KHARKAN AND OTHERS versus THE STATE OF U.P.

KHARKAN AND OTHERS

THE STATE OF U.P.

(S. K. DAS, ACTING C.J., M. HIDAYATULLAH AND K. c. DAS GUPTA, JJ.)

Crim£nal Procedure-Two incidents-Trial separate-Prior acquittal in one-If operates as bar to conviction in another case-Code of Criminal Procedure, 1898 (Act V of 1898), ss. 403, 236, 237. The eight appellants variously armed attacked one 'T' and as result of the assault 'T' died. These appellants then proceed-ed to loot the house of '1'' and on the way met four others who joined them. They then came across one 'P' and assaulted him. There was small gap of time and the places of assault were different. The magistrate framed single charge but the Session }' 1dge framed two charges namely one connected with the attack on 'T' and the other connected with the attack on 'P'. He also separated the trials on the two charges. The Sessions Judge convicted the appellants in both cases. The appeal in the second case £.e. the case relating to assault on 'P' was heard first by the High Court and the appellants \Vere acquitted of the charges of being members of an unlavvful assembly. Later the appeal connected with the assault,,. on 'T' was heard by the High Court and in that appeal their convictions and sentences were confirmed. The present appeal arises out of the convictions and sentences passed by the High Court. The appellants contended that the prior ac-quittal in the second case operated as bar to the conviction in the present case. The appellants relied on decision of the Privy Council namely Sambasivam v. Public Prosecutor Federation of Malaya and of this Court in Pritan1 Singh v. State of Punjab.

Held: (i) There was nothing in common between the present appeal and the aforesaid two cases relied upon by the appellants. In this case the assault on 'T' was over when the unlawful as-sembly formed its ne\v comn1on object namely the assault on 'P'.

(ii) plea of autrefois acquit which is statutorily recognised in India under s. 403 of the Code of Criminal Procedure arose when person is tried again for the same offence or on the same facts for any other offence for which different charge from the one made against him might have been made under s. 236 or for whi.ch he might have .been convicted under s. 237. The prior acquit-tal in the other case did not operate as bar to the conviction in the present case as the charge in the other case \Vas quite different from and independent of the charge in the present case, and ss. 236 and 237 of Code of Criminal Procedure were not applicable to the present facts because the two offences were distinct.

Sambasivam v. Public Prosecutor Federation of Malaya, [ 1950] A.C. 458, Pntam Singh v. State of Puniab, A.l.R. 1956 S.C. 415, Gurcharan Singh v. State of Puniab, [1963] 3 S.C.R. 585 and

August 29

Kharkan and others v. The State of U.P.

idayatullah, J.

()74 SUPREME COURT REPORTS

Mohinder Singh v. State of Puniab, Cr. A. No. HO of 1961 deci-ded on 31-7-63, explained.

(iii) This court, in the absence of special circumstances, docs not review for the third time evidence which has been accepted in the High Court and the trial court.

CRIMINAL APPELLATE Ju&1smcTioN : Criminal Appeal No. 95 of 1%1.

Appeal by special leave from the jucfgment and order dated February 15, 1%1, of the Allahabad High Court in Criminal Appeal No. 1597 of 1%0.

D.S. Tewatia and K. B. Mehta, for the appellants.

0. P. Rana and C. P. Lal, for the respondents.

August 29, 1%3. The Judgment of the Court was de-livered by

HIDAYATULLAH J.-This is an appeal by special leave against the Judgment of the High Court of Allahabad in Criminal Appeal No. 1597 of 1%0 decided on February 15, 1%1. The appellants are eight in number and they have been convicted under s. 325 read with s. 149 of the Indian Penal Code and sentenced to three years rigorous imprisonment. They have also been convicted variously under ss. 147 & 148, Indian Penal Code and sentenced to smaller terms of imprisonment which need not be men-tioned as those sentences are made to run concurrently with the above sentence. They were originally charged un-der s. 302 read with s. 149, Indian Penal Code for the mur-der of one Tikam on January 24, 1%0 at about noon in vil-lage Nandgaon Police Station Barsana District Mathura. The Session Judge, Mathura, did not think that case of murder was made out and convicted them of the les-ser offence. Their appeal to the High Court was dismis-sed and the conviction and sentences were maintained.

