Sudershan Kumar v. the State of Delhi

Judgment

CRIMINAL APPELLATE JURISDICTION : Criminal Appeal No. 54 of 1971. Appeal by Special Leave from the Judgment & Order dated the 31st March, 1970 of the Delhi High Omrt in Cri A. No. 38 of 1968. Bawa Gui·charm1 Singh and D. D. Sharma for the Appellant. Girish Chandra, for the respondent. The Jttdgme.nt of the Court was delivered by MATHEW J. When the special leave to appeal was granted, this lJ Court limited it to the question 0f the nature of the offence committed by the appellant (accused) in (~ausing the death of one Maya De•i by pouring acid on her body. s. KUMAR v. DELI-II (Mathew, J.) i21 The prosecution case was as follows. Maya Devi, aged 19' years at the ume of her death was the daughter of Raj Kumari (P.W. 1). Both the mother and daui:hter had taken to the proression of dancing and smgmg and used to live in an apartment on G. B. Road, LJelhi. The accused had illicit connection with Maya Devi and he often used to go to the residence of the deceased.

The accused wanted to marry Maya Devi but she declined as he was always married to another woman. A few days' before the occurrence, the appellant took Maya Devi with him to his house and she stayed there for about 12 days. Thereafter Maya Devi was brought back by the accused to her mother's apartment. On that occasion also the· accused asked Maya Devi to marry him but she refused. The accused then threatened Maya Devi that if she would not marry him, she. should either leave Delhi or he would kill her ID such a manner that she would have a lingering death. On August 14, 1967, af about 6 A.M., Maya Devi was lying on her cot with her son aged about one month. Raj Kumari was lying on another cot in the same room. The accu'sed came to the room holding a jug containing acid and a bottle. The accused then poured the aci~ out of the jug on Maya Devi, her son and Raj Kumari. They started crying and the accused threw the jug on the cot !fnd placed the bottle on the ground and ran away.

Maya Devi was thereafter removed to the City Clinic, Asaf Ali Road, New Delhi, a private hospital at about 6.30 A.M. Raj Kumari and the son of Maya Devi were also taken to the hospital. They were examined by Dr. V. K. Jain. He found that Maya Devi had extensive iniuries on her person. The doctor found that there were a few streaks and patches of acid burns on the right arm and forearm of Raj Kumari. Acid burns were also found on the scalp of the child of Maya Devi. After 2ettin2 first aid from the City Clinic, Raj Kumari went to Police Station Kamla Market and lodged the F.l.R. at 8.30 A.M. The Assistant Sub-Inspector Surjit Singh wevt to the City Clinic and found Maya Devi lying in a precarious condition. She was not ID a position to give any statement. On August 16, 1967, the Assistant Sub-Inspector went to the clinic and with the permission of Dr. Jain, recorded the statement of Maya Devi in which she stated that it was the accused who had thrown acid on her, her mother and her son on the 14th morning. ~ter August 16, 1967, .

Maya Devi started having toxaemia and mfectton of the burns. It was, therefore, thought better to transfer her to the Special Burns Unit in Safdarjang Hospital. Accon!ingly. on ~ugust 21, 1967, Maya Devi was admitted in the Safdarjang Hospital at about 9 P.M. She was treated in that Hospital by Dr. K. S. Rai Kumar, House Surgeon and Dr. (Miss) Nirmala Laksh!ll!. Narain. ~n August 23. 1967, Shri V. N. Chaturvedi, Sub-DiVJs•onal Magistrate, Hauz Qazi, went to Safdariang Ho<pital and recorded the statement of Maya Devi. Jn that statement also she stated that the accused had thrown acid on her, her mother and SUPREME COUl.T REPORTS eon OD the morniD£ of Au&i1st 14, 1967. Maya Devi died in Safdarjang Hospital at 2.50 A.M. on August 26, 1967. The usual inquest report was prepared and the dead body was sent to the mortuary. Post-mortem examination of the dead body was perlormetl by Dr. S. S. Kaushal on August 26, 1967 at 6 P.M. The accused, in his statement under s.

