RAJ SINGH Vs. STATE OF HARYANA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Leave granted.

(2.) These appeals by way of Special Leave arise out of the common judgment dated 30.01.2013, passed by the Punjab and Haryana High Court in Criminal Appeal No.D-440-DB of 2008 & Criminal Revision No.2758 of 2008, by which, the High Court dismissed the Criminal Appeal of the appellant-Raj Singh and partly allowed the Criminal Revision qua Raj Singh filed by Bharat Singh and thereby converting the conviction of the appellant under Section 304 Part 1 IPC to Section 302 IPC and maintained sentence of life imprisonment imposed on him and dismissed the revision qua Rishi Pal and Rajpal.

(3.) Brief facts which led to the filing of these appeals are as follows: The complainant-Bharat Singh serves in the Army and on 23.11.2004, he came to his village for fifteen days holidays. They are three brothers, Girdhari Lal, Devender Singh and Bharat Singh. In his complaint, Bharat Singh alleged that on 3.12.2004 at about 6.00 pm, when he was standing at the main gate of his cousin's house with one Tilak Raj, Rishipal-brother of the appellant came there with an axe in his hand and there was wordy altercation. Rishipal assaulted the complainant-Bharat Singh with a Kulhari on his left buttock, however, Bharat Singh managed to save his life, and rushed towards his home. The complainant narrated the whole incident to his brother Devender Singh and he was taken to the hospital wherein Dr. Gobind Singh at village Badshahpur treated him and thereafter both the brothers returned to the village. When the elder brother Girdhari returned home at about 8.30 P.M., Bharat Singh narrated the whole incident to him and he was rebuked by his elder brother.