BALDEV SINGH Vs. STATE OF PUNJAB

JUDGEMENT

(1.) For the abduction and murder of Inder Singh, a resident of village Lature in Police Station Mulepur of Dist. Patiala and for doing away with his dead-body, three other residents of the same village, namely, Gurbachan Singh aged 55, his son Baldev Singh aged 30, and the latter's brother Hardev Singh aged 27, were tried by Shri Jagwant Singh, Additional Sessions Judge, Patiala, for offence under S. 364, S. 302 read with S. 34, S. 120-B read with Section 302 and S. 201, of the Indian Penal Code. Two of the accused, namely, Hardev Singh and his father were acquitted of all the charges. Their co-accused Baldev Singh was, however, found guilty of murdering Inder Singh in furtherance of the common intention of himself and other and was convicted of an offence under S. 302 read with S. 34 of the I. P. C. The charges under S. 364 and S. 201 of the Code were also found proved against him and he was convicted thereof. The sentences awarded to him were life imprisonment on the first count, rigorous imprisonment for five years on the second and rigorous imprisonment for three years on the third, all of them having been directed to run concurrently. His appeal was rejected by a judgment dated the 8th of October 1971 of a Division Bench of the High Court of Punjab and Haryana and it is that judgment which is challenged before us in the present appeal.

(2.) The prosecution case may be stated thus:- About a decade prior to the 21st July 1969 when Inder Singh is said to have been murdered, one Harbans Kaur started living with him along with her two sons Kashmir Singh and Chanan Singh and a daughter named Gurmit Kaur (P. W. 6), the father of these three children being a deserted husband. Soon afterwards she contracted a Karewa marriage with the deceased who in turn made over possession of his land measuring about 125 bighas to her two sons who started cultivating the same. Sometime in the year 1967 the deceased fell out with Harbans Kaur and her sons and shifted his residence to the house of Gurbachan Singh accused who was his distant collateral. On the 12th December 1967 the deceased executed a will bequeathing his property to Gurbachan Singh accused and had the same registered. He also filed a suit for possession of his land against Kashmir Singh and Chanana Singh which was decreed on the 27th February 1969 by the trial court and on the 23rd March 1969 by the appellate court. He obtained actual possession of the land on the 6th July 1969 (vide Ex. D-5). A couple of days later Gurbachan Singh accused arranged a liquor party to celebrate the happy occasion of recovery of possession of the land by the deceased from his step-sons. The party was attended by the three accused as well as by Gurmel Singh (P. W. 8) who was on visiting terms with them. On that day the three accused and Gurmel Singh (P. W. 8) hurled abuses at Gurmit Kaur (P. W. 6) who raised an alarm. The deceased, who happened to come on the sense, did not relish the behaviour of the accused and their friend and declared that he would cancel the will abovmentioned. On the same day he shifted his residence back of his own house. Three or four days later Baldev Singh accused went to the village Chaurwala where Gurmel Singh (P. W. 8) resided and took him to his father's well where the other two accused were already present. A conspiracy was hatched to kill Inder Singh so that he would not be able to revoke the will. Gurbachan Singh accused declared that he would bear all the necessary expenses. After the conspiracy was hatched, i. e., on the 21st July 1969, another case filed by the deceased against his step-sons, in which he had claimed Rs. 4.000 as mesne profits of the land above-mentioned, was to be taken up for hearing by a court at Bassi. The deceased came out of his house to go to Bassi and found that the three accused and Gurmel Singh (P. W. 8) were present nearby with a tractor and a trolley which belonged to the accused and which they used to park in their cattle-shed adjoining the house of the deceased. Gurbacha Singh accused took Inder Singh to the trolly and made him sit therein. Hardev Singh accused drove the tractor which was attached to the trolly and the rest of the party gave company to the deceased. On the way Gurbachan Singh accused got down at village Sadhugarh, while the rest of the party travelled in the tractor and the trolly towards Bassi. On reaching village Bhat Majra Hardev Singh diverted the tractor towards a Katcha path leading to Sirhind and after covering a short distance stopped the machine, came down from his seat and entered the trolly. At that juncture Baldev Singh accused picked up a brick which had been lying in the trolly, all the time and therewith gave a blow on the left ear of the deceased whom he caught hold of by the neck and on whose chest he then jumped. Gurmel Singh (P. W. 8) and Hardev Singh accused caught the deceased by his legs and the latter died on the spot. The dead body was covered with a tarpaulin which was lying in the trolly. Hardev Singh took the tractor and the trolly towards a rivulet known as Landra Nadi, Gurmel Singh (P. W. 8) and the two sons of Gurbachan Singh due a pit in the bed of the Nadi and buried the dead body. All three of them then returned to Lataur from where Gurmel Singh (P. W. 8) went away to his own village. Three or four days after the occurrence the villagers took notice of the absence of Inder Singh. Gurmel Singh (P. W. 8) got funky and contracted Gurbachan Singh accused with a request that the latter should save him as promised. Gurbachan Singh left the village and returned a couple of hours later. He then told his two sons and Gurmel Singh (P. W. 8) that he had lodged a first information report at police station Mulepur against the step-sons of the deceased. Such a report actually purports to have been lodged by him on the 26th July 1969 in the form of Ex. P. N. In the meantime the wife of the deceased had made an application dated 14th July 1969 to the Chief Minister, Punjab, which was ultimately passed on to the Patiala police who recorded the statement of Harbans Kaur and on the basis thereof registered a case on the 1st August, 1969 against the three accused as well as Gurmel Singh (P. W. 8) for an offence under Section 302 read with Section 34 of the Indian Penal Code. On coming to know that he had been named as one of the culprits, Gurmel Singh (P. W. 8) went to police station Sirhind of the 4th August 1969 and made esquireis if he was wanted for Inder Singh's murder. He was told that this was so and was arrested. His statement (Ex. D. A.) was recorded by Assistant Sub-Inspector Dalip Singh of police station Mulepur (P. W. 11), on the same day. On the 13th August 1969 Gurmel Singh accused was granted pardon and became an approver. His detailed statement (Ex. P. B.) was recorded the next Class, Patiala (P. W. 3) (sic). Baldev Singh accused was arrested on the 4th August 1969 from the bus stand at Sirhind and made a disclosure (Ex. PE) to the effect that he had burled the dead body of Inder Singh in the bed of Landra Nadi. The police took him to the rivulet where he dug out earth from a part of the bed and uncovered the dead body which the police secured and has photographed by Madan Gopal (P. W. 2.) The autopsy was carried out by Dr. B. N. Sont, Medical Officer, A. P. Jain Hospital, Rajpura (P. W. 1) on the 4th August 1969 from 5.30 p. m. onwards. The visible injuries were two in number which the doctor has described thus:

(3.) 14 witnesses were examined in support of the prosecution case. Gurmit Kaur (P. W. 6) testified to having seen her father being taken away by the accused and Gurmel Singh (P. W. 8) in a tractor and a trolly on the morning of the 21st July 1969. Fauja Singh (P. W. 10) also stated that at the bus stand at village Sadhugarh, Gurbachan Singh accused has got down from the trolly in which the other travellers were Baldev Singh, Gurmel Singh (P. W. 8) and the deceased and which was being towed by a tractor driven by Hardev Singh accused. The main evidence against the accused, however, consisted of the testimony of the approver, namely, Gurmel Singh (P. W. 8), and of the circumstances of the recovery of the dead body at the instance of Baldev Singh accused.