon his murder took place at 7 .30 a.m. on 26-2-68. At the
time of post mortem the stomach was found empty and both the
E
small and large intestines were fo11nd half full. Does it not
indicate that in all likelihood the man was murdered between
3 and 4 a.m. ?" To this question Dr. Mital answered :
"No~ It is not an indication of this fact.
After
finishing .his meal at about 8 or 8.30 p.m. on 25-2-68
the stomach could have got empty by 2 or 2.30 a.m.
F
The digested _food material should have come in Qle
small intestine by about 2 or 2.30 a.m. Complete digestion takes place in the small in'.testine ...... And if he
had answered the call of nature the preceding evening
fully and completely, even then the small and large intestines might be half full. and stomach empty if he had
G
taken puries with vegetable at 8 p.m. oq 25-2-68."
. The learned Sessions Judge believed the evidence of Prem
Narain, corroborated as it was by the injuries sustained by him in
the course of the occurence at the hands of one of the assailants,
namely, .Girand Singh. He also believed the evidence of Mahesh
H
Chandra, l'.W. 2, and Dwaraka Prasad, P.W. 3.
He relied on
the fact that the appellants hac[ absconded immediately after the
crime anc;Lhad only appeared before the Court as late as March 12,
J
JADUNATH V. U.P, STATE (Sikri, J.)
921
·A
1968, after proceedings under ss. 87 and 8 8 of the Code of Cri·
minal Procedure had been taken against them.
Regarding the
claim of the appellants for identification the learned Sessions Judge
observed that during the course of investigation both Mahesh
Chandra and Dwarka Prasad had named the accused persons, and
it would indeed have been surprising if the Additional District
B Magistrate (Judicial) had directed the accused to be paraded at a
test identification parade in the jail. He observed that the evidence
indkated that the accused persons were not strangers even to
Mahesh Chandra and Dwarka Prasad at the time of the OCCllI'I'enco.
Mahesh Chandra had stated in his evidence that he had known the
accused persons for about 4 years and that they were living at
C
village Garhiya lying at a distance of three furlongs from Bewar,
and that Girand Singh was reading at the Amar Shaheed Inter
College, Bewar. Dwarka Prasad had stated that he had· seen
Girand visiting Bewar before that day.
He had also seen Jadu
Nath Singh at Bevfar but only once or twice before that. For all
these reasons the learned Sessions Judge held that the applications
claiming identification were not bona fide and were . intended to
D
protract tt.e proceedings, and accordingly he was unable. to draw
any adverse inference against the prosecution for the omission to
parade the accused persons at a test identification parade in the jail.
The High Court believed the three. eyewitnesses, Prem Narain,
Mahesh Chandra and Dwarka Prasad. The High Court -held that
E
"Mahesh and Dwarka Prasad are whoUy independent witnesse&
having no affinity with the deceased and entertaining no animosity
towards the appellants." The High Court observed that these wit·
F
· nesses had claimed to have known the appellants for the laSt six
or seven years as they had been frequently visiting the town of
Bewar, and the appellant, Girand Singh, was a student in a college
atBewar.
•
The learned counsel for the appellants raised two principal
points before us :
(:) Since the accused were denied identification the trial was
vitiated;
G
(2) The medical evidence is in conflict with the prosecution
case about the time of the assault.
·
The learned counsel further urged that the number and nature
of injuries belie the prosecution story, and that the application by
the deceased to the Superintendent of Police was nothing but a
H
peshbandi. He urged that the eye-witnesses were not reliable and
the courts bc;l?w had l!lissed the point that the appellantS. could ·
not have anticipated that the deceased would ~e at this particular
spot at that time,
922
SUPREME COURT REPORTS
(1971 J 2 S.C.R.
The learned counsel relied on the following observations of the
Lahore High Court in Sajjart, Singh v. Emperor( 1) :
"If an accused person is already wefr'.:known to the
witnesses, an identification. parade would, of· course, be
only a waste of time. If. however, the witnesses clainpo
have known the accused previously, while the accused
himself denies this, it is difficult to see· how the claim
made by the witnesses can be used as a reason for refusing to allow their claim to be put to the only practical
test. Even if the denial o.f the accused is false, no harm
is done, and the value of the evidence given by the witnesses may be increased. It is true that it is by no
means uncommon for persons who have been absconding for a long time to claim an identification parade in
the hope that their appearance may have-changed sufficiently for them to escape recognition. Even so, this is
not in itself a good ground for refusing to allow any sort
of test to be carried out. It may be lfuat the witnesses
may not be able to identify a person whom they knew
by sight owing to some change of appearance or even to
weakness of memory, but this is only one of the facts
along with many others, such as the length of .time that
hM elapsed, which ':Viii have to be taken into consideration in determining whether the witnesses are telling the
truth or not."
