GURDHIAN SINGH Vs. STATE OF PUNJAB

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The present appeal has been filed by the appellant against the judgment of conviction and order of sentence dated 07.12.2002, passed by the learned Addl. Sessions Judge, Sangrur, whereby, he was held guilty and convicted and sentenced to undergo rigorous imprisonment for a period of seven years and to pay a fine of Rs. 1000/- under Section 306 IPC and in default of payment of fine, to further undergo rigorous imprisonment for a period of three months.

(2.) The brief facts of the prosecution case are that FIR in the present case has been registered on the basis of statement of Bahadur Singh (complainant) made to ASI Bahadur Singh on 05.11.2000. In the statement, he stated that his sister Charanjit Kaur was married with accused Gurdhian Singh about six years back and one daughter namely Mani aged about 41/2 years and one son namely Sunny aged about 11/2 years were born. Accused Gurdhian Singh is a drunkard and used to maltreat Charanjit Kaur in order to get money from her. He also used to beat her. Karnail Singh, father of accused Gurdhian Singh got deposited money in the Fixed Deposit in the names of Charanjit Kaur and her children. Accused used to pressurize Charanjit Kaur to withdraw the said amount and to give the same to him. Earlier also, accused tried to kill Charanjit Kaur. Then Mukhtiar Singh and Surinder Singh, uncles of the complainant went to the house of accused and made him understand. On 05.11.2000, complainant received a telephonic message that Charanjit Kaur after getting fed up with the behaviour of Gurdhian Singh committed suicide along with her children by jumping into the canal at about 8.00 A.M. and the people are trying to trace out the dead bodies. The complainant along with Mukhtiar Singh went to the place of occurrence, where large number of people were already present there. After some time, dead bodies of Charanjit Kaur and Manpreet Kaur @ Mani were traced. Later on, the dead body of Sanpreet Singh @ Sunny was also recovered. Inquest proceedings were conducted. Post-mortem examinations on the dead bodies were got conducted.

(3.) Rough site plan was prepared. Statements of witnesses were recorded. Accused were arrested. After necessary investigation, challan was presented against the accused-appellant. On presentation of challan against accused-appellant, copies of challan and other documents were supplied to him under Section 207 Cr.P.C. Finding prima facie case, the accused-appellant was charge-sheeted under Section 306 IPC, to which he pleaded not guilty and claimed trial.