HARDEV SINGH JASPAL SINGH Vs. STATE OF PUNJAB

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Original accused 3 is the appellant in Criminal Appeal No. 12 of 1982 and original accused 4 is the appellant in Criminal Appeal No. 400 of 1982. They along with six others were tried for offences punishable under S. 302, 302/149, 307 and 307/149 Indian Penal Code and under Section 27 of the Arms Act. The trial court acquitted A-5 to A-8 and convicted A-1 to A-4 and sentenced them to imprisonment for life in respect of the murder charge and various other terms of imprisonment in respect of other offences. The appeal preferred by them was dismissed by the High court.

(2.) It may be mentioned at this stage that during the pendency of the special leave petition in this court A-1, Hardeep Singh died and the special leave petition filed by A-2, Baijinder Singh was dismissed. Therefore we are left withonly A-3 Hardev Singh and A-4, Jaspal Singh who figure as appellants in these two appeals.

(3.) The prosecution case is as follows: Hardeep Singh, A-1 and his son Jaspal Singh, A-4 are the residents of Village Salewala. A-2 is the Sarpanch and resident of Village Khanewal. A-3 belongs to another Village Khang. A-5, one of the acquitted accused also belongs to Village Khanewal. A-6 to A-8 belong to Village Salewala. Two months before the present occurrence Amritpal Singh, deceased 1 and one Sarbjit Singh had quarrelled with Kuldip Singh, Sarpanch, A-7, one of the acquitted accused and brother of A-1, at the Patiala bus stand. A-3 is the wife's brother of Kuldip Singh. On 22/7/1979, Partap Singh, Public Witness 4 and his son Amritpal Singh, deceased 1 and Satbir Singh had gone to Pattran for making some purchases and they started to go back to their village at 5 p. m. The deceased was driving the motorcycle and Harbans Singh Sarpanch, deceased 2 and Surjit Singh, Public Witness 6 were sitting on the pillion seat. Another motorcycle was driven by Sarbjit Singh and Satbir Singh and Partap Singh, Public Witness 4 were sitting on the pillion seat. When they reached near the Sam Nala bridge after crossing Village Salewala, they noticed A-1, armed with a. 12 bore gun, A-2 armed with 315 bore rifle and A-3 armed with gandasa hiding in the Akk plants. At that time Amritpal Singh, deceased I was going ahead on the motorcycle than the other one. While so both A-l and A-2 fired one shot each on Amritpal Singh, deceased 1 who fell down after receiving the injuries along with Harbans Singh, deceased 2 and Surjit Singh, Public Witness 6 towards the left of the road. Just at that juncture, a truck driven by A-4 came from the side of Village Khanewal. In that it is alleged that the other acquitted accused were sitting by the side of the driver armed with. 12 bore pistol etc. and they raised lalkaras to kill the deceased and according to the prosecution, the truck went and hit and ran over the motorcycle. The gun of deceased 1 which was in the hands of deceased 2 was also broken. The three persons coming on the other motorcycle came forward to save them but the accused in the truck fired but nobody was hit. The truck got stuck in the water. Amritpal Singh, deceased 1 had already died because of gunshot injury and Harbans Singh, deceased 2 was unconscious and Surjit Singh, Public Witness 6 was lying injured outside the water. One Jagjit Singh came and took the injured Surjit Singh to the hospital and the injured Harbans Singh was taken by another person to the hospital in a car leaving others at the place of occurrence. Partap Singh left for the police station and lodged a report before ASI, Kehar Singh, Public Witness 17 and the case was registered. Surjit Singh, Public Witness 6 was examined by Dr Barjesh Modi, Public Witness 1. He found two lacerated wounds and a swelling and two abrasions. After X-ray, injuries 1 and 2 were declared grievous. The doctor opined that he could have received these injuries by striking against the running truck. Dr C. L, Verma, Public Witness 3 conducted the post-mortem on the dead body of deceased 1 and he found a gunshot wound on the right side of the forehead. On dissection, the frontal bone was found to be fractured and the brain matter was punctured and it was opined that he died due to this gunshot injury. Deceased 2 meanwhile died. The same doctor, Public Witness 3, also conducted post-mortem on his dead body and found several abrasions all over the body and left thigh and left leg were found to be pinkish blue. On internal examination he found fractures of clavicle and 3rd to 10th rib on the right side, puncture of right lung and fractures of 2nd to 10th rib on the left side. The other internal organs like liver and kidneys were found to be ruptured. The doctoropined that the death was due to shock and haemorrhage due to these injuries and he also opined that all the injuries on the body of deceased 2 could be the result of an accident with a heavy vehicle. ASI, Public Witness 17 got the place of occurrence photographed and he found some empty cartridges at the scene of occurrence which he seized. The truck which got stuck in the water was also taken into possession. The accused were arrested and after completion of the investigation, the charge-sheet was laid. The prosecution examined as many as 18 witnesses. PWs 1 to 3 are the doctors, Public Witness 4 Partap Singh is the father of deceased 1 who gave the report. Public Witness 6 is the injured witness. The rest are all official or panch witnesses.