State of U.P. v. Jagnoo( 1) refers to Sajjan Singh v. Emperor(1) with approval.
B
c
D
E
In re Sangiah(') the decision of the Lahore High Court in
Sajjan Singh v. Emperor (Supra)
was dissented from Raja-
.
F
mannar, J., observed :
"I am unable to find any provision in th~ Code which
entitles an accused to demand 'that an identification
parade should be held at or before the enquiry or the
trial.
An identification parade belongs to the stage of
inves.tigation by the police. The question whether -a witness has or has not identified the accused during the
investigation is not one which is in itself relevant at the
trial. The actual evidence regarding identification is that
which is given by the witness in Court. The fact that a
particular witness has been able to identify the accused
af an identification trade is only a circumstance corroborative of the identification in Court. If a witness has
(1) A.T.R. 194~ Lah. 4&, 50.
(2) AJ.R. 1968 An. 333.
13) A.LR. 1948 Mad. 113.
G
H
A
B
c
D
E
F
G
JADUNAT.H v. U.P. STATE (Sikri, J.)
923
not identified the accused. at a parade or otherwise during
the investigation the fact may be relied on by the accused, but I find nothing in the provisions of the Code which
confers a right on the accused to demand that the investigation should be conducted in a particular way."
In Perkash Chand Sogani v. The State of Rajasthan (') (an unreported decision of this Court) in connection with the point re- ·
garding identification, it was observed :
"Much is sol,lght to be made out of the fact that no
identification parade was held at the earliest opportunity
in order to find out whether P.W. 7 Shiv Lal could have
identified the appellant as the person who was at the
wheel of the car and drove it and reliance is placed upon
Awadh Singh & Others v. The Patna State( 2), Provash
Kumar Bose and Another v.. The King( 8 )
and also
Phipson on the Law ofl Eviden~, 9th Ed., p. 41 S to
justify the contention that In criminal' cases it is not
sufficient to Identify the prisoner in the. dock · ·but the
police should have held. an lndentification parade at the
earliest possible OP,.portunlty to show that the accused
person lilid been connected . with the crime. It ls also
the defence case that Shiv Lal did not. know the appel·
lant. · But on a reading of the evidence of P.W. 7 it seems
to us clear that Shiv (al knew the appellant by sight.
Though he made a mistake about his name by referring
to him as Kailash Chandra, it was within the knowledge
of Shiv Lal that the appellant was a brother of Manak
Chand and he identified him as such. These circumstauces are quite enough to show that the absence of the
identification parade would not vitiate the evidence. A
person, who is well-known by ·sight as the brother of
Manak Chand, even before the commission of the occur~
rence, need not be put before an identification parade in
order to· be marked out. We do not think that there is
any justification for the contention that the absenee of
the identification parade or a mistake made as to his
name, would be necessarily fatal tb the prosecution case
in the circumstances."
In Awadh Singh v. The State( 2 ) it was held that "the accused
person may or mav not have legal right to claim for test identification and. the holding of test identification may or may not be
a rule of law, but it is a rule of prudence. Test identification parade
H should be held especially when the accused persons definltely as-
(!) Criminal Appeal No. n of 1956. decided on January 15. 1957.
(2) A.T.R. 1954 Patna 4~3.
(3) A.1.R. 1951 Cal. 475.
924
SUPREME COURT REPORTS
[1971] 2 S.C.R.
sen that they were unknown to the prosecution witnesses ei~er by
A
name o~ by face and they requested the authorities concerned to
have the test identification parade held."
In Provesh Kumar Bose v. The King('), a Division Bench of
the Calcutta High (Harries C.J., & Das Gupta, J.) held:
"The fact that the witnesses have identified in Court
the accused is of very little consequence in a prosecution under s. 3 84, Penal Code, when none of the witnesses knew the accused from before. . ...... the corroborative evidence which one is entitied to expec~ in
cases of this nature is the evidence of the witnesses having pointed the accused whom they identified in Court
from the midst of other persons with whom they were
mixed up at a test identification parade. The evidence
of their having identified such person.s at a test identification parade has no substantive value, but is very import<mt corroboration of their evidence in Court."
B
c
I.n Kanta Prasad v. Delhi.Administration(') a point was made D
regarding non-holding of test idenfification parade by the police
and this Court observed :
"As for the test identification parade, it is true ihat
no test identification parade was held. The appellants
were known to the police officials who had c\eposed
against ihe appellants and the only persons who did not
know them before were the persons who gave evidence
of associatio!l, to which the High Court did not attach
much importance. It would no doubt have been prudent to hold a test identification parade with respect t()
witnesse> who did not know the accused before the
occurrence, but failure to hold such a parade would not
make inadmissible the evidence of identification in
court. The weight to be attached to such identification
would be a matter for the courts of fact and it is not for
this Court to reassess the evidence unless exceptional
grounds were established necessitating such a course."
