JARNAIL SINGH Vs. STATE OF HARYANA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THIS Revision Petition has been filed by accused-petitioner Jarnail Singh against the judgments of the Courts below whereby he was convicted under Sections 337/338 and 304-A of the Indian Penal Code and was sentenced to undergo simple imprisonment for six months and to pay a fine of Rs. 500/- under Section 337 IPC, imprisonment for two years and to pay a fine of Rs. 1,000/- under Section 338 IPC and imprisonment for two years and a fine of Rs. 5,000/- under Section 304-A IPC. All the sentences were ordered to run concurrently. Aggrieved by the judgment/order of learned Judicial Magistrate Ist Class, Pehowa an appeal was filed by the accused-petitioner which was dismissed by the learned Sessions Judge, Kurukshetra vide his judgment dated 9.3.1998.

(2.) THE facts, in brief, are that on 4.5.1987, at about 10.45 P.M., Joginder Pal PW made statement Exhibit PA before SI Deep chand SHO that on that night after closing his shop, he was having a stroll on Ambala road and at about 9.45 P.M., when he reached near the turning of bye-pass Guhla, he saw a Haryana Roadways bus driven by its driver coming at a high speed in a rash and negligent manner from Ambala side. The driver of the bus struck the same against the left side railing of the said bridge as a result of which the bus fell down and that running fastly, he came to the bridge and started raising Raula that a bus had fallen in the drain and that the passengers be rescued and on hearing his Raula, Lachmanan Giri and several other persons reached there and after going down, he saw registration number of the bus as HRQ-5726 and came to know about the name of bus driver as Jarnail Singh. It was further alleged that out of the passengers travelling in the bus, 8/9 passengers had already expired and other passengers had received injuries. It was further alleged that after leaving Lachhman Giri and other persons at the spot to look after the injured, he was going to the Police Station when on the way, the police met him. SI Deep Chand sent the said statement Exhibit PA to the Police Station with his endorsement, on the basis of which formal FIR under Sections 279, 337 and 304-A IPC was registered in Police Station, Pehowa at 11 P.M. on 4.5.1987. The case was investigated by the police. The accused was arrested in this case and after completion of investigation, the accused was charged under Sections 279, 337, 338 and 304-A IPC to which he pleaded not guilty and claimed to be tried. The prosecution produced evidence in support of its case. Statement of the accused under Section 313 Cr.P.C. was recorded in which he denied the prosecution allegations against him and stated that he was innocent and has been falsely implicated in this case. However, he did not produce any evidence in defence and the defence evidence was closed by Court order.

(3.) I have heard learned counsel for the parties and gone through the record carefully.