Rohinton Fali Nariman JUDGMENT
Pinaki Chandra Ghose, J.
1. Present appeals have been directed against the judgment dated 23rd May, 2008 passed by the High Court of Judicature at Allahabad in Criminal Appeal No. 2968 of 2007 with Criminal (Jail) Appeal No. 2757 of 2007 and Capital Reference No. 12 of 2007, whereby judgment and order dated 04.04.2007 passed by the learned Additional Sessions Judge, Etawah in Sessions Trial No. 424 of 2000 was set aside and the Accused-Respondent was acquitted of the offence punishable Under Section 302 read with Section 34 of the Indian Penal Code. Capital Sentence Reference for confirmation of the death sentence was consequently rejected.
2. Brief facts necessary for adjudication of the present case are as follows: One Kumari Rekha Sengar (PW-2), who is the complainant in the present case, got a phone call from her mother Smt. Shashi Prabha (now deceased) at about 11.00 to 11.30 pm on 02.09.2000 narrating that complainant's brother-in-law (Jeeja), namely, Suresh Pal Singh @ Guddu along with his friend had come to their house in Etawah, Uttar Pradesh, demanding Rs. 50,000/- from her father and on refusal to meet the demand, they became very angry. The complainant herself had a talk with her brother-in-law and tried to pacify him but she failed as he cut the telephone call. Later when the complainant failed to have further communication on telephone, she left for her parents' house from Delhi. On reaching her parents' house she saw dead bodies of her father, mother, two sisters and their pet dog. Law was set into motion after an FIR was registered by the complainant on the basis of written report. The said Suresh Pal Singh was arrested on 04.09.2000 and on the basis of the confessional statement made by the accused, a knife, blood-stained clothes and other articles were recovered by the Investigating Officer (PW-7) in the presence of PW-4 and recovery memo Ext. Ka-8 was made. Involvement of Respondent herein was also unearthed on the basis of the said confessional statement. After conclusion of the investigation charge-sheet was submitted before the learned Magistrate who committed the case to the Court of Additional Sessions Judge, Etawah, U.P. Accused Suresh Pal Singh died during the trial and therefore criminal proceedings against him stood abated. The Trial Court convicting the Accused Sunil Under Sections 302 & 429 read with Section 34 of Indian Penal Code and awarded death sentence to him and imposed a fine of Rs. 500/- for offence Under Section 429 of Indian Penal Code.
3. Being aggrieved, the Accused-Respondent preferred Criminal Appeal No. 2968 of 2007 and Criminal (Jail) Appeal No. 2757 of 2007 before the High Court. Capital Sentence Reference No. 12/2007 was made by the Additional Sessions Judge, Etawah. The........