UGGARSAIN Vs. STATE OF HARYANA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) These appeals, by special leave, arise from the judgment and orders (dtd. 27/8/2019 and 3/9/2019) passed by the High Court of Punjab and Haryana (In Criminal Appeal bearing No. 249 DB of 2016), converting the decision of conviction given by the trial court from Sec. 302 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 (hereafter "IPC") to Sec. 304-Part II IPC. These appeals have been preferred by the informant/complainant.

(2.) The prosecution alleged that on the eve of Holika Dahan, i.e., 7/3/2012, Krishan (A-1) abused Subhash (the deceased). On the next day, Brahmjit, son of Krishan (A6), inflicted danda blows upon Subhash at about 10.00/11.00 AM. Due to this, at about 3.00 PM, when Pawan, Uggarsain and Subhash (deceased) were sitting in front of their house, Brahmjit came near their house and started abusing them, which aggravated the situation. Thereafter, all the accused, namely Raju, son of Krishan (A2), Krishan, Parveen (A3), Sunderson of Amit (A4), Sunder-son of Rajpal (A8), Nar Singh (A-7), Sandeep (A-5) and others reached the spot, with weapons. Raju inflicted blow on the right shoulder of Sita Ram (PW1). Krishan inflicted a blow at the back of Sita Ram with an iron pipe and Brahmjit inflicted a farsa blow on the right of Sita Ram's head. Sunder was armed with a rod; Nar Singh and Sandeep were carrying farsas with them. They caused injuries on Pawan, Uggarsain and Subhash. The injured were taken to hospital.

(3.) On 9/3/2012, on the receipt of intimation, the police registered the case under Ss. 147, 148, 149 and 323 IPC. Subash, who was gravely wounded, having received multiple injuries, was removed to the hospital; later, a surgery too was performed on him. However, he did not survive and passed away on 12/3/2012. Thereupon, Sec. 302 IPC was added in the FIR, on 13/3/2012. Postmortem was conducted, and the doctor (PW5- Dr. Kunal Khanna) recorded in the post-mortem report that the death was caused by injuries sustained by the deceased on the head and its attendant complications. The police arrested the accused. Later, weapons were recovered on the basis of disclosure statements made by them. On the statement of PW1-Sita Ram, the prosecution moved an application under sec. 319 of the Criminal Procedure Code (hereafter "Cr.P.C.") for summoning an additional accused, namely Sunder.