REPORTABLE

IN THE SUPREME COURT OF INDIA

CRIMINAL APPELLATE JURISDICTION

S.L.P. (CRIMINAL) NO..............OF 2011  (CRLMP.NO(s). 16406/2011)

STATE OF U.P.                                Petitioner(s)

                VERSUS

ALOK VERMA                                   Respondent(s)

O  R  D  E  R

Heard Mr. Pramod Swarup, learned senior counsel  

appearing for the petitioner-State of U.P.

The  allegations  against  the  respondent  accused,  

which have been found true by the courts below, are  

that the respondent murdered his wife and four children  

(three sons and one daughter) and caused injuries to  

another daughter with knife and axe taking the help of  

a  hired  person.  This  is  because  his  wife  protested  

against his indulgence in gambling, taking liquor and  

crimes  like  kidnapping.  He  had  earlier  to  undergo  

imprisonment for one year in a case of kidnapping. His  

wife tried to persuade him not to commit these illegal  

acts and get reformed, but instead he would often beat  

her,  and  ultimately  he  committed  these  ghastly  and  

brutal crimes of murdering his wife and four children,

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who are aged about 10, 8, 5 and 2 years respectively.  

The surviving daughter Priyanka is an eye witness and  

that apart there is convincing circumstantial evidence  

also on the basis of which the respondent has been  

convicted by the courts below.

The injuries on the deceased Shikha, wife of the  

accused-respondent are as follows :-

1. Multiple  incised  wounds  over  face  and  

forehead size 1 cm x 0.5 cm to 3 cm x 0.5 cm  

bone deep.

2. Incised wound 4 cm x 1 cm trachea deep on  

front  of  neck  below  hyoid  bone.   On  

dissection  the  underlying  large  vessels,  

tracheas and nerves were cut.

3. Incised wound 4 cm x 1 cm size muscle deep on  

back of root of neck.

4. Incised wound 4 cm x .5 cm muscle deep on top  

of (Rt.) shoulder.

5. Incised wound of 3 cm x 0.5 cm muscle deep on  

back of and middle of (Rt.) upper arm.

The injuries on the deceased Chhoutey, aged about  

5 years, son of the accused respondent are as follows:-

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1. Incised wound of 3 cm x 1 cm size skull deep till

upper cavity of skull.  This wound was 2 cm above  

the right eyebrow on the right side of the skull.  

Skull bone was broken. Thereafter, it was found  

that brain and brain membrane was also cut and  

blood  mix  fluid  was  present  in  the  cavity  of  

skull.

2. Incised wound 3 cm x 1 cm size bone deep which was  

above the right eye brow on the right side of the  

forehead.

3. Incised wound 2 cm x 1 cm size just above the  

injury No 2.

4. Incised wound 2 cm x 1 cm size muscle deep in the  

middle of the front of the neck.

5. Contusion 8 cm x 6 cm size upon the skull.

The injuries on Rahul, aged about 10 years, son of the  

deceased and the accused respondent, are as follows :-

1. Contusion of 8 cm x 3 cm size on the front of the  

neck.

2. Incised wound 5 cm x 1 cm breathing duct deep in  

the front of the neck.  This injury was very close  

to the injury No.1  On dissection, blood vessels,  

nerves, muscles and breathing duct etc. were found  

to be cut.

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3. Incised wound 4 cm x 1 cm skull deep.  This injury  

was 3 cm above the left eye, on the left side of

the skull bone of skull, brain and brain membrane  

were found to be cut. Blood mix fluid was found to  

present in the cavity of skull.

4. Incised wound 3 cm x 1 cm muscle deep 12 cm above  

the middle of forehead in the front of skull.

5. Incised wound 2.5 cm x 1 cm muscle deep behind the  

right ear.

The injuries on Uttam Kumar, aged about 8 years,  

son of the deceased and the accused respondent are as  

follows :-

1. Incised wound 3 cm x 1 cm bone deep in the upper  

part of the body.

2. Incised wound 3 cm x 1 cm x deep  bone in the  

middle of the forehead.

3. Incised wound 2 cm x 1 cm x skull deep outside the  

left eye on the left side of the face.  The bone,  

muscle, blood vessels, brain and brain membrane  

were found to be cut.  The fluid with blood was  

filled in cavity of brain.

4. Incised wound 3 cm x 1 cm bone deep, this wound  

was close to the outer sides of the right eye.

5. Incised wound 2.5 cm x 1 cm x breathing duct deep  

on the front of the neck.

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6. 12 cm x 3 cm size wound till nose contusion on the  

neck.

