ASHWANI KUMAR Vs. STATE OF HARYANA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THE present appeal is directed against the judgment of conviction and order of sentence dated 28.09.2011 rendered by the learned Sessions Judge, Kurukshetra, whereby the appellant was convicted for an offence punishable under Section 302 IPC and sentenced to undergo rigorous imprisonment for life and to pay a fine of Rs. 10,000/ -. In default of payment of fine, the appellant to further undergo rigorous imprisonment for two years.

(2.) THE prosecution case was set in motion on the statement of Arjun Singh son of Kabaj Singh, uncle of Suresh (deceased), made to ASI Som Nath, P.S. Pehowa on 09.10.2007. In his statement (Ex. PA), Arjun Singh stated that today i.e. 09.10.2004 at about 1.00 PM, when he reached near Taneja Khal Bhandar, Dhand Road, Pehowa while coming to his village Rua on a tractor of someone after taking medicine from Pehowa, he saw that 15 -20 persons were quarrelling in front of the shop. Amongst them, his nephew Suresh son of Falel Singh was also present. All those persons were having dandas, iron rods and swords etc. In the said fight, his nephew sustained injuries. Later on, he came to know that the injuries were inflicted by Ashwani, Mahesh, Kuldeep and Asha Ram as well as 10 -12 other persons, whose names he do not know. His nephew Suresh died due to the injuries suffered in the fight. He further stated that all the persons fled away from the spot alongwith their respective weapons on seeing Suresh as dead. On the basis of such statement, ruqa (Ex. PA/3) was sent to the Police Station for registration of an FIR. On receipt of ruqa, FIR (Ex. PA/1) was lodged at about 3.20 PM on the same day.

(3.) TO prove its case, apart from examining the witnesses of formal nature, the prosecution has examined PW -1 Arjun Singh, the author of FIR and the uncle of the deceased; PW -14 Dr. B.B. Kakkar, who conducted postmortem examination on the dead body of the deceased and PW -12 SI Som Nath, the Investigating Officer. PW -14 Dr. B.B. Kakkar while stepping into witness box tendered his evidence by way of affidavit Ex. PQ. He also proved the post -mortem reported as Ex. PR. He found the following injuries: