MADAN LAL Vs. STATE OF HARYANA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The present appeal has been preferred against the judgment of conviction and order of sentence dtd. 19/7/2004 passed by the learned Sessions Judge, Namaul in case F.I.R. No.273 dtd. 11/9/2002, under Sec. 302 read with Sec. 34 IPC, registered at Police Station Mahendergarh, whereby the appellants had been convicted and sentenced to undergo rigorous imprisonment for life, to pay a fine of Rs.500.00 each under Sec. 302/34 IPC and in default of payment of fine, to undergo further RI for one month.

(2.) The appeal qua appellants No.l and 3, namely Madan Lal and Jagmal Singh, already stands abated vide order dtd. 18/8/2025, as they have expired during the pendency of the appeal.

(3.) The case of the prosecution is that Surender Singh-complainant, who is a resident of village Birawas, used to run an STD booth. On 11/9/2002, at about 7:30 a.m., his father, Shadi Ram, proceeded from their nohra towards the fields. At that time, the complainant was present in the nohra. When Shadi Ram reached the street in front of the house of accused Madan Lal, the complainant heard voices saying that a lesson would be taught to him for having deposed in favour of Bhagwanti. On hearing this, the complainant came out of the nohra and witnessed accused Madan Lal and Jagmal holding Shadi Ram. In the meantime, accused Sunil Kumar inflicted a blow with the reverse side of a kulhari on the head of Shadi Ram, followed by accused Lal Chand, who dealt a blow with an iron rod on the back side of his head. As a result, Shadi Ram fell to the ground, raising an alarm by crying 'mar diya, mar diya' At that juncture, Accused-Sanjiv and Munni, wife of Lal Chand, exhorted the co-accused to teach Shadi Ram a lesson for giving evidence and to kill him. Thereafter, the complainant, along with Lila Ram son of Prabhu Ram and one Kanhi Ram (father's name not known), reached the spot and rescued Shadi Ram. While Shadi Ram was lying on the ground, accused Madan Lal and Jagmal also gave him kicks. In the meantime, several persons from the village gathered at the spot. Before leaving, accused Madan Lal and others threatened Shadi Ram, declaring that though he had survived that day, he would be killed whenever an opportunity arises in the future. Thereafter, injured was admitted in CHC, Mahendergarh and ruqa was sent to the Police Station. However, Shadi Ram was not fit to make a statement and he was thereafter referred to PGIMS, Rohtak. Head Constable Om Parkash reached CHC, Mahendergarh. However, he could not find any eye witness of the occurrence and, therefore, he went to PGIMS, Rohtak. He moved an application to know if Shadi Ram was fit to make a statement or not. However, Shadi Ram was declared unfit to make statement and the statement of Surender Singh, an eye witness of the occurrence, was recorded. Shadi Ram died on 11/9/2002 at about 11.10 pm and on 12/9/2002, the police was informed about the death and thereafter, postmortem was conducted and other police investigation was carried out.