Whether Love letter sent to deceased wife produced by accused husband at the time of hearing of bail application can be relied on?

Inland letter Kha7/1 was not discovered during investigation but the same was produced by the accused in a bail application filed on 29.08.1997. Thereafter on the request made by the accused, investigating officer was directed to investigate upon the same. As noticed earlier, the inland letter was not discovered during the investigation; but brother-in-law of Archana is said to have discovered the inland letter and also the letter allegedly written by Archana to her brother-in-law from the suitcase of deceased-Archana. Brother-in-law who is said to have discovered those letters was not examined in the court. No explanation is forthcoming from the accused as to why the same was not handed over to the investigating officer. We have also perused the original of the inland letter and the postal seal in the said letter was not clear. In his evidence PW14- investigating officer had specifically stated that he tried to ascertain from which post office the inland letter was dispatched but he could not identify the same. When the seal on the inland letter was not clear, investigating officer cannot be faulted in conducting further investigation in connection with the said inland letter. The fact that it was produced on 29.08.1997 along with the bail application raises doubts about the genuineness of the said inland letter. When bail application was filed, by that time possibly there would have been legal advice and deliberations. The possibility of such an inland letter being fabricated to create evidence to make a possible defence cannot be ruled out and rightly the courts below recorded concurrent findings rejecting the said letter.

34. Deceased-Archana was an educated girl. If really she was in love with a boy, she could have married him even against the wishes of her parents. As to the genuineness of the inland letter, as pointed out by the trial court, it is difficult to believe that deceased Archana had preserved the same so that it may reach the hands of her husband and her in-laws. Considering the defence plea regarding the inland letter, the trial court rightly observed that it is natural that a sensible lady after marriage would not have kept it so safely.

Supreme Court of India

V.K.Mishra & Anr vs State Of Uttarakhand & Anr on 28 July, 2015

Citation; AIR 2015 SC3043

Bench: T.S. Thakur, R.K. Agrawal, R. Banumathi

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