BEFORE THE HON’BLE COURT

MONU SINGH & Ors v. STATE

 Xth SEMESTER, 1ST MOOT COURT, 2022

MEMORANDUM ON BEHALF OF THE DEFENSE

STATEMENT OF FACTS ……………...............................................................................3

STATEMENT OF ISSUES …………………………………………………………….….5
SUMMARY OF ARGUMENTS ……………………………………………………….....6
WRITTEN ARGUMENTS
1. Whether a case is made under Section 302, IPC for committing
murder and under Section201, IPC for disappearance of the body
Of the victim.
A. Absence of Mens Rea…………………………………………………………..7
B. Action done not in pursuant to the commission of crime……………………7

2. Whether the statements of the witnesses can be relied upon

to establish the crime of murder under Section 302, IPC.
A. Circumstantial evidences not in corroborative to the claim…………………8
B. Relevancy of witnesses………………………………………………………….8

3. Whether the video recording could serve as the sufficient

evidence to corroborate the culpability of the accused parties.
A. Claim of Alibi……………………………………………………………………9

PRAYER……………………………………………………………………………………11

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BACKGROUND OF MONU'S FAMILY

1. That, Munni Devi had been married to Monu Singh for ten years.
2. That, the couple stayed with the father [Sanjeev Singh] of the latter and his
step-mother [Rani Devi]. That the relationship between Munni and her step mother
was strained and frequents quarrels used to take place between them.
3. That, Monu and his father often used to take the side of Rani Devi in the quarrels.

DAY OF CRIME
4. That, on the day of the alleged incident, quarrel took place as usual and the
step-mother called out her son and said that his "rascal wife" was quarrelling with her
and informed him as well as her husband that either she or Munni will live in the
house from now on.
5. That, soon after, Monu pushed his wife inside the room, followed by his father and
step-mother and immediately after that cry of “help” “help” were heard from inside
the room.
6. That, after this incident nobody heard the voice of Munni again and few moments
later, the children of Munni were heard crying and uttering words indicating that their
mother was dead.

INVESTIGATION FINDINGS

7. That, as per the statement of one of the witnesses, after few minutes of the incident,
Monu and his father were seen with the gunny bag, and with the help of their driver
[Ram Lal] kept it in the boot of the car.
8. That, the car was driven fast at around 9.00 p.m. and taken to the burning ghat, which
is 10 kilometers away.
9. That, the relatives were not informed even though some of them were staying in the
same town. Besides, there was no funeral procession of the usual kind but few friends
of Monu were present during the funeral.
10. That, the investigating officer collected disintegrated blood from the car but its origin
could not be determined.

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11. That, Monu Singh, his father and his step mother have been charged u/s 302 of the
Indian Penal Code [IPC] for committing murder of Munni Devi. That, the above
accused along with few others [friends of Monu Singh] are charged u/s 201 of the IPC
for disappearance of the body of the victim.
12. That, the cousin sister of Sanjeev Singh was present in the balcony of the house at the
time of the commission of the alleged incident and her statement was recorded by the
magistrate u/s 164 of the Code of Criminal Code [CrPC].
13. That, the prosecution has produced 8 witnesses – 5 witnesses are neighbors of the
accused, 2 children of the victim aged 3 years and 5 years, and the father of the
deceased.
14. That, the CCTV footage of the GST Road was presented for showing that the car of
the accused crossed the Bypass at 9.00 p.m. on the way to the burning ghat.

CLAIM PUT FORTH

15. That, the accused has mention in the written statement that the victim was wearing a
nylon saree and caught fire accidentally while she was using a kerosene stove in her
room and died of burn injuries. Besides, the accused has alleged that the deceased was
very weak and suffering from asthma.

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MEMORIAL FILED ON BEHALF OF THE DEFENSE
 Xth SEMESTER, 1ST MOOT COURT, 2022

ISSUE I
Whether a case is made under Section 302, IPC for committing murder and under Section
201, IPC for disappearance of the body of the victim.
ISSUE II
Whether the statements of the witnesses can be relied upon to establish the crime of murder
under Section 302, IPC.
ISSUE III
Whether the video recording could serve as the sufficient evidence to corroborate the
culpability of the accused parties.

