# Thakur Gokal Chand v. Parvin Kumari. Fazl Ali f - **Citation:** [1952] 1 S.C.R. 839 - **Court:** Supreme Court of India - **Decided:** 1949-08-05 - **Case number:** Criminal Appeal No. 2i of 1950 - **Bench:** SAIYID FAzL Au, VIVIAN BosE - **Source:** https://unisonlegal.in/judgment/supreme-court-of-india/thakur-gokal-chand-v-parvin-kumari-fazl-ali-f-71 - **Pages:** 10 ## Headnote Evidence Act (1 of 1872), sec. 27-Statements of several accused leading to discoveries-Admissibility-Necessity of proof as to which statement was made first-Scope of sec. 27. Three persons K, M and S, who were accused of murder · made statements to the police which disclosed that the dead bodies after being dismembered were thrown into a stream and the police party thereafter went with the three accused to the stream where each of them pointed out a place where different 1952 Thakur Gokal Chand v. Parvin Kumari. Fazl Ali f. 1952 March 21. 1952 Lachma11 Singh and Others v. The State. 840 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [1952] parts of the dead bodies were discovered. It was contended on behalf of the accused that it was only the information which was first given that was admissible u·nder sec. 27 of the Evidence Act, that once a fact has been discovered in consequence of information received from a person accused of an offence~ it cannot be said to be re~discovered in consequence of information received from another accused person, and that in the absence of evidence to show which of the accused first gave the infer· mation the discoveries alleged cannot be proved against any of the accused persons: Held, that, even assuming that this argu· ment was correct, as it appeared from the evidence that S led the police to a particular spot on the stream and it was at his instance that some blood stained earth was recovered from a place outside the village and he had also pointed out the trunk of one of the dead bodies, and the High Court was satisfied that there was an "initial pointing out" by S, the case was covered by the rule and the evidence as to the discoveries was admissible. \Vith regard to the rule applicable to cases where there is clear and unimpeachable evidence as to independent and authen· tic statements of the nature referred to in sec. 27 of the Evidence Act having been made by several accused persons either simultaneously or otherwise, some of the decided cases have gone further than is warranted by the language of sec. 27 of the Evidence Act and may have to be reviewed on a future occasion. CRIMINAL APPELLATE JURISDICTION : Criminal Appeal No. 2i of 1950. Appeal from the judgment and order dated 29th J uni:, 1950, of the High Court of Judicature at Simla (Weston C.J. and Khosla J.) in Criminal Appeal No. 432 of 1949 arising out of a judgment dated 5th August, 1949, of the Court of the Addi- · tional Sessions Judge, Amritsar, in Sessions Trial No. 7 S.C.R. SUPREME COURT REPORTS 841 conviction and sentence and granted them a certificate under article 134( 1) ( c) of the Constitution that the case 1s a fit one for appeal to this Court. Hence this appeal. The facts of the case may be briefly stated as follows. On the evening of 16th December, 1948, a little before sunset, Achhar Singh, one of the murdered persons, went to the house of one Inder Singh in village Dalam for getting paddy husked. Achhar Singh's brother, Darshan Singh, who was working as a driver at Amritsar, came to Dalam from Amritsar the same evening, and, on coming, to know from his father that Achhar Singh had gone to Inder Singh's house, he also went there. While the two brothers were returning home, they were attacked by the three appellants and two of their relatives in a lane adjoining Inder Singh's house. The five assailants, who were armed with deadly weapons, inflicted a number of injuries on the two victims, as a result of which they died then and there. After the murder, the appellants and their ## Text • S.C.R. SUPREME COURT REPORTS 839 invoked by the · plaintiff, to the property held by a wife in her own right, the foundation on which custom grows would be wanting. When the matter is further probed, it appears that the plaintiff relies not only on custom but partly on custom and partly on the rule of Hindu la:w, namely, that the law which governs the husband will govern the wife , also. Whether the latter rule can be extended to a case like the present ~ a question of some difficulty, on which, as at present advised, we would reserve our opinion. In the circumstances, we prefer to leave the issue of custom undecided, and base our decision on the sole ground, which by itself is sufficient to conclude the appeal, that the plaintiff's marriage with Ram Piari has not been clearly established. The appeal therefore fails and it is dismissed, but in the circumstances of the e;ase and particularly since the appellant has appealed in f orma pauperis, we direct that the parties will bear their own costs in all the courts. Appeal dismissed. Agent for the appellant: S. D. Sekhri. Agent for the respondent: Naunit Lal. LACHMAN SINGH AND OTHERS v. THE STATE [SAIYID FAzL Au and VIVIAN BosE JJ.] Evidence Act (1 of 1872), sec. 27-Statements of several accused leading to discoveries-Admissibility-Necessity of proof as to which statement was made first-Scope of sec. 27. Three persons K, M and S, who were accused of murder · made statements to the police which disclosed that the dead bodies after being dismembered were thrown into a stream and the police party thereafter went with the three accused to the stream where each of them pointed out a place where different 1952 Thakur Gokal Chand v. Parvin Kumari. Fazl Ali f. 1952 March 21. 1952 Lachma11 Singh and Others v. The State. 