PRITHVEY SINGH Vs. STATE

JUDGEMENT

(1.) By this common judgment the two appeals Prithvey Singh vs. State and State vs. Davinder Singh & Ors. can conveniently be disposed together because both the appeals arise out of the same alleged incident and the judgment of the trial court dated 29/08/1980. By virtue of the impugned judgment the learned trial court acquitted Rajbir Singh, Mahavir Singh and Sehdev of the charges against them. Devinder and Prithvey were held guilty of the offences punishable under Section 324/34 of the Indian Penal Code. While they were acquitted (Devinder and Prithvey) of the offence punishable under Section 302 Indian Penal Code they were sentenced to undergo rigorous imprisonment for two years. Aggrieved by the said judgment of the learned trial court Prithvey has preferred the appeal referred to above while the State assails the order of the learned trial court acquitting the accused persons with respect to the offence punishable under Section 302 Indian Penal Code. Needless to state that in the appeal preferred by the State of 8/04/1981 leave was granted with respect to Devinder and Prithvey only. Consequently so far as the other accused who had been acquitted by the learned trial court there is no controversy before us.

(2.) The relevant facts cajoled from the prosecution case are that Braham Parkash and his brother Ram Chander were running a tailor shop known as Deepak Tailors near Police Station Nangloi, Delhi. There was a quarrel between Azad Singh r/o Nangloi and Devinder Singh. On 18/05/1977 at about 7.30 PM Braham Parkash and Hans Raj were sitting on a cot in front of the shop of the Deepak Tailors. Devinder Singh and others came with open knives in their hands and assaulted both Braham Prakash and Hans Raj. The injured were removed to the police station and then to the hospital. Hans Raj succumbed to the injuries while Braham Prakash was stated to be in the hospital.

(3.) Rajbir Singh was the person at whose instance the First Information Report was recorded. This led to the investigation of the matter and after completion of the investigation challan was submitted against the accused including Devinder Singh and Prithvey Singh besides others. The learned trial court framed charges against the accused persons for offences punishable under Section 302/34, 307/34 while as against Sahdev Singh a charge was framed for the offence punishable under Section 201 Indian Penal Code. Needless to state that all the accused persons pleaded not guilty and claimed a trial. The prosecution case revolved around the testimonies of three alleged eye witnesses, namely Rajbir Singh, PW1, Braham Prakash, PW3 and Ram Chander, PW7. Regarding other matters there was little controversy raised before us and we deem it unnecessary to dwell into the same. Suffice to state that it had been opined that Hans Raj deceased on whose person post-mortem had been conducted by Dr. Bharat Singh, was stated to have died as a result of the injury which was sufficient to cause death in the ordinary course of its nature. In their statements under Section 313 Code of Criminal Procedure all the accused persons pleaded not guilty and denied their involvement in the offence.