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A. Whether a case is made under Section 302, IPC for committing

murder and under Section 201, IPC for disappearance of the
body of the victim.
It is humbly submitted before the Hon'ble Court that the accused is not guilty of the offence
of committing murder as there is clearly no direct evidence linking him to the case. It's true
that the deceased and the accused are not in proper terms for almost a years' time, but there
has not been a single instance of the deceased being harmed with the smallest of injury by the
accused. Moreover, even with the alleged incidence, there is no evidence proving the
intention of the accused to murder, not fulfilling any ingredients of Sec 300 of Indian Penal
Code. The case of disappearance of the body of victim is once again a false allegation against
the accused, as the body of the deceased were cremated paying all last ritual rights, as per her
wish, in the presence of her father. Hence the crime of murder and disappearance of the body,
in order to conceal the crime, stand against the accused.

B. Whether the statements of the witnesses can be relied upon to

establish the crime of murder under Section 302, IPC?
It is most humbly submitted before the Hon'ble Court that the evidences collected in the
present case and produced by the prosecution are not reliable upon and undoubtedly serves as
inefficient source of evidences to establish the crime, as the statements are itself said under
malignant intention to defame my clients. The statements of the witness only give rise to
circumstantial evidences and there is no direct evidence inferring to the accused being guilty
of the crime. The prosecution had framed the allegations one sided, which is contrary to the
actual scene of the death and the reason.

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C. Whether the video recording could serve as the sufficient

evidence to corroborate the culpability of the accused parties?
It is humbly agreed before the Hon’ble Court that the CCTV footage of GST road at around 9
pm proves that it was the accused's car but nowhere does it prove that that accused was seen
inside the car nor was the body of the deceased as claimed by the prosecution, present in the
car. Over the mere fact that the footage shows that it was the accused’s car, it cannot
substantiate the culpability of the accused parties. As at the time of the car passing, the
accused was home alongside his dying wife, performing the rightful duty he was obliged to
do as a husband. Therefore, its duly submitted before the court that the CCTV footage is
secondary evidence but has no efficiency in corroborating the culpability of the accused
parties.

1. Whether a case is made under Section 302, IPC for committing murder and under
Section 201, IPC for disappearance of the body of the victim.
It is humbly contended before the Hon’ble court that my client is innocent and the claim of
murder against them is a clear case of false allegation as the deceased did not suffer any harm
from my clients and the reason for her death is the fire accident which was caused due to the
kerosene stove in her room.
A. ABSENCE OF MENS REA
It is established from the circumstances that this was a clear case of fire accident by not
attracting any ingredients of Section 300 of Indian Penal Code, 1806 (hereinafter referred to
as IPC) and does not attract the proviso of Section 201 of IPC, as there is no need to conceal
the act of crime, when the crime was itself not committed by them.
The claim of murder is hoax to the present case as the statements of the witnesses are not
relied upon questioning the genuinity. Although the mother-in-law and the deceased had a
strained relationship and even on the day of the alleged incident there was a quarrel it did not
lead to any provocation of the husband to cause or inflict any harm. The action of the
husband proves that there was no intention, preparation or motive for commission of the
crime. It is for obvious reasons that a couple who has been in marriage for 10 years, will not
have vengeance and take out on the partner over a small quarrel.

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B. ACTION DONE NOT IN PERSUANT TO CONCEAL THE CRIME

Accordingly, it is over the statement of PW2 that the provision of section 201 of IPC is
attracted stating that my clients were seen with the gunny bag and placing it in the boot of the
car. However, there is no proof that the gunny bag was carrying the deceased body and that
attempts were made to conceal the crime of murder against the victim. In reality the gunny
bag was carrying my client's 8-year-old pet dog who met with an accident in front of their
house around the same time of the deceased’s death and the driver was carrying the pet dog to
the burning ghat and not the deceased body as claimed by the prosecution. Moreover, the
blood collected from the car, is the blood of their dead pet dog which is why upon
investigation the blood seemed to be undetermined.

