Case analysis of dhananjay, Lecture notes of Law

Download Case analysis of dhananjay and more Lecture notes Law in PDF only on Docsity! www.clatbook.com Page 1 NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF STUDY AND RESEARCH IN LAW, RANCHI SUBJECT :Legal Methods Project ROLL NUMBER-68 Dhananjay Chatterjee Alias Dhana vs State Of W.B. Kumar Harshvardhan Section-A www.clatbook.com Page 2 CASE ANALYSIS: Dhananjay Chatterjee Alias Dhana vs State Of W.B. FACTS:- Hetal Parekh a young 18 years old school-going girl was raped and murdered in her flat No. 3-A, on the third floor of 'Anand Apartment'. The appellant was challenged and tried for rape and murder and also for an offence under Section 380 IPC, for committing theft of a wrist watch from the said flat. The appellant,Dhananjay was one of the security guards deputed to guard the building 'Anand Apartment' by M/s. Security and Investigating Bureau of which Mr. Shyam Karmakar was the proprietor. Hetal,the deceased was complaining to her mother Yashmoti Parekh that the appellant had been teasing her on her way to and back from the school and had proposed to her on that day to accompany him to cinema hall to watch a movie. Yashmoti told her husband Nagardas Parekh on about the behaviour of the appellant towards their daughter, who in turn complained to Shyam Karmakar and requested him to replace the appellant. As per their normal routine when Nagardas Parekh and his son Bhawesh Parekh,father and brother of the deceased respectively, left for their place of business and college in the morning on and Yashmoti,the mother of the deceased had gone to visit temple.At that time,Hetal,the deceased was all alone in the flat at that time.Shortly after Yashmoti, the mother of the deceased left for the Temple, the appellant rushed to her flat and commited the alleged crimes. When Yashmoti returned from the Temple,on reaching her flat she after entering in the flat found Hetal,lying on the floor,unconscious.The doctor after examining the deceased, pronounced her dead. Thereafter her father informed the Bhawanipore Police Station at about the telephone. On receipt of the telephonic message, sub-inspector Gurupada Som, the acting duty officer, rushed to the place of occurrence along with some other police personnel and recorded the FIR on the statement of Yashmoti Parekh, the mother of the deceased and commenced investigation. The sessions Judge in this case relying upon circumstantial evidence found the accused guilty and therefore,sentenced him to death. The appeal of Dhanajay Chatterjee for proving his innocence was also rejected by the Calcutta High court and thereafter by the Supreme Court. www.clatbook.com Page 5 subsequently murdering her. All the circumstances which have been conclusively established are consistent only with the hypothesis of the guilt of the appellant and are totally inconsistent with his innocence. Not only in the cross-examination of various prosecution witnesses, but even during the arguments, nothing has been pointed out as to why any of the witness for the prosecution should have falsely implicated the appellant in such a heinous crime. None of the witnesses had any motive to falsely implicate him. None had any enmity with him. The witnesses produced by the prosecution have withstood the test of cross-examination well and their creditworthiness and reliability has not been demolished in any manner. All the circumstances established by the prosecution, as discussed above, are conclusive in nature and specific in details. They are consistent only with the hypothesis of the guilt of the appellant and totally inconsistent with his innocence.The court, therefore, in complete agreement with the trial court and the High Court that the prosecution has established the guilt of the appellant beyond a reasonable doubt and the court, therefore, uphold his conviction for the offences under Sections 302, 376 and 380 IPC. ISSUE 2-  Whether the appellant had a motive to commit the alleged crime. PROSECUTION’S ARGUEMENTS:- Yes,the appellant had motive to commit the alleged crime as we can see from the evidences that the deceased was being teased by the appellant when she used to go to or came back from the school. She had brought it to the notice of her mother PW 3 on a number of occasions, the latest in the series being on 2.3.1990. Yashmoti PW 3 informed her husband Nagardas PW 4 about the complaints. From the testimony of Nagardas PW 4, it transpires that after he came to know about the misbehaviour of the appellant from his wife PW 3 on 2.3.1990, he called some other dwellers of the Apartment to apprise them of the same. Mahendra Chauhatia PW 13 and Harish Vakharia PW 14 have deposed that they had been called by Nagardas PW 4 who reported to them that the appellant had been teasing his daughter and that PW 4 had suggested that the appellant should be replaced by another security guard. They (PW 13 and PW 14) both agreed. The testimony of PW 13 and PW 14 has remained totally unchallenged in cross-examination. After consulting PW 13 and PW 14, Nagardas PW 4 asked Shyamal Karmakar PW 21, the employer of the appellant, to meet him and according to the statement of PW 21 Karmakar he came to the flat of Nagardas PW 4 on 3.3.1990, where he was informed about the teasing of the daughter of PW 4 by the appellant, PW 21 deposed that Nagardas PW 4 told him to replace the appellant by another security guard and even handed over a written complaint Ex.4 to him. APPELLANT’S ARGUMENTS:- The counsel for the defendant argued that the delay in the seizure of complaint Ex.4 and the transfer order, on 29.6.1990 were indicative of the fact that both the documents had come into existence subsequently as an after thought. SUPREME COURT’S DECISION:- Supreme court did not found any force in this submission of appellant. PW 4 who gave a written complaint to PW 21 and PW 9 who delivered the transfer order issued by PW 21 to the appellant were www.clatbook.com Page 6 not challenged in the cross-examination about the same. Even the