PALVINDER SINGH AND ANR. Vs. STATE

JUDGEMENT

(1.) PALVINDER Singh was married to Sarabjeet Kaur in June 1990. They had three children aged six years, four years and the youngest being an eight month old son. They were residing in a quarter allotted to them at Gurudwara Badarpur. They were earlier living at the quarter of Gurudwara Bangla Saheb. Palvinder was a Sewadar by profession. Since the last 3 -4 months Palvinder had been assigned duty at Gurudwara Bangla Saheb. On 14.1.1998, Amarjeet Singh PW -1 along with Surender Singh PW -5 had gone to Gurudwara Bangla Saheb. They met Sewadar Manga who was employed in Gurudwara Badarpur. He i.e. Manga told PW -1 that a quarrel had taken place between Palvinder and Sarabjeet and his sister Sarabjeet had probably been murdered by Palvinder Singh and his younger brother Sarwan Singh who had come from Punjab; Sarabjeet had not been seen after 9 -10.1.1998 and since then all the occupants of the house had disappeared. PW -1 along with PW -5 went to Gurudwara Badarpur where they found the house of his sister locked. PW -1 informed his father Kishan Singh PW -2. On 15.1.1998 PW -2 and PW -5 went to the native village of Palvinder to find out the whereabouts of Sarabjeet and Palvinder. He i.e. PW -2 met his son -in -law but he did not get any satisfactory reply about the whereabouts of his daughter. PW -2 and PW -5 returned back to Delhi. Complaint Ex.PW -1/A was lodged in PS Badarpur to this effect.

(2.) INSPECTOR Ved Prakash PW -17 was given charge of the investigation of this case. He made his endorsement Ex.PW -17/A on the aforestated complaint for the registration of an FIR under Section 364 of the IPC. FIR Ex.PW -16/A was registered by HC Rajinder Singh PW -16. On the same day i.e. on 17.1.1998 PW -17 along with SI Lakhi Ram PW -14, PW -2 and PW -5 proceeded to the native village of the accused in Amritsar; a trap was laid and the accused i.e. Palvinder Singh and his brother Sarwan Singh were both apprehended. The disclosure statement of Palvinder Singh Ex.PW -2/A was recorded and disclosure statement of Sarwan Singh Ex.PW -5/A was also recorded. Their personal search memos Ex.PW -14/A and Ex.PW -14/B were prepared. Accused Palvinder was found present in Amritsar along with his two children but his third child i.e. his youngest son aged eight months was found missing. Accused feigned ignorance about the third child. The other two children were also not able to inform the investigating agency about the whereabouts of either their mother or their third sibling. The police party along with accused returned back to Delhi.

(3.) ON 20.1.1998, accused persons led the investigating team to the place where they had abandoned the third child of Palvinder Singh i.e. his eight month old son. This was a place opposite a temple near Ganga Vihar on the Ring Road; pointing out memo is Ex.PW -14/J. In this context on 11.1.1998 a PCR call had been received in the area of police station Sriniwaspuri of police post Sunlight Colony by lady Const. Geeta PW -15 that a child had been found abandoned near village Kilokari near Hind Motors. This information had been conveyed by her to the District Control Room and was passed on to the police post at Sunlight Colony. DD No. 10 Ex. PW -13/A was recorded by HC Satpal Singh PW -13 who had gone for the investigation thereof; a male child was found abandoned there; his identity could not be traced. The child was left in the care of Phoolo Devi PW -3. Thereafter the Delhi Child Welfare Association was contacted and the child was transferred to the care of Ms. Chritia Thomas PW -12 who was working as a Supervisor in the Delhi Counsel Child Welfare Department. Testimony of PW -12 is to the effect that the child had thereafter been identified as the son of Sarabjeet Kaur and his custody had been handed over to his grandfather Sh. Arjun Singh vide memo Ex.PW -12/A.