JUDGEMENT OVERVIEW
COURT : Supreme Court of India (Division Bench (DB)- Two Judge)
JUDGEMENT NAME : Shri Mahadev Meena Versus Praveen Rathore And Another Appeal (Crl.), 1089 of 2021
JUDGEMENT DATE : Sep 27, 2021
RELATED SECTIONS : INDIAN PENAL CODE, 1860
Section 302 – Punishment for murder
Section 120 B – Punishment of criminal conspiracy
IMPORTANT PARAGRAPH :
Dr Dhananjaya Y Chandrachud, J
- This appeal arises from a judgment dated 12 February 2021, of a Single
Judge of the High Court of Judicature for Rajasthan at the Bench at Jaipur by which
the first respondent has been enlarged on bail. The appellant is the father of the
deceased at whose behest the first information report1 was registered.
- The appellant’s son was a Senior Technical Officer with the Intelligence
Bureau in New Delhi. On 21 January, 2011, he got married to Anita Meena, who is
a co-accused implicated in his murder. The couple had two young children aged 6
years and 4 months. The relationship of the couple is alleged to have encountered
difficulties. On 14 February 2018, the deceased travelled from New Delhi to
Ramgajmandi from where he boarded a train at 1800 hours for Jhalawar where his
home was situated. Between 7: 30 and 8.00 pm, the appellant received a phone call
that his son had been found in an unconscious state near Railway Crossing Puliya
and was declared brought dead at the hospital. On 14 February 2018, the appellant
submitted a written intimation to the SHO Jhalawar on the basis of which, Merg
Report No.04/2018 was registered by the police. On 15 February 2018, the post-
mortem was conducted by a Medical Board constituted by the Medical
Superintendent of BRS Hospital, which reported that the right lung, liver, spleen and
kidneys were congested. The remarks of the Medical Officer indicated that the
viscera was preserved for chemical and histopathological examination and a final
opinion regarding the cause of death would be furnished after receiving those
reports. On the same day, an unnatural death was registered under the provisions of
Section 174 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 19732 with UD No.0004/2018 at the
instance of the appellant. On 28 February 2018, samples of the viscera obtained
during the post-mortem were sent to the Medical College Jhalawar and Forensic
Science Laboratory , Jaipur, for examination.