Unlike what is stated by the prosecution there were no attempts made to conceal the crime
scene and all due respect was given to the deceased in performing her last rights in the proper
manner according to her wish. It is duly submitted that in order to pay the last rites of their
pet who was more like family member the friends of accused were asked to perform the last
rites of their pet in their absence. It was for this regard that his friends where present during
the funeral of the accused’s pet and it was not to screen the punishment by concealing the
commission of crime.

It is duly submitted before the Hon’ble Court that when even a link
breaks away, the chain of circumstances gets snapped and other circumstances cannot in any
manner establish the guilt of the accused beyond reasonable doubts1. According to the case in
hand, it is duly established that, the entire case is built on circumstantial evidences making it
inefficient to announce the accused guilty of murder.

2. Whether the statements of the witnesses can be relied upon to establish the crime of
murder under Section 302, IPC.
It is humbly submitted before the Hon’ble court that the witnesses produced by the
prosecution are not reliable upon as they are forged and tempered statements by the witnesses
as the entire case rests upon false allegations. The 5 neighbor witnesses are produced under
malignant intention in order to defame my clients, who themselves claim to be eye-witnesses
and hearsay witnesses has not defined the case in clarity which is why all of their statements
are of ambiguous in nature, as all that they have to say are bits and pieces of here and there.

A. CIRCUMSTANITAL EVIDENCES NOT CORROBORATING TO THE

CLAIM

1
Janar Lal Das v. State of Orissa, (1991) AIR 1388.

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As the entire case rests upon circumstantial evidences, when attempting to convict on
circumstantial evidences alone the court must be firmly satisfying on the following conditions
2

1. The circumstances from which the conclusion of guilt is to be drawn should be fully
established – There is no proof on the basis of the witnesses that it was the accused who
committed the murder as there is no direct evidence fully establishing the accused
guilty.
2. The facts so established should be consistent with the hypothesis of the guilt of the
accused-the witnesses are the only evidences and according to section 118 of Indian
Evidence Act, 1872 (Hereinafter referred to as IEA). None of them are sufficiently
reliable as even though 5 of the witnesses were neighbors even after hearing the cry for
help, none of them attempted to provide help which seems to be contrary towards the
sudden sentiment that they show over the death of the deceased.
3. There should be a chain of evidences so complete as not to leave any reasonable ground
for the conclusion consistent with the innocence of the accused – The claim of the
witnesses as subsequent action is in contrary to the reality as the gunny bag was
carrying the dead dog and not the body of the deceased as claimed.
The Golden conditions laid in the Pradhans case is nowhere in place to prove the accused
guilty as the statements of the witnesses does not act as corroborating evidences to the claim
made by the prosecution.
2. NON-RELEVANCY OF STATEMENT OF WITNESSES
1. NEIGHBORS - The witness who claimed to have heard the voice of ‘help help’ directly
connected that it was the deceased who cried for help and established that she was harmed by
her husband. But in reality, the scene was that the kerosene stove in her room had attracted
the fire towards the deceased nylon saree causing a fire accident which was the reason for the
death. The help cry that the neighbors heard was from the deceased mother-in-law seeing the
helpless state of her daughter in law burning.
The eye witness claiming to have seen the accused with the gunny bag is not at
all reliable in full length as the gunny bag was not carrying the deceased body but my clients
pet dog who met with an accident in front of the house. The statement given by the witnesses
is in complete contrary to the actual reality of the case and that the deceased body wasn’t
carried as stated by the prosecution in reliance with the witness's statement.
2. CHILDREN - Its duly submitted that amongst the witnesses, 2 are the deceased children
aged 3 and 5, falling in the ambit of tender age, not intellectually capable enough to
differentiate the seriousness and the effect of their own statements. As read along with Sec
118 of IEA the children are not competent enough to put forth rational answers and there are
instances where the children can be easily influenced upon. In many cases children of tender
age are treated as weak evidences. Although the child understands the duty of speaking the
truth, he doesn’t understand the nature of acting under oath or affirmation3. Hence it is proven

