SANTOKH SINGH Vs. THE STATE

JUDGEMENT

(1.) SANTOKH Singh Appellant aged about 32 years of village barwala has been convicted under Section 302 Indian Penal Code by a judgment dated 9th September, 1969, of the Sessions Judge, Amritsar, and has been sentenced to death for the murder of Harnam Singh of his village. Appeal No. 1075 of 1969 hled by Santokh Singh against his conviction and sentence and the reference (No. 75 of 1969) for confirmation of the sentence of death under Section 374 of the Code of Criminal Procedure were heard by us together and s -1 (sic) all be disposed by this judgment

(2.) THE prosecution story as given by Sardara Singh PW, who first reported the incident to the police is that on 3rd January, 1969, at about 7 P. M. he was returning from the house of Dara Singh who is his part -ner in cultivation. He saw Harnam Singh deceased and a few other persons namely bhan Singh, Waryam Singh, Dial Singh Ajaib Singh, Bal Singh and Gurmej Singh etc. misbehaving and shouting under the influence of liquor in front of the haveli of Parsa Singh, The Appellant's brother Gurmej Singh and Dial Singh had tried to bring about a com -promise over the payment of some debt by Gurmel Singh and Karnail Singh to Parsa Singh a few days earlier but this settlement had not been honoured by Parsa Singh. While this raula was going on in front of the haveli of Parsa Singh, the Appellant came there armed with a licenced gun of his brother Gurmej Singh and challenged the miscreants as to who they were. The deceased replied that he was his uncle Harnam Singh. The Appellant thereupon fired two or three shots in quick succession (heth utte). One of these shots fatally injured Harnam Singh while P. Ws. Dhan Singh. Dial Singh and Lakhbir Singh sustained gun shot injuries from the other fire. Harnam Singh died at the spot. Sardara Singh P. W. who is a Member of the Gram Panchayat went with the injured Dial Singh to Police Station, Patti, which is about six miles away. Sardara Singh lodged the First Information Report, Exhibit. PJ, at the Police Station at about 8.30 P. M. the same evening. Dial Singh was medically examined on police request at Patti by Dr. Ram Parkash P. W. at 9.20 P. M. the same night.

(3.) THE post -mortem examination of the dead body of Harnam Singh was carried out at the Civil Hospital, Tarn Taran at 8.25 A.M. on 5th January, 1969. The dead body had been received the previous evening at about 3.45 P.M. There were more than a dozen gun shot injuries on the dead body and two of these injuries were individually sufficient to cause death in the ordinary course of nature. There was no tatooing of the wounds or the clothes. The stomach contained 8 to 10 ounces of semi digested food containing pieces of pakauras and smell of alcohol was coming out of the contents. The death in the doctor's opinion was due to shock and haemorrhage due to injury in the right lung and right neck vessel The gun shot injuries were found all over the chest, face and head. Samples of blood from the heart and urine from the bladder were sent to the Chemical Examiner for analysis and test but the report, Exhibit PA, which was received was to the effect that no alcohol was to be found in the contents of these exhibits.