WAZIR SINGH Vs. STATE OF PUNJAB

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This appeal with special leave is limited to the question of sentence only.

(2.) The appellant along with one Inder Singh and 4 others was charged under S. 302 read with S. 34 Penal Code with having committed the murder of one Sohan Singh. The four others were acquitted but the appellant and Inder Singh were convicted of the offence with which they had been charged. The learned Sessions Judge, Ferozepore, while convicting them as above, sentenced each of them to death subject to confirmation by the High Court. The High Court, on hearing the death reference, confirmed the convictions and the sentence of death passed on the appellant though it reduced the sentence imposed upon Inder Singh to one of transportation for life.

(3.) Both the appellant and Inder Singh were armed with rifles and both of them were alleged to have fired the rifles at Bishan Singh, who was the target of the attack. Both the Courts found that the appellant and Inder Singh entertained the common intention of killing Bishan Singh. As events transpired, however, Bishan Singh and Sohan Singh were both sitting on the same cot when the rifles were aimed at them by the appellant and Inder Singh. Both began to run away. Bishan Singh succeeded in hiding himself behind a kikar tree but Sohan Singh was injured by the shots which were fired from the rifles.