342, Cr.P.C. said that he never wanted to marry Maya Devi, that she was living with him as · his wife without any formal marriage, that he never threatened 'Maya Devi -~hat in case she did not marry him he would kill her and that he dld rto1 go to the h.1us: of Maya Devi on the morning of August !Iii, 1967 with a jug and bottle of acid. T'ie lc~rm:d Sessions Judge accepted the prnsecution cJ'c ,,nd convicted the accu~cd under s. 302 I.P.C. and sentenced. him imprisonment for life. The co'1viction and sentence were co··firmeJ by the High Court. The appellant's contention w~s that he did not intend to kill Mnyll Devi but intcnd::d only to disfigure her, and. therefore, the offence would fall either under s. 304, part 1 or unrJer s. 326 of the fndian Penal C'.ode. The offence of murder is defined under s. 300 of the I P .C. Arcord;ng to c1ame 3 of thrrt section, culpable homicide is murder if. the act by which the death is caused is done with the intention of causinl? bodilv iniurv to any person and the bodily injury intended to he inflicted is sufficient in the ordinary course of nature to cause death.

In Virsa SinRh v. The State of Puniab(I), this Coµr/said: "To put it shortly. the prosecution must prove the followinl? facts before it can bring a case under s. 300 "3rdiy" : First, it must establish, quite objectively, that a bodily injury is present; Secondly, the nature of the injury must be proved; These are purely objective investigations. Thirdly, it must be proved that there was llll intention 1 to inflict that particular bodily iniury, that is to say, t}1at it was not acciclental or unintentional, or that some other kind of iniury wRs intended. Once these three elements are proved to be present, :the enquiry nroceeds further and, Fourthlv. it must be nrovec! t1'at the iniurv of the tvoe iust de~cribl-,d made un of th~ thr~e eleme11ts, set out above is sufficient to cause death in the ordinary course of nature. 11) fl9581 S.C.R. 14q5_ at 1500--15•)1. I S· ImMAR v. DELHI (Mathew, I.)

This part of tho enquiry is purely objective and infeccntial and has nothmg to. do with the mtention of the offender. Once these four elements are established by the prosecution (and of course, the burden is on the prosecution througuout the offence is murder under s. 300, 3rdiy. It does not matter that there was no intention to cause death. It does not matter that there was no intention even to cause an iniurv of a kind that is sufficient to cause death in the ordinary course of nature . . . ". In the present case, it is established beyond all reasonable doubt that the accused intended to cause injuries by throwing acid and injuries were caused on the person of Maya Devi. Dr.• V. K. Jain, who treated Maya Devi in the CJty Clinic has stated in his evidence that the injuries suffered by Maya Devi were sufficient collect1vety, in the ordinary course of natl!re, to cause death. The opinion of Dr. Jain is corroborated by the evidence of Dr. K. S. Raj Kumar.

He 11aid that the bums were to the extent of 35 per cent of the body, that if the bum exceeded 30 per cent, the same would be dangerou8 to life and that the injuries on Maya Devi were dangerous to life. Dr. S. S. Kaushal who conducted the post-mortem examination wM of the view that rleath was due to toxaemia and septi-semia from absorption of toxine on account of the extensive superficial ulceration of the body caused bv some corrosive material. The evidence of these doctors would show that the injuries caused to Maya Devi were of a dangerous character. The fact that Maya Devi lingered tor about 12 davs would not show that the death was not the direct result of the act of the appellant in throwing acid on her. The medical evidence is clear that 35 per cent of the surface of the body of Maya Devi was burnt as a result of the injuries received by her. "The involvement of one-third to one-half of the superficial surface of the body is likely to end fatally".

