LAWS(P&H)-1950-12-5

KIRPAL SINGH Vs. STATE

Decided On December 29, 1950
KIRPAL SINGH Appellant
V/S
STATE Respondents

JUDGEMENT

(1.) KIRJAL Singh has been found guilty of the murder of his brother Partap Singh and his brother's son Waryam Singh and been sentenced to death. He has appealed and the sentence of death is also before us for confirmation.

(2.) IT appears that one Sawan Singh died some six years ago leaving behind him a large plot of land and two sons, namely Partap Singh deceased and Kirpal Singh appellant. This land was split into two by a railway track which ran through it from east to west The land which was towards the north of the railway track was irrigated by a well as well as by a canal, whereas the land towards the south appears to have been irrigated by means of the water of the well on the north which came to the land on the south through a siphon which connected the lands on the north and the south underneath the railway track. Another siphon which lies towards the west appears to have carried the canal water from the south so the north. The evidence shows that shortly after the death of Sawan Singh his two sons Partap Singh and Kamail Singh came to an arrangement by which half the land came into the cultivating possession of one brother and the other half in the cultivating possession of the other.

(3.) AT about 6 o'clock on the afternoon of the 7th June 1950 Kirpal Singh appellant and his son Kartar Singh, who has since been acquitted, constructed a small channel on land which was in the cultivating possession of Partap Singh with the object of taking canal water from the south to the north through the siphon which is situated towards the east of the land. It is said that Partap Singh and his son Waryam Singh both of whom were murdered in this case came and objected to the construction of the channel. The appellant and his son persisted and it is said that the two dead men started demolishing the channel. Hot words were exchanged between the parties and it is said that the culprits who were armed with spears pounced upon the deceased. Kirpal Singh plunged his weapon into the body of Partap Singh. Waryam Singh son of Partap Singh ran away across the railway line but Kartar Singh pursued him and inflicted a spear blow on his person. Kartar Singh sank to the ground and died almost immediately at the spot. His father Partap Singh, however, lingered on for a while and died shortly afterwards.