Ramesh Kumar v. Ram Kumar & Ors.

Judgment

The Judgment of the Court was delivered by CaiNNAPPA REDDY, J. We are very unhappy about the judg- 'ment of the High Court. Both the respondents were convicted by the learned First. Additional Sessions Judge of.KurukShetra under s. 302 read witk s. 34 of the I_ndia11 Penal Code · and 'each of them was lrenten~ed to. undergo imprisonment for life. On appeal, for very_ strange reasons, the High· Court acquitted the first respondent and converted _the conviction of the second respondent to one under 1 304-A l. P. c: and reduced the sentence. to two years' rigorous imprisonme~t. What the High Court said speaks for itself. This is what the High CourtJsaid: "However, we are told by the learned counsel for the parpes that they being· closely related some members of the village have.· intervened and have brought about some sort of arrangement under. which Ram Kumar appell~nt has already made a gift of three-acres . of land in favonr of Smt. Maya Devi widow of Chander Shekhar .·. as compensation on account of the loss of life ·of.her husbaad.

1 ho1,1gh this is not a matter which can be taken notice of by' thi~ Court, yet it has always been our desire to see that-enmity between close relations should be encoura- . ged to come to an end. Since the father of Ramesh Kumar (P. W. 6) had lost h_is life, he could possibly have indulged in some exaggeration to magnify the nature of the offence. In the ·circumstances, we give• benefit of doubt to Ram Kumar appellant and acquit him. We convert the convition of RatRa appellant from one under section 302 to one under - section 304~A, Indian Penal Code and Sentence him to undergo to years rigorous imprisonment Ram Kumar appel· !ant is ~m bait His bail bond shall siand ~charged." We can only say that the judgment.of the High Court has left us shocked and P?rplexed. We are at a total loss to understand it.

The entire system o~ administration of Criminal justice is reduced to ~ mocke_ry, If the Judgment o( the ffigh Court is upheld, lt is as .1fa person. w~oc1n afford to make gifts of land or money to t_he )!en's of the v1cttm may get away even with a charge_ of murder; (1984] 3 S.C.ll. Courts are to ·dispense justice, not to dispense with justice. And, justice to be dispensed is not palm-tree justice o.r idiosyncratic justice. The judgment. can not stand a second's scrutiny. ·It is accordingly set aside and the matter is remancled to the 'High Court so that the Criminal appeals and revision may he reheard. On behalf of the accused a very curious request was made, that the land gifted" by the father of ihe accused to the widow of ·the dece~sed may be.directed to be returned to the father of the accused. We. take no notice.of the gift and we reject the request. H.S.K. Appeals allowed.