The injuries on Kumari Anjali, aged about 2 years,

daughter of the deceased and accused respondent, are as  

follows :-

1. 4 cm x 1.5 cm incised wound x deep till cavity of  

skull, 4 cm above the right eye brow on the right  

side of the skull.  Under the injury, bone, brain  

and brain membrane under the injury were found to be  

cut.  Blood mixed fluid was found in the cavity of  

brain.

2. 2 cm x 1 cm incised wound deep till cavity of skull  

above the left eyebrow on the left side of forehead.  

Under  the  injury,  bone,  brain  and  brain  membrane  

were found to be cut.

3. Incised wound 2 cm x 0.5 cm muscle deep below the  

chin.

4. 2 cm x 0.5 muscle deep incised wound on the level of  

the thyroid cartilage in the front of the neck.

Apart from the deceased, the injuries on the injured  

eye witness Priyanka, who was aged about six years when  

the incident took place, are as follows :-

1. Towards right on the face in the front of the ear  

contusion with red colour 6 cm x 45 cm.

2. On right eye and lower eyelid contusion 4.5 cm x 4  

cm. :5:

3. Towards left on the face, below the eye contusion  

with red colour 2 cm x 1.0 cm.

4. Right ear was bleeding and blood clot was present.

These  injuries  show  the  brutal  manner  in  which  the

deceased were killed, and injuries caused to Priyanka.  

Apparently the throats of the deceased were cut with a  

knife and their heads smashed with an axe.

It has come in evidence that the accused had taken  

a house on rent and his wife Shikha (deceased) along  

with  her  children  were  living  in  that  house.   On  

07.07.2005 when the brother of Shikha (the complainant)  

came to the said house he found the door closed. He  

opened the door and found the dead bodies and also his  

injured niece Priyanka who told him about the incident.

A blood stained axe was found in the room, while  

the  knife  which  was  also  used  in  committing  these  

horrible crimes had been concealed by the accused.  The  

shirt of the accused was blood stained.  The accused  

took the police to the sand where he had concealed a  

polythene bag containing the knife which was used which  

was blood stained, and some other items, including the  

blood stained shirt.   

We cannot imagine a more ghastly act and, we are,  

prima facie, of  the  opinion  that  this  falls  in  

the  category  of  rarest  of rare cases in which death

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sentence should have been given.  The trial court, no  

doubt, awarded death sentence to the respondent, but  

the  High  Court  reduced  it  to  life  sentence   by  

observing :-

“...But  on  the  other  side,  it  is  to  be  considered  as  to  what  were  the  circumstances  under  which  the  said  murders  were  caused.  Accused  Alok  Verma  was  postgraduate  in  Sociology, having failed in getting a job.  It  seems that due to financial crisis, he entered  into the criminal world, due to which he had to  go to jail.  He had been away from his wife and  children  for  a  long  time,  and  in  these  circumstances, he became pessimistic and began  to suspect his wife's character. Advice of his  wife to stay away from criminal activities he  could not accept.  In absence of alternative, in  such  circumstances,  his  wife's  threat  to  disclose  all  of  his  wrong  acts  made  the  situation  worse  and  resulted  in  occurrence  of  the  incident  which  does  not  appear  to  be  committed under any preplan nor for any benefit,  but  has  been  caused  due  to  hopelessness  and  doubts about the character of the wife wherein  he was doubting that the children were not his.  In  the  above  circumstances  considering  the  decision of the Hon'ble Supreme Court in Prakash  Dhawal  Khairnath  (Patil)   Vs.   State  of  Maharashtra  and  State  of  Maharashtra  Vs.  Sandeep @ Babloo Prasad Khairnath (Patil)  2002  Supreme  Court  Cases  (Criminal)  281  the  conclusion arrived is that the present case is  not fit for death penalty.”

Prima facie, we find the reasoning of the High Court  

to  be  strange.  Merely because a person is in financial  

crisis does not mean that  he  is  at liberty to  commit

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ghastly and gruesome murders.  It appears that the wife  

of the accused was of a noble character who tried to  

reform him, but the accused rather than being reformed  

committed these monstrous crimes.  We fail to understand  

how the High Court could reduce the death sentence in

these circumstances.

The  celebrated  Judge  of  the  Allahabad  High  Court  

Justice Mehmood quoted the following Urdu couplet in one  

of his judgments while deciding a murder appeal :-

“Jo Chup Rahegi Zuban-e-khanjar, Lahu pukarega asteen ka”

Issue notice to the respondent as to why the life  

sentence awarded to him by the High Court should not be  

enhanced to death sentence.

Issue  notice  also  on  the  application  for  

condonation of delay.

 .................................J.

  (MARKANDEY KATJU)

NEW DELHI;     ................................J. SEPTEMBER 02, 2011     (CHANDRAMAULI KR. PRASAD)