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PETITIONER: RAGHUBIR SINGH

       Vs.

RESPONDENT: STATE OF HARYANA

DATE OF JUDGMENT12/02/1974

BENCH: KRISHNAIYER, V.R. BENCH: KRISHNAIYER, V.R. SARKARIA, RANJIT SINGH

CITATION:  1974 AIR  677            1974 SCR  (3) 356  1975 SCC  (3)  37  CITATOR INFO :  MV         1982 SC1325  (69)

ACT: Murder--Death   penalty   when  can  be  reduced   to   life imprisonment.

HEADNOTE: The appellant developed illicit intimacy with the  deceased. When the deceased feigned pregnancy and pressed him to marry her,  he  gave her a deadly poison mixed in  milk.   On  the death of the deceased he wrapped the dead body in a  blanket and left it in a railway compartment.  He was convicted  and sentenced to death. On appeal to this Court on the question of sentence HELD  :  While  murder in its aggravated  form  and  in  the absence   of  extenuating  factors  connected  with   crime, criminal  or legal process, still is condignly visited  with death   penalty,   a  compassionate  alternative   of   life imprisonment in all other circumstances is gaining  judicial ground. [357 G-H] In the instant case a few ameliorative features fall to be  noticed since judicial temper has more  components  than indignation   against  murder.  The  appellant  is  in   his twenties,  not   irrelevant in considering  death  sentence. He  was  a married man.  He was promiscuous  with  women,  a salacious  sin  for which the deceased was  a  contributory. The  latter’s  pressure to get him to marry  her  must  have planted the seed of murderous thought in him.  He  bargained for  romance,  encouraged by the-victim  but  her  pretended pregnancy upset the appellant.  Some planning and  treachery have aggravated the crime.  Yet another circumstance is that the man was sentenced to death nearly two years ago and  the specter  of  death  penalty must have  tormented  his  soul. Taken  separately,  none  of these matters  may  suffice  to commute but the conspectus of factors, personal and  social, tilt the scales in favour of life term.  L357 El

JUDGMENT: CRIMINAL, APPELLATE JURISDICTION : Criminal Appeal No. 124 of 1973.

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Appeal  by special leave from the judgment and  order  dated the 30th November, 1972 of the Punjab and Haryana High Court in  Criminal Appeal No. 632 of 1972 and Murder Ref.  No.  27 of 1972. Nuruddin Ahmed and S. K. Mehta, for the appellant. Gautam Goswami and R. N. Sachthey, for the respondent. The Judgment of the Court was delivered by KRISHNA IYER, J. A young woman was vomitted into death by  a young  man by giving her a cup of milk mixed with  a  lethal dose  of stricnine.  He, along with two others, bundled  the cadaver  into  a  Delhibound train  but  the  coach  cleaner discovered  it,  the police unearthed the crime,  the  court convicted  the  culprits awarding capital  sentence  to  the killer and lighter punishments to the two accessories  after the  fact,  under  S. 201, I.P.C.  Special  leave  has  been granted to the only appellant on the sole ground of sentence and so our scrutiny is confined to the circumstances of  the crime   and  criminal  and  the  penological  propriety   of inflicting the higher or lesser punishment. 357 Twenty  six-years-old  Raghubir Singh--the  appellant-was  a lesser  official  in the Malaria Eradication  Department  in Gorior,  a village in Rajasthan.  He became friends  with  a veterinary   official,  Sri  Sharma,  P.W.  13,  and  by   a concatenation  of innocent circumstances the appellant  came into  carnal  comity with Kailashwati, the  2nd  accused,  a midwife  in  a  local hospital.  Later,  the  appellant  was transferred  to a village Mandhapia in the  Family  Planning Department  where he came across Sushma Thomas, a  nurse  in the same department.     Prurient   Raghubir  picked  up   a liaison with this malayalee belle  older  to  him  by   five years and-going by the medical evidence, not a    virgin. She  seems  to have feigned pregnancy probably  to  force  a matrimony  for  which Raghubir was  reluctant.   After  many twists  and turns of events, on June 6, 1971, the  appellant secured half a grain of stricnine hydrochloride from Sharma, the  friend, on the pretext that it was needed  for  killing stray dogs.  This Sharma’s naivete in supplying poison looks suspicious  and  it  is for Government  to  look  into,  re- membering that he was more than a dispensing chemist in this case.  Anyway, the amorous pair spent the night of the  10th June  at the quarters of the 2nd accused, and the  appellant brought-milk for the deceased who consumed the cup of death. After  agonising hours of vomitting struggle,  she  breathed her  last,  was  wrapped in a blanket and  given  a  railway burial. The  criminal  act was treacherous murder and  deserved  the sterner  sentence.  But a few ameliorative features fall  to be  noticed since judicial temper has more  components  than indignation against murder.  The convict is in his twenties, not irrelevant in considering death sentence.  He is said to be  a  married  man.   He  was  promiscuous  With  women,  a salacious  sin  for which the deceased was  a  contributory. The  latter’s  pressure to get him to marry  her  must  have planted the seed of murderous thought in him.  He  bargained for  romance,  encouraged by the victim but  the  pregnancy- though pretended-in a society which views unmarried  mothers as  vicious upset the appellant.  These have no  bearing  on guilt at all but attenuate the lethal touch of the sentence. Some planning and treachery have aggravated the crime, which also must not be overlooked.  Yet another circumstance.  The man  was sentenced to death as early as 23rd May, 1972,  and for  twenty  months the specter of death penalty  must  have tormented  his  soul.  Taken separately, none of  these  may suffice  to commute but the conspectus of factors,  personal

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and  social, tilt the scales in favour of a life  term.   We have  in  another case discussed at some length  how  modern penology  leans less towards death penalty and the winds  of criminological  change blow over Indian  statutory  thought. While  murder in its aggravated form and in the  absence  of extenuating factors connected with crime, criminal or  legal process,  still is condignly visited with death  penalty,  a compassionate alternative of life imprisonment in all  other circumstances is gaining judicial ground.. Taking an overall view  of forensic clemency we modify the death sentence  and direct the appellant to suffer imprisonment for life. P.B.R.                         Appeal  allowed in part. 358