There was yet' another trial at which these eight per-sons and four others were tried under s. 307 /149, Indian Penal Code for causing hurt to one Puran with such in-tention and under such circumstances that if by that act they had caused his death they would have been guilty of murder and also under ss. 147 & 148 of the Penal Code for being members of an unlawful assembly, the com-mon object of which was an attempt on Puran's life. The learned Sessions Judge, Mathura held in the second case that the injuries sustained by Puran warranted an

offence under s. 323, Indian Penal Code. The accused and Puran compounded that offence and all the accused were acquitted. The Sessions Judge, however, convict-ed 11 out of 12 accused under ss. 147 & 148, Indian Penal Code and awarded different sentences, according to the weapons possessed by them. One Koka was ac-quitted because his plea that he was blind from birth was accepted. The 11 accused in the second case appealed to the High Court and were acquitted of the charge of be-ing members of an unlawful assembly. That Judgment of the High Court was delivered on January 31, 1961, in Criminal Appeal No. 1598 of 1%0, fifteen days before the confirmation of the conviction and sentences of the eight appellants in this appeal. The facts of the case may now be given.

There was enmity between Tikam (deceased) and the appellants and on January 24, 1960, just about noon time Tikam was sitting at the shop of blacksmith in village Nandgaon. Dulli and Nathi who were examined as P. W s. 2 & 3 were sitting near him. The appellants who were armed with Ballams, Pharsa and Lathis ar-rived on the spot and on seeing Tikam started to assault him. Tikam was severely injuwl and fell in ditch adja-cent to the road but even after he fell in it t!1e as--sault was continued by the appellants. He died the same day about five hours later. After assaulting Tikam, these appellants decided to ransack his house and started to-wards it. On the way they were met by the other four ac-cused an,! this brought their number to twelve. While they were going to the house of Tikam they saw Puran and decided to beat him. Puran was assaulted and the second case arose out of the assault on him.The learned magistrate who committed the accused to stand their trial before the Court of Sessions framed common charge in respect of the two incidents but the Sessions Judge amended the charge and divided it into two charges namely one connected with the attack on Tikam and the other connected with the attack on Puran. He also separated the two trials on the two charges. As stated already he convicted the eight appellants in respect of their assault on Tikam and the same appellants with three others in respect of their assault on Puran.

Kharkan and oth<fl v. The State of U.P.

Hidayatullah, f.

Kharkan and others v. The State of UP.

Hidayatullah, /.

The appeal in the second case was heard first and was allowed by the High Court and the 11 appellants in that appeal including the eight before us were ordered to be acquitted. .

It was contended before us by Mr. Tewatia that Mr. Justice Sharma who delivered the judgment impugned before us did not allow the appellants chance to reply to the arguments on behalf of the State and thus denied them fair hearing. This fact was mentioned in the petition for certificate in the High Court and has been repeated in the petition for special leave. Mr. Justice Sharma had proceeded to deliver judgment as soon as the arguments were over and the judgment was delivered by him on two consecutive days in the presence of the appel-lants and their counsel. If any such right had been denied to the appellants they should have brought the matter immediately to the notice of the learned Judge and he would have rectified it. It appears that the appellants were hoping for an acquittal in view of the prior acquit-tal by the learned Judge in the companion case and reali-sed too late that their appeal was not accepted. It is for this reason that they do not appear to have raised this is-sue before the learned Judge when they asked him to certi-fy the appeal and his Order does not show that they made grievance that the hearing was not fair. In .our opinion this point cannot be considered because though it · was mentioned. in the petition for certificate it was appa-rently not pressed before Mr. Justice Sharma.

