Evidence of even a single eye witness, truthful, consistent and inspiring confidence is sufficient for maintaining conviction

Part-3

01/10/2016

IN THE SUPREME COURT OF INDIA
CRIMINAL APPELLATE JURISDICTION
CRIMINAL APPEAL NO. 2126 OF 2010
S.P.S. Rathore .... Appellant(s)
Versus
C.B.I. & Anr. .... Respondent(s)
JUDGMENT
(Continued from previous issue)……
They saw that the appellant-accused was standing outside his office. On seeing them, the appellant-accused asked them to come to his office. Though Ms. Ruchika requested the appellant-accused to talk to her outside the office, but he insisted them to come to his office. On his insistence, they followed him towards his office. On being asked by the appellant-accused, a chair was brought on which Ms. Aradhana (PW-13) sat down while Ruchika remained standing on her right side. Immediately thereafter, the appellant-accused asked Ms. Aradhana to fetch the coach-Mr. T. Thomas. When she went outside to call the coach, she found him standing at a distance on the other side of the house across the road. She asked the ball picker-Paltoo to go and fetch the coach. Mr. Thomas, on being informed about the same by Mr. Paltoo, waved his hand towards Ms. Aradhana expressing his inability to come at that moment. Thereafter, Ms. Aradhana returned and when she entered the office, she saw that the appellant-accused was holding one hand of Ms. Ruchika and his other hand was around her waist. Ms. Ruchika was trying hard to get herself released by pushing him away with her other hand. On seeing Ms. Aradhana (PW-13), the appellant-accused became nervous and released Ms. Ruchika and fell down on his chair. When she informed the appellant-accused that coach has refused to come to his office, the appellant-accused rudely ordered her to go again and call the coach personally. In the meantime, Ms. Ruchika came to her side and went out of the office. When PW-13 was trying to follow her, the appellant-accused told her “ask her to cool down, I will do whatever she will say”. Thereafter, PW-13 followed Ms. Ruchika and when she reached near her, Ruchika started weeping loudly. When she asked Ms. Ruchika as to what had happened, she narrated that as soon as she left to fetch the coach, the appellant-accused caught hold of her hand which she got released with great difficulty, but he again caught hold of her hand and with his other hand the appellant-accused caught hold of her waist and dragged her towards him and embraced her. She further told her that in the meantime when PW-13 reached there, he got scared and immediately released her. After discussion as to whether the incident be disclosed to their parents or not, both of them decided not to inform their parents about the incident as the appellant-accused, being a high ranking police officer, could harm their families. The molestation of Ms. Ruchika, at the hands of the appellant-accused is very well proved from the deposition of PW-13. There was no reason for Ms. Aradhana (PW-13) to depose falsely. In fact, she witnessed the actual act of molestation of Ms. Ruchika at the hands of the appellant-accused. Further, the fact regarding molestation of Ms. Ruchika by the appellant-accused has been stated on oath by Shri Anand Prakash (PW-1), Mrs. Madhu Prakash (PW-2), Mr. Manish Arora (PW-3), Mr. Vipul Chanan (PW-4) and Shri S.C. Girhotra (PW-15). There is no reason as to why PW-13 and other aforementioned prosecution witnesses would falsely implicate the appellant-accused in the case.
14) Ms. Ruchika and Ms. Aradhana visited the lawn tennis court on 14.08.1990, at 4:30 p.m., instead of their usual timing deliberately in order to avoid confrontation with the appellant-accused, who usually used to visit the court in the evening daily. At about 6.30 p.m., when they were about to return after practice, Shri Paltoo – the ball picker, came over the lawn tennis court and told Ms. Ruchika that the appellant-accused had called her in his office immediately.
However, Ms. Ruchika refused to go there and told Ms. Aradhana that since they had not informed about the incident which took place on 12.08.1990 to their parents that has emboldened the appellant-accused. Thereupon, they decided to inform about the overt act of the appellant-accused to their parents. They went to the house of Ms. Ruchika where they met Shri S.C. Girhotra - father of Ms. Ruchika. Ms. Ruchika started narrating the incident of molestation to her father, however, she could not narrate the entire incident and broke down, whereupon her father told Ms. Aradhana to take Ms. Ruchika to her mother. They went to the house of Ms. Aradhana where Mrs. Madhu Prakash (PW-2) and Shri Anand Prakash (PW-1) were present. Ms. Ruchika disclosed the entire incident to PW-2, who further informed her husband about the said incident. Thereafter, Ms. Ruchika, Ms. Aradhana, Shri Anand Prakash, Mrs. Madhu Prakash and Shri S.C. Girhotra and other persons went to HLTA court to meet the appellant-accused wherefrom they came to know that the appellant-accused had already left for Chandigarh.
15) On 15.08.1990, a number of persons, who were mostly players and their parents, gathered at the residence of Shri Anand Prakash. They decided that the incident should be brought to the notice of higher authorities including the Chief Minister of Haryana. Accordingly, a Memorandum was prepared. A number of copies of this Memorandum were prepared for being handed over to different authorities. This Memorandum was signed by Sh. Anand Prakash, Ms. Ruchika, Mrs. Madhu Prakash, Meenu, Sangeet, Aradhana, Anirudh, Beenu, Naresh Mittal, C.S. Gupta and Shri I.D. Mittal. The witnesses who were examined in the court identified their signatures as well as signatures of Ms. Ruchika on the Memorandum. The appellant-accused disputed the genuineness of signatures of Ms. Ruchika. He tried to substantiate his contention by examining the hand writing expert. The contention of the appellant-accused is not tenable as the witnesses who have been examined by the prosecution and in whose presence the Memorandum was signed, have identified the signatures of Ms. Ruchika. Shri Anand Prakash has proved the preparation of Memorandum. In this regard, the law is very clear that a fact should be proved by the best available evidence. The witnesses had identified the signatures of Ms. Ruchika on the Memorandum, therefore, the evidence of the hand writing expert cannot considered to be safe and it requires corroboration from independent witnesses.
