Madhya Pradesh High Court: Sanjay Dwivedi, J. dismissed a revision petition filed questioning the validity of the order passed by the Sessions Judge whereby the charge had been framed against the applicant by the trial Court under Sections 294, 333, 353, 307, 302 of IPC and under Section 25-1(B)(B) of Arms Act, 1959.
As per the facts of the case, after registration of FIR, the injured got hospitalized and was given treatment in Govt. Hospital in which the Medico-Legal Certificate (MLC) was prepared showing that the complainant/injured had received an incised wound which was opined as simple injury. The injured was later on discharged from hospital on the same day, i.e. 07.08.2021 because the injury sustained by him was neither grievous in nature nor dangerous to life. Case against the applicant was under Sections 294, 333, 353 and 307 of IPC. Later, on 20-08-2021 when the injured died then the offence of 302 was also added.
The Counsel of the applicant submitted that the applicant was granted bail considering the fact that the injury was simple and that the injured died of septicaemia on 20-08-2021. He submitted that offence of 302 of IPC was not made out as it was due to negligence on the part of the doctors as they had not properly treated the injured and medication was not up to the mark. It was further contended that the Trial Court did not appreciate the facts in appropriate manner and observed that the cause of death was related to the injury sustained and caused by the present applicant.
Panel Lawyer appearing for the respondent/State submitted that the cause of death shown by the doctor is septicaemia which admittedly got developed in an injury caused by the present applicant and as such, offence under Section 307 has rightly been converted into Section 302 of IPC.
The Court was of the opinion that at this stage it is very difficult to form an opinion even by the trial Court at the time of framing of charge that the cause of death was not directly related with the injury caused by the applicant. The Court believed that if the charge of Section 302 has been added at the time of framing of charge on the basis of opinion given in the MLC, the same can be altered only after examination of the doctor who had given opinion.
The Court stated that at this stage, trial Court cannot indulge in critical evolution of evidence, that can be done at the time of final appreciation of evidence after conclusion of trial.
The Court while dismissing the appeal held that the Trial Court did nothing wrong because it can very well form an opinion at the time of trial or after conclusion of trial whether offence under Section 302 is made out or not. The Court further noted what was said in Veerla Satyanarayana v. State of Andhra Pradesh, (2009) 16 SCC 316 wherein the Supreme Court has held that if death is caused due to septicaemia, offence under Section 302 of IPC is rightly made out. Thus, the Court was also of the opinion that the order passed by the trial Court does not suffer from any patent or material irregularity and at this stage, it is not proper for this Court to interfere in the same or to form an opinion that the offence under Section 302 is not made out against the applicant.
[Harsh Meena v. State of Madhya Pradesh, 2022 SCC OnLine MP 1971, decided on 17-08-2022]
Advocates who appeared in this case :
Sankalp Kochar, Bhavil Pandey, Advocates, for the Applicant;
Prakash Gupta, Advocate, for the Respondent.
*Suchita Shukla, Editorial Assistant has reported this brief.