2
Padam Pradhan v. State, (1982) Cri.LJ 534.
3
Rameshwar v. State of Rajasthan, (1952) AIR 54.

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that the children are capable of giving witnesses and section 118 of IEA speaks about
competency doesn’t emphasize on the admissibility of statements put forth as evidences by
the children.
3. FATHER - The father of the deceased who is treated as PW8 also takes the place of
interested witness, and is considered to be highly influential by the emotions and the grief of
losing his own daughter, therefore making the statements put forth by him lacking credibility.
It is dealt in the case of Dhanraj Singh v. State of Punjab4 has stated that interested witnesses
has to be analyzed with care and scrutiny. Furthermore, the silence of the father between the
occurrence of the incidents indicates that he believed to be an accident5.
It is interesting to find that Sanjeev Singh’s cousin who present at the
scene of crime in the balcony, witnessing the commission of the alleged incidence and her
statement was recorded under section 164 of CrPC, yet the prosecution chose not to include
her as one of the witnesses in spite of she being a crucial acting as an eye witness to the entire
incident. The answer to exempting her from the list of evidences is that it would be under
section 114(g) of IEA amounting it to be unfavorable to the prosecution, which directly tells
us that what she saw is contrary to what the prosecutions claims.
It is most humbly submitted before the Hon'ble Court that the evidences
collected in the present case and produced by the prosecution are not reliable upon and
undoubtedly serves as inefficient source of evidences to establish the crime, as the statements
are itself said under malignant intention to defame my clients.

3. Whether the video recording could serve as the sufficient evidence to corroborate the
culpability of the accused parties.
It is humbly submitted before the Hon’ble court that the CCTV footage of GST road showing
my client’s car at around 9pm is sufficient secondary evidence, but is not in accordance with
the reality and thus not in corroboration with the culpability. As claimed by the prosecution,
my clients did not head to the burning ghat to cremate the body of the deceased but the body
of their pet dog who met with an accident in front of their house around the same time.
Furthermore, according to the CCTV footage, it only shows that the car that passed by was
my client’s. There is no proof or evidence stating that my clients were inside the car. This in
itself proofs that how the footage in spite of it being secondary evidence does not have the
value of corroborating the culpability of my clients.
1. CLAIM OF ALIBI
Accordingly, to the facts of the case, it is duly submitted that my client's car
did cross the bypass at 9 pm heading towards the burning Ghat. However, the essence of the
case, rests upon Section 11 of IEA wherein the fact not otherwise relevant, becomes relevant.
It is duly submitted that my client’s car that is seen crossing the Bypass was driven by my

4
Dhanraj Singh v. State of Punjab, (2017) CRL.No.531.
5
Sharada V. State of Rajasthan, (2010 ) 2 SCC 85.

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client’s driver for the funeral of their pet and upon reaching the cremation center my client's
friends conducted the last rites in my client’s absence upon his request.
In this case, my clients were at their home fulfilling the final wishes of the
deceased as she had specifically mentioned in her last breath that she wants to die in the
presence of her family, as she could see her own death in her eyes and that she wants to go to
her god, in complete peace, far away from medical procedures. The defense plea of alibi lies
upon the accused and is thereby established in this court that the CCTV Footage of Do eat
Restaurant, situated at the Silver Star Road, at around 9.15 PM, on the way to the Burning
Ghat clearly shows in the video that it is only the accused’s driver, inside the car. Going in
line with the case, as there are no other evidences apart from this CCTV footage and the
statement of witnesses, it concurs with the fact that CCTV footage is highly reliable upon as
it corroborates the culpability of the parties6.
The production of CCTV footage of Silver Star Road, has become relevant
to establish the innocence of the accused. Therefore, its duly submitted before the Hon’ble
Court that the CCTV footage of GST Road, is secondary evidence but has no efficiency in
corroborating the culpability of the accused parties.

In the light of the issues raised arguments advanced and authorities cited the Hon’ble Court
may be pleased to -
A. Declare the accused innocent who has been falsely charged under the section 302 and
201 of Indian Penal Code, 1806 for the commission of crime against the deceased.
B. Compensate the accused for the unbearable loss to their good-will and also for the
mental pressure that the accused had to go through with regard to this case.

AND/OR

6
Tomaso Bruno and Anr v. State of UP, (2015) 7 SCC 178.

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Pass any other order that it deems fit in the interests of Justice, Equity and Good conscience
all of which is respectfully submitted.
All of which is respectfully submitted.
And for this the defense is in duty bound, shall humbly pray.

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