9911796707
TMI Blog1998 (9) TMI 656X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... out of an incident of rioting, murder and other cognate offences that took place on 12/09/1992 at J. J. Hospital, Bombay. According to the prosecution case, on that day at or about 3.45 p.m. a group of persons armed with automatic fire-arms, such as pistols, AK 47 assault rifles, stormed into Ward No. 18 of the hospital and opened fire upon Shailesh Haldankar, who was an accused in Crime No. 452/92 of V. P. Road Police Station and admitted there due to injuries earlier sustained. The indiscriminate firing by the miscreants resulted in the death of Haldankar and two policemen on guard duty and injuries to five others. Shri K. G. Thakur, Sub-Inspector of Police attached to V. P. Road Police Station, who was then on duty at the hospital retur ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... day resort belonging to Kalani where the decision to kill Haldankar was taken; (ii) soon after the murder, Kalani had a telephonic talk with one of the accused persons regarding the arrangement to be made to remove injured Shrikant Rai in his car; and (iii) on 13/09/1992, Kalani threatened Jayawant Suryarao, (one of the accused) that in case he disclosed the removal of Shrikant Rai in his (Kalani's) car he and his family members would be liquidated. To prove the above facts and circumstances, the prosecution seeks to rely upon :- (i) the evidence of Smt. Priti, wife of accused Jayawant Suryarao and Shri Himmat Rawal; (ii) confessional staement of Dr. Bansal; and (iii) confessional statement of Jayawant Suryarao; respe ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ention to the confession made by Dr. Bansal and Jayawant Suryarao. Under Section 30 of the Evidence Act a confession of an accused is relevant and admissible against a co-accused if both are jointly facing trial for the same offence. Since, admittedly, Dr. Bansal has been discharged from the case and would not be facing trial with Kalani his confession cannot be used against Kalani. The impugned order shows that the Designated Court was fully aware of the above legal position but, surprisingly enough, it still decided to rely upon the confession on the specious ground that the prosecution was not in any way precluded from examining Dr. Bansal as a witness in the trial for establishing the facts disclosed in his confession. This again, was a ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... dence as it stands even though, if believed, it would be sufficient to sustain a conviction. In such an event the Judge may call in aid the confession and use it to lend assurance to the other evidence and thus fortify himself in believing what without the aid of the confession he would not be prepared to accept. The view so expressed has been con-sistently followed by this Court. Judged in the light of the above principle the confession of Suryarao cannot (be) called in aid to frame charges against Kalani in absence of any other evidence to do so. That brings us to the case of Dr. Desai, the other appellant. According to the prosecution case the injured accused Shrikant Rai was taken to the house of Dr. Desai by Shanti Lal Patil, Ja ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ukh's elder brother owns a farm at Silvasa and he is also a building contractor. Jagdish further informed me that on the same evening they had a party on the farm house, when accidently a shot was fired from the weapon and one of them was injured and he may require an operation. He further told me that they tried to contact a surgeon at Silvasa, but he was not available and they are bringing the injured to Surat for treatment and requested me to help them. I suggested to them to get the injured admitted in Government Hospital, Surat, when Jagdish told me that those people wanted the injured to be treated in a private hospital and were willing to pay any charges for the treatment. Jagdish also told me that they were prepared for the wors ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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