STATE Vs. HAZURA SINGH

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Three persons, namely, Sucha Singh, Hazura Singh and Gurnam Singh were tried for the murder of one Zora Singh S/o Gujjar Singh but all of them were acquitted by the Sessions Judge, Sangrur. The present appeal has been filed by the State Under Section 417 Cr. P.C. against the acquittal of Hazura Singh and Sucha Singh only. The accused belong to village Haryaoo while the deceased and his family were residents of and owned land in village Phulera. These two villages lie close to each other and are separated by a distance of about a mile and a half.

(2.) It is stated that Zora Singh and his brother Bakhshish Singh had gone to their field, about a mile distant from the village Abadi on the evening of 21-5-2005. As he had been working throughout the night, Zora Singh felt fatigued and went to sleep on a cot under Ban tree in the field of Mukund Singh which was next to his own. Bakhshish Singh, however, continued to regulate the flow of water in his field. At about 11 A.M. on 22-5-2005, Hazura Singh and Sucha Singh armed with guns, and Gurnam Singh carrying a Gandasa appeared in Mukund Singh's field and the first two fired shots at Zora Singh while Gurnam Singh gave him several blows with his Gandasa. Zora Singh died then and there. The incident is alleged to have been witnessed by Bakhshish Singh, Kartar Singh P.W. 4, Jhanda Singh P.W. 10, and Mukhtiar Singh P.W. 11. Information of the crime was carried to his father Gujar Singh by Bakhshish Singh who collected some persons of the village and proceeded to the place of occurrence to find his son dead. Gujjar Singh then left for the police station Lehra which is at a distance of 7 kos and lodged a report at 7 P.M. stating that his son Zora Singh had been attacked by Sucha Singh, Hazura Singh and another man who was with them and who could be identified by the eye-witnesses, it was further stated in the Report that besides Bakhshish Singh three other persons Kartar Singh, Jhanda Singh and Mukhtiar Singh had witnessed the occurrence. S.I. Inder Singh, S.H.O. Lehra, reached village Phulera by 11 P.M. and took up investigation. By the next morning he was able to examine the three eye-witnesses named above.

(3.) The dead body was examined by Dr. Tilak Ram, Medical Officer, Sunam, who found two gun shots and eight incised wounds present on it. The pleura at the site of the 9th rib of left side and the left lung at its lower lobe were pierced. Out of the 10 injuries one on the left side of the chest over the 9th rib which had been broken, and was caused by a gun shot, and the other an incised wound on the left neck cutting the big vessels and 5th cervical vertebra were individually sufficient in the ordinary course of nature to cause death. The cause of death was shock due to internal haemorrhage into left lung cavity and external haemorrhage from big vessels of left neck. The gun shot injuries according to Dr. Tilak Ram could have been caused by one fine if the cartridge used was of L.G. or S.G. make.