(see Modi'5 Medical Jurisprudenre and ToJ:icology, 17th ed., p: 196). " .. In suppurative cases, death may occur after five or six weeks or even longer" ( ibi4. p. 198). Tay1'or says tJat after th"': four~h day cf the iniury, "the chief danger to life is the occurrence ·of sepsis in the burned areas" ( 1). It was contended for the appellant that death of Maya Devi wa~ not the direct result of the injuries caused by the said burns but wa~ on account of some supervening circumstances not resulting from the injuries and therefore, the appellant could not be hdd guil!y cf murder. He relied on the evidence of Dr. (Miss) Nirmala L~k<hmi Narain who had stated, on her cross-examinatirm, t1'at the cau'c of death of Maya Devi was malaena and respiratory fai1ure. Malaena, according to Dr. Jain is nothinit but passing of old blood in the -(I) Se• "Tuylor'q P~inclples and Practice of Medical Jurisprudence", 12th ed., Vol. I, p, 331. [1975] 2 s.c.It. stools. The evidence of Dr. S. S. Kaush,al w~o. performed th~ postmortem examination of the dead body is definite.

He says • "Death, in my opinion, was due to toxae~a and sep?· sem.ia from absorpuon of toxins from extensive superficial ulceration of the body caused by some corrosive matenal.'' As already stated, the evidence of Dr. Jain and Dr. Raj. Kum~ is also to the effect that the in.juries caused on Maya Devi were sufficient in the ordinary course of nature to cause death. T~e fact that Mava Devi developed symptoms of malaena and resprratory failure an'd. they also contributed to her death cannot in any way .affect our conclusion that the injuries caused by the acid burns were the direct c:ause of her death. "Since Curling first drew attention to the occurrence of duodenal ulcers after burns numerous cases have been recorded both in vivo and post-mortem after burns. Petechiae of the stomach and duodenum, often with erosions, occasionally acute ulcers, is a more common post-mor'.em finding : the condition is due to anoxia from hypotension and stasis. The large bowel may also be involved"

(see Taylor's Principles and Practice of Medical Jurisprudence, 12th ed. Vol. I, p. 331). Mciii, in his Medical Jurisprudence, has stated that burns would ·Cause: "Inflammation of serous membrances and internal. organs, such as meningitis, peritonitis, oedema glottidis, pleurisy, bronchitis, broncho-pheumonia, pheumonia, ente· ritis and periora:inR ulcer of the duodenum (17th ed. p. 197). Nor is there any substance in the argument that fytaya Dev:i was not given proper treatment and that her deiith was due to negligence of the doctors who treated her. The evidence shows that imme.- di~t~ly after she received the injuries, she was taken to the City 01mc and there Dr. Jain treated her. As her condition did not improve, .she was. removed to the Burns Unit of Safdarjang Hospital. There 1s no evidence that it was because she did not receive proper treatment that the developed toxaemia and septi-semia-Explanation 2 to s. 299 is relevant in this context :

"'Vhere death is caused by bodily injury, the person who causes such bct:lily injury shall be· deemed to have caused. the death, although by, resorting to proper remedies and sk1llful treatment the death might have been prevented". The arfn]men.t of counsel that the accused only intended to disfigure Maya Devi and not to cause her death overlooks the evidence ot Raj Kumari that the appellant threatened Maya Devi that if she 8 s. ICUMAI\ V. DELlll (Mat~w, /.) did not marry him, mt will have a lingering death and also tile evidence furnished by the dying declaration of Maya Devi that the appellant threatened to kill or disfigure her with acid. The act of the appellant in pouring acid on the body was. a preplanned one and he · iJJ.tended to cause tJ:ie injury which he aetuaRy caused. As the injuries caused by the appellant were sufficient in the ortliriary course of nature to cause death, the appellant is guilty of an offence punishable under s. 302 of the lnllian Penal Code.

In these circumstances, we confirm the conviction and sentence and dismiss the appeal. P.B.R. Appeal dismissed.