investigating officer was not asked for an explanation as to why the documents had been seized so late. In any event the seizure of the documents on 29.6.1990, after the appellant had been arrested only a couple of weeks earlier, would not go to show that the documents were either fabricated or were an after thought. In this connection, it is also relevant to notice that a positive suggestion was made by the defence to PW 4 during his cross-examination that the appellant had quarreled with him 'over his transfer from Anand Apartment' and on account of that quarrel, the appellant had been "falsely implicated". Of course, PW 4 denied the suggestion but defence suggestion does not militate against the prosecution case regarding the annoyance of the appellant on that score.The court also found corroboration available from the statement of Pratap Chandra Pali PW 6 the supervisor of Security and Investigating Bureau, who had visited 'Anand Apartment' at about 5.45 p.m. on 5.3.1990 and enquired from the guard on duty as to how the appellant had reported for duty at Anand Apartment, when he stood transferred to Paras Apartment. Moreover, when PW 6 demanded an explanation from the appellant on 5.3.1990 as to why he had not reported for duty at Paras Apartment, the appellant is alleged to have told him that it was on account of 'certain personal inconvenience' that he could not so join on that date. PW 6 was not challenged with regard to his testimony as regards the transfer of the appellant.The court also found no substance in the submission of Mr. Ganguli,the counsel for appellants that in a private organisation, written transfer orders are not given and that the written transfer order in this case is a created piece of evidence. There is no hard and fast rule regarding giving of oral or written transfer orders in private organisations and in any event neither PW 21 nor PW 9 or PW 6 were questioned on this aspect. His transfer from 'Anand Apartment' on the allegation that he had teased the deceased, therefore, provided sufficient motive for him not only to satisfy his lust and teach a lesson to the deceased girl for spurning his offer but also as a measure of retaliation for being reported to his employer and being transferred from Anand Apartment to paras Apartment on the basis of the said complaint. The transfer of the appellant on grounds of his improper behaviour with the deceased was an aspersion on his character and that appears to have provided him the immediate motive for committing the crime in retaliation and even may be to remove the evidence of committing rape on the deceased.The court, therefore, of the opinion that the prosecution has successfully established the existence of motive on the part of the appellant to commit the crime. ISSUE 3-  Whether this case falls under the category of ‘rarest of the rare cases’. PROSECUTION’S ARGUEMENTS:- This case was of the nature of ‘rarest of the rare cases’ becaue in this case the deceased had been killen very severely and mercilessly by the security guard whose duty was to protect.So,the appellant must be awarded capital punishment. APPELLANT’S ARGUMENTS:- This case doesnot fall under the category of ‘rarest of the rare cases’ because these kinds of crime are very obvious these days and in most of these crimes the capital punishment is not awarded to the culprit. SUPREME COURT’S DECISION:- www.clatbook.com Page 7 In the court’s opinion, the measure of punishment in a given case must depend upon the atrocity of the crime; the conduct of the criminal and the defenceless and unprotected state of the victim. Imposition of appropriate punishment is the manner in which the courts respond to the society's cry for justice against the criminals. Justice demands that courts should impose punishment fitting to the crime so that the courts reflect public abhorrence of the crime. The courts must not only keep in view the rights of the criminal but also the rights of the victim of crime and the society at large while considering imposition of appropriate punishment. The sordid episode of the security guard, whose sacred duty was to ensure the protection and welfare of the inhabitants of the flats in the apartments, should have subjected the deceased, a resident of one of the flats, to gratify his lust and murder her in retaliation for his transfer on her complaint, makes the crime even more heinous. Keeping in view the medical evidence and the state in which the body of the deceased was found, it is obvious that a most heinous type of barbaric rape and murder was committed on a helpless and defenceless school-going girl of 18 years. If the security guards behave in this manner, who will guard the guards? The faith of the society by such a barbaric act of the guard, gets totally shaken and its cry for justice becomes loud and clear. The offence was not only inhuman, and barbaric but it was a totally ruthless crime of rape followed by cold blooded murder and an affront to the human dignity of the society. The savage nature of the crime has shocked our judicial conscious. There are no extenuating or mitigating circumstances whatsoever in the case. The court agrees that a real and abiding concern for the dignity of human life is required to be kept in mind by the courts while considering the confirmation of the sentence of death but a cold blooded pre-planned brutal murder, without any provocation, after committing rape on an innocent and defenceless young girl of 18 years, by the security guard certainly makes this case a 'rare of the rarest' cases which calls for no punishment other than the capital punishment and we accordingly confirm the sentence of death imposed upon the appellant for the offence under Section 302 IPC, The order of sentence imposed on the appellant by the courts below for offences under Section 376 and 380 IPC are also confirmed along with the directions relating thereto as in the event of the execution of the appellant, those sentences would only remain of academic interest. This appeal failed and is hereby dismissed.