840 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [1952] parts of the dead bodies were discovered. It was contended on behalf of the accused that it was only the information which was first given that was admissible u·nder sec. 27 of the Evidence Act, that once a fact has been discovered in consequence of information received from a person accused of an offence~ it cannot be said to be re~discovered in consequence of information received from another accused person, and that in the absence of evidence to show which of the accused first gave the infer· mation the discoveries alleged cannot be proved against any of the accused persons: Held, that, even assuming that this argu· ment was correct, as it appeared from the evidence that S led the police to a particular spot on the stream and it was at his instance that some blood stained earth was recovered from a place outside the village and he had also pointed out the trunk of one of the dead bodies, and the High Court was satisfied that there was an "initial pointing out" by S, the case was covered by the rule and the evidence as to the discoveries was admissible. \Vith regard to the rule applicable to cases where there is clear and unimpeachable evidence as to independent and authen· tic statements of the nature referred to in sec. 27 of the Evidence Act having been made by several accused persons either simultaneously or otherwise, some of the decided cases have gone further than is warranted by the language of sec. 27 of the Evidence Act and may have to be reviewed on a future occasion. CRIMINAL APPELLATE JURISDICTION : Criminal Appeal No. 2i of 1950. Appeal from the judgment and order dated 29th J uni:, 1950, of the High Court of Judicature at Simla (Weston C.J. and Khosla J.) in Criminal Appeal No. 432 of 1949 arising out of a judgment dated 5th August, 1949, of the Court of the Addi- · tional Sessions Judge, Amritsar, in Sessions Trial No. 7 S.C.R. SUPREME COURT REPORTS 841 conviction and sentence and granted them a certificate under article 134( 1) ( c) of the Constitution that the case 1s a fit one for appeal to this Court. Hence this appeal. The facts of the case may be briefly stated as follows. On the evening of 16th December, 1948, a little before sunset, Achhar Singh, one of the murdered persons, went to the house of one Inder Singh in village Dalam for getting paddy husked. Achhar Singh's brother, Darshan Singh, who was working as a driver at Amritsar, came to Dalam from Amritsar the same evening, and, on coming, to know from his father that Achhar Singh had gone to Inder Singh's house, he also went there. While the two brothers were returning home, they were attacked by the three appellants and two of their relatives in a lane adjoining Inder Singh's house. The five assailants, who were armed with deadly weapons, inflicted a number of injuries on the two victims, as a result of which they died then and there. After the murder, the appellants and their companions tied the two dead bodies in two kheses (wrappers) and took them to village Saleempura where two other persons, named Ajaib Singh and Banta Singh, joined them, and the dead bodies after being dismembered were thrown into a stream known as Sakinala at a place about five miles from village Dalam. Bela Singh, father of the deceased persons, who was one of the persons who claiw; to have witnessed the occurrence, did not leave the village at night on account of fear, but he started about two hours before sunrise on the next morning and lodged the first information report at 10 A.M. at the nearest police station. A police officer arrived in village Dalam shortly afterwards, and after investigation a charge-sheet was submitted against seven persons including the present appellants. At the trial, five of the accused were charged with offences under section 302 read with section 149 and under section 201 read with section 149 of the Indian Penal Code, and the remaining two accused were charged with the offence under section 201 read with section 149 of that Code. The learned Judge who tried 1952 Lachman Sing/, and Others v. The State. Fazl Ali/. 1952 Lzchman Singh and Others v. The State, Fazl Ali/. 842 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [1952] the accused, convicted the appellants and two other persons under section 302 read with section 149 of the Penal Code and sentenced them to transportation for life and convicted Ajaib Singh under section 201 read with section 149 and sentenced him to three years' R.I. Banta Singh, accused, was acquitted. On appeal the Punjab High Court upheld the conviction of th~ present appellants and acquitted the remaining three persons. Before proceeding to discuss the evidence in the case, it is necessary to refer to what has been described as the motive for thy. murder. It appears, that in June, 1947, Natha Singh, father of the third appellant, Swaran Singh, was murdered, and Darshan Singh and Achhar Singh, the two milrdered persons in the case before us, and their third · brother, Sulakhan Singh, were charged with the murder of that person. As a result of the trial, Darshan Singh was acquitted and Achhar Singh was sentenced to 1! years' R.I., while Sulakhan Singh was sentenced to 7 years' R.I. The judgment of the Sessions Judge in that case was delivered shortly before the date of the present occurrence, and it is common ground that Achhar Singh had been released on bail by the appellate court and was at large at _that time. It is said that the appellants and their relatives felt aggrieved by the 'acquittal of Darshan Singh and by the light sentenced passed on Achhar Singh, and therefore committed this murder in a spirit of frmtration and revenge. It was conceded before us by the learned counsel for the appellants that the facts stated above constituted a strong motive for the murder, but he also contended that .they constituted an equally strong motive for the appellants being falsely implicated in case the murder was committed, as was suggested by him, in circumstances under which the murderers could not be seen or identified. It therefore