GURNAM KAUR Vs. BAKSHISH SINGH

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Gurnam Kaur, mother of Karam Singh and Gurdeep Singh, both of whom were shot dead on the afternoon of January 9, 1973, is the appellant in this appeal by special leave of this Court under Article 136 of the Constitution of India. Four persons, Asa Singh and his three sons, Bakshish Singh, Karaj Singh and Major Singh were tried for the murder of Karam Singh and Gurdeep Singh by the learned Additional Sessions Judge, Amritsar. Asa Singh was acquitted while the remaining three were convicted under Section 302 and Sec. 302 read with Sec. 34 Indian Penal Code. Bakshish Singh was sentenced to death while Major Singh and Karaj Singh were sentenced to imprisonment for life on each count. The appeal preferred to the High Court of Punjab and Haryana by Bakshish Singh Karaj Singh and Major Singh was allowed and all three of them were acquitted. Hence this appeal by special leave obtained by the mother of the two deceased persons.

(2.) The case of the prosecution briefly was that in connection with an incident which took place a few months before January, 1973, there was a case against Bakshish Singh and one Balvinder Singh for an offence under Sec. 307 Indian Penal Code and a cross case against Karam Singh. Bakshish Singh and Karaj Singh were desirous of settling the dispute between them by compromise and when they approached Karam Singh he informed them that the matter could not be settled until he consulted his brother Gurdeep Singh who was then in England. After Gurdeep Singh returned to India, he was approached for a compromise. Gurdeep Singh declared that he would rather spend a lakh of rupees than agree to any compromise. On January 9, 1973, Gurnam Kaur (P. W. 1), and her daughter Charan Kaur (P. W. 2) were returning home from their fields at about 3 p. m. after plucking 'Saag', which we are told is a green leafy vegetable. At that time Richpal Singh (P. W. 3) son of Karam Singh and one Natha Singh were working in their respective fields. While returning, P. W. 1 and P. W. 2 noticed all the four accused sitting at the tube-well of Behl Singh. Just then the two deceased persons Karam Singh and Gurdeep Singh came from the side of the village. Asa Singh shouted that Gurdeep Singh and Karam Singh were coming and they should not be spared as Gurdeep Singh had said that he would rather spend a lakh of rupees than enter into a compromise with them. Immediately all the accused stood up and Bakshish Singh fired a shot at Karam Singh with a pistol. Major Singh also fired at Karam Singh. The two shots hit the legs of Karam Singh and he fell down. Gurdeep Singh tried to run away but Karaj Singh chased him over a short distance and fired a shot at him with his pistol hitting him just above the buttocks. He also fell down. Bakshish Singh and Major Singh ran up to Gurdeep Sing. P. Ws. 1 and 2 also ran up to Gurdeep Singh. Major Singh fired a shot at the head of Gurdeep Singh. Bakshish Singh fired a shot which hit him on the right thigh. Gurdeep Singh died on the spot. Asa Singh then shouted that Karam Singh was not yet dead. Thereupon Bakshish Singh, Major Singh and Karaj Singh went back to Karam Singh and Bakshish Singh fired a shot at the neck of Karam Singh. P. Ws. 1 and 2 tried to protect Karam Singh by covering him with their bodies. Karam Singh also died on the spot. The accused then ran away. P. W. 1 then went to the Police post at Algon and gave a report Ex. PA at 4-50 p. m. to P. W. 20 the Assistant Sub Inspector of Police who was in charge of the police post. P. W. 20 forwarded the report to the Police Station, Valtoha, where the First Information Report was registered at 5-55 p. m. He proceeded to the scene of occurrence and held inquests over the dead bodies of Karam Singh and Gurdeep Singh. At the time of the inquest over the dead body of Karam Singh two empty cartridges were found lying near the dead body and they were seized. Two other empty cartridges were found near the body of Gurdeep Singh and they too were seized. The clothes of Gurnam Kaur and Charan Kaur were found to be blood-stained and they were also seized. A search was made for the accused but they were not available. Next morning P. W. 20 again inspected the spot and found another empty cartridge near the place where the dead body of Gurdeep Singh was lying. P. W. 4, the Medical Officer in-charge of the Civil Hospital, Taran Taran conducted the post-mortem examination over the bodies of Gurdeep Singh and Karam Singh. On Gurdeep Singh he found the following injuries:

(3.) On January 16, 1973, Bakshish Singh, Karaj Singh and Major Singh were arrested by P. W. 20. Bakshish Singh was interrogated and pursuant to the statement made by him a pistol was recovered. This pistol was later sent to the ballistic expert P. W. 6. The opinion of the expert was that out of the five cartridges recovered at the scene of occurrence one cartridge found near the dead body of Karam Singh and two cartridges found near the dead body of Gurdeep Singh were fired from the pistol which was produced by Bakshish Singh while the remaining two cartridges (one found near the dead body of Karam Singh and the near the dead body of Gurdeep Singh) were fired from some other weapon.