It seems to us that it has been clearly laid down by this Court
in Perkash Chand Sogani v. The State of Rajasthan\') that the
absence of test identification in all cases is not fatal and if the
accused person is well-knowri by sight it would be waste of time
to put him up for identification.
Of course if the prosecution
fails to .hold an identification on the plea that the witnesses already
knew the accused well and il transpires in the course of the trial
(1) A.I.R. 1951 Cal. 475.
. (2) [1958] S.C.R. 1218, 1221.
(3) G.A. No. 92 of 1956 decided on 15-1-1957,
E
F
G
H
-
JADUNATH \', u.P. STATE (Sikri, ).)
~25
.....
A
that _the witnesses did not know the accused previously, the prosecution woμld run the risk of losing its case. It seems to us that
if there is any doubt in the miitter the prosecution should hold an
identification parade specially if an accused says tbat the alleged
eye-witnesses did not know him previously. It may be that there
is no express provision in the Code of Criminal Procedure enablB ing an accused lo insist on an identification parade but if the
accused does make an application and that application is turned
down and it transpires during the course of the tria\'that the wit-
;nesses ·did not .know the accus~d previously, as pointed out above
the prosecution wil), unless there is some other evidence, run the
risk of losing the case on 'this point.
c
D
E
F
In the present· case, however, it is clear that P.W. Mahesh
Chandra knew the accusea perso.ns for about· four years and
said :
"I know the accused persons, J adunath Singh an_d
Girand Singh for about 4 years.' They live at village
Garhiya lying at a distan~e of three furlongs "from
Bewat.
Girand Singh is reading at the Amar Shaheed
Inter Colleg~. Bewar."
No cmss-examination was directed on this point. P.W. 3, Dwarika
Prasad, stated':
"I had seen Girand visiting Bewar before that but I
had seen Jadunath at Bewar only once or twice before
that dflY·
Identifies both the accused persons in the
dock. Lays hand correctly on Jadunath; and also lays
hands correctly 011 Cirand in the dock."
In cross-examination he ·stated :
"I had seen Jndunath accused at Bewar at the shop
of one Chhakku once or twice before the occurrence. I
had seen him two or 2t years back."
It seems to us that the reason given by the Public Prosecutor
G in the report and the_ .reason given by the Additional District
Magistrate '(Judicial) in the. order directing that identifica~ion requested for ·be not held were not valid.
The foct that a charge
sheet had been received and the_ accused had been named · by
P.W.s was no justification for not having ordered the test identification.
But on the facts of this case it is clear that P.W. 2 at
least knew the accused from before. As regards P.W. 3, althouoh
H
he claims to have known the accused. it is clear that his kno~--·
ledge of the accused w:is very sc:int and if it had not been for the
evidence of P.W. 2 we would not have placed reliance on the
926
SUPREME COURT REPORTS
(1911 i,2 s.c.Il
evidence of P. W. 3 in view of the fact that the police did not ask
A
him to identify th~ appellant.
It is stated in Phipson on the Law of Evidence, 9th Ed., p.
415, as follows:
.
"In criminal cases it is improper to identify the
accused -only when in the dock; the police shoulci place
B
him, before hand, with others, and ask the· witness to
pick him out. Nor should the witness be guided in any
way, nor asked "Is that the man ?"
We consider that the same is the law in India, if the identity is in:
donbt.
Accordingly on the facts of this case we are of th~ opinion'
that the trial was not vitiated because the accused persons were
denied identification.
Regarding the second ~oint, we have already extracted the
evidence of the doctor, and 1t is quite clear to us that the evidence
D
is not in confiict with the prosec\ltion case. If the occurrence
took place at nbout 7 .30. n.m. and the deceased had not taken
any food in the morning, his stomach would still be empty at
7.30 11.m. If ·anything the medical evidence destroys the case of
the defence that the murder took place at about 3 in the morning.
We are unable to think that the deceased would leave with J>rem
E
Narain at 3 a.m. to catch a bus ii•hich was supposed to leave at
about 7 R.m.
This appeal is by special leave and this Court does not reappreciate the evidence. The other points raised by the learned
counsel are of t\lat nature, and at any rate there is no substance
in these points.
F
The appeal accordingly fails and is dismissed.
G.C,
Appeal dismissed.
L694SupCI/i0-2500--29·4·72-GIPF.
L