becomes necessary to set out the evidence adduced by the prosecution in support of the murder. The evidence led by the prosecution may be divided under two main heads:-(1) Direct evidence, and (2) Circumstantial evidence. The direct evidence consists 1 -' S.C.R. SUPREME COURT REPORTS 843 oif the testimony of four eye-witnesses, namely, Bela Singh, father of the deceased, who claims to have gone to the scene of occurrence on hearing an outcry and to have witnessed the murderous assault on his sons ; Inder Singh and his wife, Mst. Taro, to whom the murdered persons had gone for getting paddy husked and who lived in a house adjoining the lane where the murder took place ; and Gurcharan Singh, a resident of a different village, who states that he saw the occurrence when he was going towards village Dhadar on a cycle. The circumstantial evidence in the case, on which the High Court has relied, may be briefly summarised as follows :- ( 1) The second appellant, Massa Singh, who was arrested on the 18th December, 1948, was wearing a pyjama stained with human blood. (2) The third appellant, Swaran Singh, who was arrested on the 18th December, 1948, took the police on the 19th December to his haveli which was locked, and, on opening it two khases (wrappers) which were stained with human blood were recovered. · (3) Swaran Singh pointed out a spot on the way to Sakinala, where the two dead bodies were placed for a short time while they were being taken to Sakinala, and the police scrapped blood-stained earth from that spot. He also led the police to the bank of Sakinala and pointed out the trunk of the body of Darshan Singh which was lying in the nala. (4) Lachhman Singh, who was arrested on the 28th December, 1948, pointed out· a dilapidated khola near Sakinala where 3 spears, one kirpan and a datar, all stained with human blood, were recovered. The learned Sessions Judge, who heard the evidence, seems to have been impressed by the evidence of the eye-witnesses, and he has summed up his conclusion in these words:- "This evidence was so consistent, so reliable, and of such nature that in my opinion it is definitely established that the five accmed Lachhman Singh, Katha 1952 Lachman Singh and Others v. Th r: Sta tr:. Fazl Ali/. 1952 Lachman Singh and Others v. The State. Fazl Ali J. 844 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [1952] Singh, Massa Singh, Charan Singh and Swaran Singh are proved to have actually murdered both Darshan Singh and Achhar Singh. This fact is further proved from subsequent events as deposed by P.W. 8 Bahadur Singh and P.W. 9 Gian Singh and P. W. 11 Bhagwan Singh. These witnesses had witnessed the various recoveries in this case which were made at the instance of all the accused." The learned Judges of the High 03urt, though they repelled most of the criticisms levelled against the witnesses, ultimately came to the conclusion that "in all the circumstances (of the case) it would be proper not to rely upon the oral evidence implicating particular accused ' unJess there is some circumstantial evidence to support it". Having laid down this standard, they examined the circumstancial evidence against each of the accused persons and upheld the conv>iction of the three appellants on the ground that the circumstantial evidence, to which reference has been made, was sufficient corrobbration of the oral evidence. The case of the appellants was argued at great length by Mr. Sethi, who appeared for them, and everything that could possibly be said in their favour was urged by him with great force and clarity. Proceedings, however, upon the principles laid down by this court, circumscribing the scope of a criminal appeal after the case has been sifted by the trial court, and the High Court, it seems to us that the question involved in the present appeal is a short and simple one. According to our reading of the judgment of the High Court, the learned Judges, who dealt with the case, did not condemn the oral evidence outright, but, as a matter of prudence and caution, they decided not to convict an accused person unless there were some circumstances to lend support to the evidence of the eye-witnesses with regard to him. It is quite clear on reading the judgment that the corroboration· which the learned judges required to satisfy themselves was not that kind of corroboration which one requires in the case of the evidence of an approver or an accomplice, ), .. S.C.R. SUPREME COURT REPORTS 845 but corroboration by some circumstances which would lend assurance to the evidence before them and satisfy them that the particular accused persons were really concerned in the murder of the deceased. Judged by this standard, which it was open to them to prescribe, it seems to us that the case of each of -the appellants clearly fell within the rule which they had laid down for their own guidance. The comment of the learned counsel for the appellants with regard to the blood-stained pyjama which was recovered from Massa Singh was, firstly, that it was not possible to gather from the evidence the extent of the blood stains, and secondly that it would be highly improbabk that this accused person would be so reckless as to continue to wear a blood stained pyjama after having perpetrated the crime. This criticism has been considered by the courts below, and it does not appear to us to be of such a nature as to affect the conclusion arrived at by them. As to the recovery of blood-stained weapons at the instance 'Of Lachhman Singh, it was urged that the entire evidence with regard to this recovery should be discarded, as the police investigation in the case was not a straightforward one but was conducted in such a way as to raise suspicion that the police were deliberately trying to create some evidence of recovery against each of the accused persons. It is sufficient to say that it is not the function of this court to reassess evi-