SHER SINGH Vs. STATE OF HARYANA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This judgment will dispose of Criminal Appeal Nos. 1071 of 2009, 1294 of 2009, 182-183 of 2010 and 97-98 of 2010. The facts have been taken from Criminal Appeal No.1071 of 2009.

(2.) At 6 a.m. on the 29th September 1991 Umed Singh deceased accompanied by his wife Bimla PW-1 and son Raj Kumar PW-6 had gone to their fields situated in village Kosli, Police Station Jatusana, District Rewari, for harvesting the bajra crop when accused Balbir Singh armed with a Kulhari, Mange Ram, Sher Singh and Harish with lathis, Surender with a bankri, Rajesh and Smt. Rajesh with a jailli each, and Des Raj empty handed came to the spot. The accused raised a lalkara that they would teach Umed Singh a lesson for having interfered in the purchase of agricultural land and on saying so Balbir Singh gave a kulhari blow on the left knee of Umed Singh, Des Raj grappled with Umed Singh and felled him to the ground whereafter Sher Singh gave a lathi blow on his chest and Mange Ram and Harish also gave lathi blows on his person and Surender and Smt. Rajesh gave blows with bankris on the back portion of his hand and Rajesh gave a jailli blow lathiwise. Bimla and Raj Kumar stepped forward to rescue Umed Singh and they too were attacked by Surender who gave a bankri blow on Bimla's head and Smt. Rajesh administered another blow on her head whereafter Mange Ram gave a lathi blow on the left hand and Raju gave a jailli blow lathiwise on Bimla's head. An alarm raised by Bimla attracted many persons, including Shakuntla, Hoshiar, Raghu Nath, Om Prakash, Siri Chand and Mahabir and when Shakuntla intervened, Mange Ram dealt her a lathi blow on the left knee. The accused then lifted Umed Singh and took him to the tubewell belonging to Balbir Singh accused where he was left bleeding. The accused then ran away from the spot. Information about the occurrence was carried to the village by Raj Kumar PW-6 on which Mansa, Braham and Bhagat Singh reached the tubewell. They removed Umed Singh, Bimla and Raj Kumar in an auto rickshaw to the Primary Health Centre, Kosli. Dr. Ravinder Nath examined Bimla at 7.30 am. on the same day and found three skin deep lacerated wounds on the head, forearm and the web space between the index and middle finger of the left hand and several other injuries on the thighs as well. The doctor opined that the injuries had been caused by a blunt weapon within six hours. Raj Kumar too was examined by the said doctor who found two superficial injuries on the right side of his head and three on the right lower leg. Injury No.1 was put under observation while the other was declared simple. In the opinion of the doctor, these injuries had been caused within six hours. Umed Singh was also examined and was found to have injuries of the dimensions of 10 cm x 10 cm and 15 cm x 15 cm on the upper arm and back, respectively. The doctor opined that all the injuries had been caused by a blunt weapon within a duration of six hours. Umed Singh, after receiving first aid at the Primary Health Center, was referred to the Civil Hospital, Rewari at about 10 a.m. while Bimla and Raj Kumar were discharged. The Medical Officer also sent information to the Police Post, Kosli about the arrival of the injured. ASI Balbir Singh PW accordingly reached the Primary Health Center but found that Umed Singh had already been removed to the Civil Hospital, whereas Bimla and Raj Kumar had gone home after being discharged, with the result that the ASI received no information about the incident at that time. Umed Singh, however, died in the Civil Hospital, Rewari at 1.10 p.m. on the same day and information to this effect was received by Bimla in the village at 3.00 p.m. A First Information Report was, accordingly, registered at Police Station, Jatusana at 7.10 p.m. on the basis of Bimla's statement recorded by ASI Balbir Singh of Police Post, Kosli at 6 p.m. The Special Report was also delivered to the Illaqa Magistrate at Rewari on the 30th September 1991 at 1.25 a.m. ASI Balbir Singh also reached the hospital and conducted the inquest proceedings and referred the dead body for a post- mortem examination which was carried out by Dr. V.K.Jain, PW-4 of the Civil Hospital, Rewari. In the opinion of the Medical Officer, all the injuries were ante-mortem in nature but he was unable to give any definite opinion about the weapons used as nine of the injuries had been stitched up whereas the remaining injuries were blunt weapon injuries. During the course of the investigation, Sub-Inspector Jai Narain PW-8 visited the place of incident (on the 30th September 1991) and picked up two pairs of chappals, a rapri with a broken handle, a piece of rope and a blood stained match box from the field of Umed Singh deceased or nearabouts. The Police Officer then went to the field of Balbir Singh accused and picked up blood stained earth from near his tubewell. He also prepared the site plan relating to the incident in the field of Umed Singh and the tubewell of Balbir Singh. Some of the accused including Sher Singh were arrested on the October 2, 1991 by Sub-Inspector Karan Singh PW-10 and on the interrogation of accused, Balbir Singh, a kulhari was also recovered. On the completion of the investigation, the police filed a charge-sheet against Balbir Singh and his sons Mange Ram, Des Raj and Surender whereas the other accused i.e. Sher Singh, Rajesh, Harish and Smt. Rajesh were placed in column 2. These accused were subsequently summoned by orders dated April 4, 1992 made on an application under Section 319 of the Cr.P.C.

(3.) The prosecution in support of its case relied primarily on the evidence of Bimla PW-2 and Raj Kumar PW-6, the two injured witness, Dr. V.K.Jain, PW-4 who had conducted the post-mortem on the dead body, ASI Balbir Singh PW-7, Sub- Inspector Jai Narain PW-8 and Sub-Inspector Karan Singh PW-10. The prosecution case was then put to the accused and they denied all the allegations levelled against them and pleaded false implication as also a counter version. Mange Ram stated that two years before the occurrence, his father Balbir had purchased 2 acres of land and had acquired rights as a co-sharer and on that basis he had successfully pre-empted a sale in favour of Umed Singh and that Umed Singh was, accordingly, upset with Balbir Singh and that a fight had taken place on the 21st August 1991 and injuries had been inflicted on his brother Des Raj accused. He further stated that at about 6 a.m. on the 29 th September 1991 his mother Parvati DW-9 had been working in their field whereas Des Raj accused was ploughing the land at some distance when Umed Singh, Bimla and Raj Kumar armed with Kasis and Bhankris had attacked Parvati and caused injuries to her on which Des Raj had come running and he too had been caused injuries by them whereafter Pappu, Partap, Hoshiar and Raghbir had also arrived at that place and Des Raj and the new arrivals had accordingly given injuries to the complainant party in their defence. He further stated that Parvati had been medico-legally examined on the same day at the Primary Health Center, Kosli in the presence of the complainant party and though the police too had been present at that time and a request had been made by Parvati to record her statement, the police had not done so and had colluded with the opposite party and after the death of Umed Singh, had registered a false case against them. Sher Singh and Harish, however, pleaded an alibi and examined three witnesses Ravinder Singh DW-1, Bhagwan Devi DW-2 and Shailender DW-9 to the effect that they had been present in their house at 6 a.m. on the 29th September 1991 with Sher Singh taking tuitions ( and Harish still asleep) which had been attended by Ravi, Ravinder Singh, PW and Rajesh upto 8 a.m. and that Bhagwan Devi had also come to take lassi during that period. Dr. Neel Kanth Sharma DW-7, Radiologist, ESI Hospital, Faridabad was also examined who deposed that he had performed an X-Ray on the person of Parvati DW-9 on the 28th October, 1991 and the test had revealed a dislocation of the right wrist and a fracture of the femur.