SUCHA SINGH Vs. STATE OF PUNJAB

JUDGEMENT

(1.) During the months when insurgency in the State of Punjab was at its peak two striplings were knocked off from their house on a dark night by armed assailants in the very sight of their old parents, despite the importunes made by their mother. Those abducted youngsters were finished off within a short while by firing them with AK-47 rifles, a little away from their house. The abductors were indicted for the murder of those two young Sikhs. Appellant Sucha Singh, the sole survivor of the criminal conspiracy hatched, is now challenging the conviction and sentence of life imprisonment passed on him by a designated Court, for the offence under S. 302 read with S. 34 of the Indian Penal Code.

(2.) Shri U. R. Lalit, learned counsel pleaded for reconsideration of the ratio laid down by this Court in State of West Bengal vs. Mir Mohammad Omar (2000) 8 SCC 382 wherein it is held that the Court would be justified in appropriate cases to draw the presumption that the abductors themselves could be the killers of the abducted victim, unless they explained otherwise as to what they did with the prey.

(3.) Learned senior counsel submitted that the said ratio is discordant with the criminal jurisprudence thus far enunciated that the burden is entirely on the prosecution to prove the case. He further submitted that the ratio in the decision cannot at any rate be applied for fastening an accused with the aid of S. 34 IPC. As we heard Shri U.R. Lalit in extenso on the above submission, besides other points canvassed by him on the merits of the case, we are bound to deal with them now.