PREM NATH Vs. STATE OF DELHI

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This is an appeal on a certificate granted by the High court of Punjab under Art. 134 (1) (c) of the Constitution against its judgment confirming the conviction of the appellant under S. 302, Penal code, and the sentence of death passed in respect thereof. The incident which gave rise to the charges against the appellant resulted in four persons receiving fun-shot injuries and they were (1) Bishan Chand, (2) his wife Mst. Kanta Devi, (3) Bishan Bhagwan, and (4) his sister, Mst. Kamala Devi. Of the four, the first two succumbed shortly thereafter and the other two survived. The case for the prosecution is as follows.

(2.) On 12-3-1952, there was a ceremony at the house of Bishan Chand deceased to which some of his relations were invited. Mst. Satya Devi, the wife of the appellant was one of such invitees, she being related to Bishan Chand through his predeceased first wife. The feelings between the appellant and his wife, Mst. Satya Devi, were said to have become somewhat strained for about six months prior to this date and Mst. Satya Devi was said to have left her husband and to be living in her parents house.The appellant having come to know of the presence of his wife at the house of the deceased Bishan Chand, went there at about 3 p.m. and enquired from Bishan Chand whether his wife, Mst. Satya Devi, had come and was actually staying there. Bishan Chand informed him that she did come and had already returned to her place. The appellant went away apparently dissatisfied. He came back again at about 5-30 p.m. and once again enquired about his wife. Bishan Chand reiterated that she was not in his house and invited him to search and satisfy himself. The appellant thereupon is said to have taken out a revolver and shot at Bishan Chand.Mst. Kanta Devi wife of Bishan Chand seeing her husband shot at, ran towards him and the appellant is said to have fired a shot at her also with the same revolver. He is further said to have fired from it two other shots which struck Bishan Bhagwan (P.W. 3) and Mst. Kamala Devi (P. W. 5) who were both in a room nearby. All these four persons fell down on receiving gun-shot wounds and as already stated, the first two succumbed to the injuries shortly thereafter, while the other two survived after treatment in the hospital. In addition to these four shots, the appellant is said, at the same time, to have fired another shot from the revolver aiming at P. W. 15. but that missed him.At the time, there were at the spot P.W. 1, the mother of the deceased Bishan Chand and also a number of persons who had gathered as invitees at the function and amongst whom were P. Ws. 6, 8, 10, 11 and 12. On the hue and cry being raised, some of the neighbours also ran up to the spot. Out of them, P. W. 13 finding the appellant emerging out of entrance of the house of the deceased with revolver in hand, caught hold to him. Meanwhile information having reached the police station closely, the Head Constable, P. W. 24, arrived and took into custody the appellant with the revolver in hand.

(3.) The case was tried by the learned Second Additional Sessions Judge with the help of four assessors on charges under Ss. 302 and 307, Penal Code, and S. 19 (f), Arms Act. The evidence against the appellant consisted mainly of that of the eye-witnesses, P. Ws. 1,3, 5, 6, 8, 11, and 12, who were all relations of the deceased Bishan Chand and of P. W. 15, a tenant in the second floor of the building in which the deceased was living. In addition there was evidence as to the appellant having been caught with a revolver in hand and five empty cartridges as also his confessional statement before a Magistrate recorded within less than two hours of the incident.The defence of the appellant in his statement before the Additional Sessions Judge was that his three sisters had gone to Bishan Chand's house on that day as invitees in connection with the ceremony and that the youngest of them had lost a gold earring while they were there, that he and his father were informed about it and went to the house of Bishan Chand to search for the same at about 5-30 p.m. He said that while they were so searching, Bishan Chand came and asked him as to why he was falsely charging him with theft of the ear-ring, that there was thereupon some altercation upon which Bishan Chand and his wife started throwing firewood upon him from inside the room and that many other persons pounced upon him with intention to assault him.His father got terrified thereat and ran away and the revolver of his father fell down while so running. He picked up the said revolver and was running away when he was captured by the persons there and he fired shots from the revolver in the air in order to save himself. He had no intention to kill anybody. The appellant did not examine any witnesses to substantiate his defence. The learned Additional Sessions Judge accepted the prosecution case and convicted the appellant on all the charges for which he was tried and sentenced him to death subject to confirmation by the High Court under S. 302 and to sentences of imprisonment in respect of the other charges. On appeal before the High Court, the learned Judges accepted the Additional Sessions Judge's estimate of the evidence and confirmed the conviction and sentence of the appellant in respect of S. 302, Penal Code.