The next contention of the appellants is that the prior acquittal in the second case operates as bar to the conviction in the present case and the High Court ought to have given the appellants the benefit of the prior ac-quittal. Reliance jn this connection is placed upon de-cision of the Privy Council in case from Malaya State reported in Sambasivam v. Public Prosecutor/Federation of Malaya(') and particularly the following passage from the judgment of Lord Mac Dermott :

"The effect of verdict of acquittal pronounced by competent court on lawful charge and after lawful trial is not completely stated by saying that the person acquitted cannot be tried again for the same offence. { [1]) [1950] A.C., 458 at p. 479.

To that is must be added that the verdict is binding and conclusive in all subsequent proceedings between the parties to the adjudication. The maxim "Res judicata pro veritate accipitur" is no less applicable to criminal than to civil proceedings. Here, the ap-pellant having been acquitted at the first trial on the charge of having ammunition in his possession, the prosecution was bound to accept the correctness of that verdict and was precluded from taking any step to challenge it at the second trial. And the ap-pellant was no less entitled to rely on his acquittal in so far as it might be relevant in his defence. That it was not conclusive of his innocence on the fire-arm charge is plain, but it undoubtedlv reduced in some degree the weight of the case against him, for at the first trial the facts proved in support of one charge were clearly relevant to the other having regard to the circumstances in which the ammunition and revolver were found and the fact that they fitted each other."The above passage was cited with approval by this Court in P,-itam Singh v. State of Punjab('). The two cited cases were considered and distinguishe<I bv this Court in Molzinder Singh v. State of Punjab(') and P,-itam Singh' s case was again distinguished in Gurcha-ren Singh & anr. v. State of Punjab("). As pointed out in Mohinder Singh v. State of Punjab('), the case of the Privy Council involved confession by an accused in which he admited possession of firearm and some am-munition which were both offences under the relative law of Malaya State. He was convicted on the basis of '.hat statement on two counts but on appeal was acquitted m respect of the count relating to the: possession of am-munition and fresh trial was ordered in respect of the count relating to the possession of the firearm. In the se-cond trial the confession was again relied upon and he was convicted. The Privy Council set aside the conviction because the confession was incapable of being divided in-to two parts so as to make separate confessions about the

--([1])A.I.R. 1956 S.C. 415.

(2) Cr. A. No. 140 of 1961, decided on 31-7-63 (Unreported). ( [3]) [1963] 3 S.C.R. 585.

Kharkan and others v. The State of U.P.

Hidayatullah, /.

poss~s~1on of firearm and about the possession of am-mumt1on. Their Lordships held that the confession which was indivisible could not be used at all, in view of the acquittal recorded earlier on the other count. In Pritam Singh's case(') the accused made statement lead-ing to the recovery of firearm with which he was alleged to have shot one of the victims. He was prose-cuted for possession of the firearm and was acquitted but the evidence of the possession of the firearm was used in the murder charge. This was held to be not permissi-ble. As explained in Mohinder Singh's case('), the ac-quittal in respect of the possession of firearm affected the admissibility of the same evidence in connection with the murder case, because the firearm could not at the same time be possessed as well as not possessed by the accus-sed. The acquittal under the Arms Act, being proper, affected the evidence of possession in the murder case. In Mohinder Singh's case(2) as well as in Gurcharan's(') case Pritam's(') case was distinguished because in those cases, the acquittal under the Arms Act was later than the conviction on the substantive charge.

KharJtan and other1 v. The State of U.P. Hiday•tullah, /.

There is nothing in common between the present ap-peal and the two cases relied upon by the appellants. In this case there is no doubt prior acquittal but on charge which was quite different from ·and independent of the charge in the present case. The assault on Tikam was over when the unlawful assembly formed its now common object namely the assault on Puran. The acquit-tal proceeded mainly because Puran compounded the offence under s. 323 and the High Court did not fed im-pressed by the evidence about the remaining charges, The charges on which that acquittal took place had no-thing whatever to do with the charges on which there is conviction in the present appeal. plea of autrefois acquit which is statutorily recognised in India under s. 403 of the Code of Criminal Procedure arises when person is tried again for the same offence or on the same facts for any other offence for which different charge from the one made against him might have been made un-

(1) A.LR. 1956 S. C. 415.