As already stated, the signatures of Ms. Ruchika have been proved by the witnesses who have signed the Memorandum and are direct, primary and best available evidence in the case and, therefore, the same can be relied upon.
16) On 16.08.1990, the Memorandum was given to Shri J.K. Duggal (PW-12), the then Secretary (Home) who assured them that the matter would be enquired into. He asked the persons who had presented the Memorandum to him to reach the lawn tennis court where Shri S.K. Joshi, the then SDM would also be reaching. After reaching there, they found a Notice dated 15.08.1990 declaring suspension of Ms. Ruchika with effect from 13.08.1990 displayed on the Notice Board. Shri S.K. Joshi, the then SDM also reached there. Shri Kuldeep Singh-the Manager and Shri T. Thomas-the Coach were also present there. On being asked, Shri Kuldeep Singh, in the presence of witnesses, informed that he has affixed the notice on the directions of the appellant-accused. He further disclosed that Ms. Ruchika has committed no act of indiscipline. On being asked, Shri Kuldeep Singh gave the same facts in writing on the Notice. This fact was confirmed by the Coach - Shri T. Thomas and he signed at a point where the following words were written “I support the contents of the endorsement of Sh. Kuldeep Singh”. He was also asked to give it in writing, if any act of indiscipline has been committed by Ms. Ruchika. On this, he made an endorsement to the effect that to the best of his knowledge Ms. Ruchika has not done any act of misbehavior or indiscipline in the HLTA tennis court. This notice was produced by Shri Anand Prakash at the time of his deposition before the trial court. It has also come in his evidence that said notice was given to him by the SDM immediately after making endorsement. These facts have been proved by PW-1, PW-2, PW-3, PW-4, PW-5 and PW-13. The presence of Shri Kuldeep Singh and Shri T. Thomas on that day and time has already been proved by the then SHO, Panchkula who was on patrolling duty on that date and reached the spot on receiving verbal transmission message about the incident.
17) Shri R.R. Singh was directed by the Chief Minister and Home Minister of the State of Haryana to conduct an enquiry into the allegations contained in the Memorandum. In compliance of the said order, Shri R.R. Singh recorded the statements of the witnesses including Mrs. Madhu Prakash (PW-2), Ms. Aradhana (PW-13), Shri S.C. Girhotra (PW-15) and Shri Anil Kumar. The statements of Ms. Ruchika and Shri Anand Prakash (PW-1) were also recorded. After the enquiry, he recommended that a case under the relevant provisions of the IPC be got registered. Despite the fact that Shri R.R. Singh had recommended the registration of a case against the appellant-accused, no action was taken by the State Government. It is most surprising that no value was attached to the said Report and to the recommendations made by such a high ranking police officer i.e., Director General of Police, Haryana.
18) It has also been argued from the side of the appellant-accused that Shri B.S. Ojha and Shri J.K. Duggal were having great grudge against him. It was further contended that the relations between the appellant-accused and Shri R.R. Singh were strained since 1976. But this suggestion was denied by the witness while appearing in the court. Learned senior counsel for the CBI has strenuously submitted that a proper report was given by Shri R.R. Singh and it is a matter of common experience that no girl or father would make a false complaint of such heinous nature even against their enemy.
19) Shri R.R. Singh had conducted the enquiry under the orders of the Government of Haryana, therefore, he was competent to investigate/enquire into the allegations made in the Memorandum. As such, all the statements recorded by him are admissible under Section 157 of the Indian Evidence Act for the purpose of corroboration. Shri J.K. Duggal and Shri B.S. Ojha are independent witnesses and they have no grudge against the appellant-accused as alleged by the learned senior counsel. For the sake of arguments, even if it is assumed to be correct that there was some dispute over the control of HLTA between them, it was not such a big issue which would have induced them to implicate the appellant-accused falsely. There is no evidence on record to substantiate the allegations that these two officers were in any way instrumental in preparation of Memorandum or implicating the appellant-accused in the case. There is also no evidence on record to suggest any nexus of these two officers with Shri Anand Prakash (PW-1) and Shri S.C. Girhotra (PW-15). There is no evidence to suggest any enmity between the appellant-accused and PW-1 to implicate him in a fabricated case. It is further the case of the appellant-accused that statement recorded by Shri R.R. Singh cannot be used by the prosecution for the purpose of corroboration under Section 157 of the Evidence Act. The contention of the accused is not tenable at all. This section envisages two categories of statements of witnesses, which can be used for corroboration. First is the statement made by a witness to any person at or about the time when the incident took place. The second is the statement made by him to any authority legally competent to investigate the matter. Such statements gain admissibility, no matter that it was made long after the incident. But if the statement was made to non-authority, it loses its probative value due to lapse of time. Shri R.R. Singh was an authority legally competent to investigate the incident. He was asked by the State Government to enquire into the facts given in the Memorandum and report thereon. To make a person an authority legally competent to investigate, it is not necessary that he should be having authority which flows from a Statute.

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