Bail petition rejected in light of S. 106 of the Evidence Act

Karnataka High Court: A Single Judge Bench of Budihal R.B., J. rejected a criminal petition filed under Section 439 of the Criminal Procedure Code, 1973 holding that certain facts were exclusively within the knowledge of the petitioner and as per Section 106 of the Evidence Act, 1872 the burden was on him to prove his case.
The petitioner was the accused in a criminal case for offences punishable under Sections 498-A, 302 and 201 IPC. Learned counsel for the petitioner submitted that there was no prima facie case against the petitioner. According to him, the prosecution material only showed that the petitioner and the deceased (a couple) both consumed poison which resulted in the death of the deceased, however the life of the petitioner was saved. But a case under Section 302 was not made out.
The High Court perused all the material on record and was of the opinion that as per the post-mortem report the cause of death was blunt force impact on the head and the neck of the deceased. The Court observed that there was no eyewitness to the incident and whatever happened inside the room between the couple was within exclusive knowledge of the accused. Section 106 of the Evidence Act laid the burden on the petitioner, of proving the facts which were exclusively in the knowledge of the petitioner which he may do at the appropriate stage.  Considering all the facts and the situation, the Court held that it was not a fit case to grant bail to the petitioner. Accordingly, the bail petition was rejected. [Ravi v. State of Karnataka, Criminal Petition No. 4263 of 2017, order dated 6.10.2017]