( [2 ]) Cr. A. No. 140 of 1961, decided on 31-7-63 (unreported).

( [3]) [1963] 3 S.C.R. 585.

der s. 236 or for which he might have been convicted un-der s. 237.

Section 236 provides for situation where it is doubt-ful what offence has been committed. When single act or serie1; of acts is of such nature that it is doubtful which of several offences the facts which can be proved will constitute, that section permits that the accused may be charged with having committed all or any of such offences and any number of such charges may be tried at once or he may be charged in the alternative with having committed some one of such offences. Section 237 enables the Court to convict an accused charged with one offence for different offence where the facts show that different offence has been committed.

Neither of these provisions is applicable to the present facts became the two offences were diet'. net and spa-ced slightly by time and place. The trials were sepa-rate as the two incidents were viewed as distinct trani-actions. Even if the two incidents could be viewed as connected so as to form parts of one transaction it is ob· vious that the offences were distinct and required differ-ent charges. The assault on Tikam in fulfilment of the common object of the unlawful assembly was over when the unlawful assembly proceeded to the house of Tikam to loot it. The new common object to beat Puran was formed at time when the common object in respect of Tikam had been fully worked out and even if the two incident< could be taken to be connected by unity of time and place (which they were not), the offences were dis-tinct and required separate charges. The learned Sessions Judge was right in breaking up the single charge framed by the magistrate and ordering separate trials. In this view the prior acquittal cannot create bar in respect of the conviction herein reached.

It. was contended by Mr. Tewatia that the earlier judgment involved almost the same evidence and the rea-soning of the learned Judge in Puran's case destroys the prosecution case in the present appeal. He attempted to _u~e the earlier judgment to establish this point. In our ?P1Il1on he. can?t be allowed to rely upon the reasoning m the earlier Judgment proceeding as it did upon evi-dence which was separately recorded and separately

Kharkan and others v. The State of U.P.

Hidayatullah, /.

considered. The eye witnesses in this ca.se are five in number, while in the other case there were only two, but that apart, the earlier judgment can only be relevant if it fulfils the conditions laid down by the Indian Evidence Act in ss. 40-43. The earlier judgment is no doubt admis-sible to show the parties and the decision but it is not admissible for the purpose of relying upon the apprecia-tion of evidence. Since the bar under s. 403 Criminal Procedure Code rlirl not operate, the earlier judgment is not relevant for the interpretation .of evidence in the present case.

Kharkan and others v. The State of U.P.

Hidayatullah, f.

Mr. Tewatia attempted to argue on the facts of this case but we did not permit him to do so because this Court, in the absence of special circumstances, does not 'review for the third time, evidence, which has been ac-cepted in the High Court and the Court below. No such circumstance has been pointed out to us to make us de-part from the settled practice. The appeal therefore fails and is dismissed.

Appeal dismissed.

T. DEV ADASAN v.

August 29

THE UNION OF INDIA AND ANOTHER

(S. K. DAS ACTING C.J., K. SOBBA RAO, RAGHUBAR DAYAL, N. RAJAGOPALA AYYANGAR AND J. R. MonHoLKAR, JJ.)

Equality-Employment under State-Reservation of posts for backward classes-Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tri-bes-Unfilled vacancies of reserved posts for the year to be carri-ed forward to subsequent year-"Carryforward rule"-Constitu-tional validity-Constitution of India, Arts. 14, 16(1 ), 16( 4 ), 46, 335.

On February 6, 1960, the Union Public Service Commission issued notification to the effect that limited co:rripetitive exami-nation for promotion to the regular· temporary establishment of Assistant Superintendents of the Central Secretariat Service would be held in June, 1960. The notification further stated that re-servation of 12!% of the vacancies would be made for members of the Scheduled Castes and 5°!'. for members of Scheduled Tribe.s. The result of this examination was announced by the Union

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