BACHITTAR SINGH Vs. STATE OF PUNJAB

JUDGEMENT

(1.) ABIZARRE tale of gruesome murder in which eight members of two families - Sukhwant Singh, wife Piar Kaur, daughters Gurjit Kaur (12 years) and Gogi (9 years) and Bhupinder Singh, wife Joginder Kaur, sons Harjinder Singh (6 years) and Bhupinder Singh (13 years), were eliminated by the appellants due to greed to grab the land of the deceased - Sukhwant Singh. The murder was engineered by the accused Bachittar Singh, the younger brother of the deceased. The story of 'Pahom' in Shakespere's play, "How much land does a man need ?" is being repeated in these proceedings. Ultimately, the land required is a 'place for funeral pyre and burial'.

(2.) RECAPITULATION of brief facts is necessary. Accused - Bachittar Singh had two brothers - Deceased Sukhwant Singh and Bhupinder Singh, who were elder to him. All the three brothers were residents of the Village Dholewala. Sukhwant Singh and Bhupinder Singh were residing in the Haveli, whereas accused Bachittar Singh was residing separately in the village. On 19-4-1994, at about 6.30 A.M., daily diary report No. 35 was got recorded by Bachittar Singh, stating therein that during the night time he had gone to irrigate his land and when he came back at about 3 A.M., he received information from his wife - Rajbir Kaur, that during the night time, she had heard firing in the village. Bachittar Singh, however, ignored it. At about 6.00 A. M., his cousin Pipal Singh, S/o Balkar Singh came to his residence and reported to him that at about 1.00 A. M. two unknown persons had murdered Sukhwant Singh, Bhupinder Singh and their families. Thereafter, Bachittar Singh accompanied by Pipal Singh went to the house of his brothers and found his brothers - Sukhwant Singh and Bhupinder Singh murdered along with their wives and children. Pipal Singh was left there to guard the dead bodies and Bachittar Singh had gone to the Police Station to lodge a report and as per his statement daily diary report was recorded at 6.30 A. M.

(3.) THE learned trial court, after thoroughly examining prosecution witnesses and the documents available on record, has come to the conclusion that the guilt of the accused has been established by the prosecution beyond the shadow of doubt. THE learned trial Court also afforded an opportunity to the accused of hearing on the quantum of sentence. While awarding Capitral punishment, the following reasons have been assigned: