PARAMJIT SINGH Vs. STATE OF PUNJAB

JUDGEMENT

(1.) By this judgment, we are disposing of Criminal Appeal No. 46-DB of 1995 and Criminal Revision Petition No. 326 of 1995 as both the said appeal and the revision petition arise out of the same judgment dated 10th January, 1995 passed by the Sessions Judge, Jullundur. Criminal Appeal No. 46DB of 1995 has been filed by the appellant Paramjit Singh and appellant Pavittar Singh who have been convicted under Section 302, Indian Penal Code and have been sentenced to undergo life imprisonment with a fine of Rs. 1000/- and in default of payment of fine, they have been ordered to undergo further RI for three months. Crl. Revision Petition No. 326 of 1995 has been filed by Harbhajan Singh whose son Daljeet Singh is alleged to have been murdered by appellants Paramjit Singh and Pavittar Singh and in this revision petition, it has been prayed that the said accused may be directed to pay Rs. 1 lac as compensation under Section 357, Cr.P.C. to the legal heirs of the deceased.

(2.) Briefly stated, the facts of the case are that a case was registered under Section 302/34, I.P.C. against appellants Paramjit Singh and Pavittar Singh at PS Banga on 29-5-1992 at 6.20/6.55 p.m. vide FIR Exhibit PA/2 on the basis of statement exhibit PA of Harbhajan Singh (father of the deceased) (PW 1). The said statement Exhibit PA was recorded by ASI Kashmir Singh (PW 4) at Canal Bridge village Hakimpur on 29-5-1992 at 5.15 p.m. The special report was delivered at the place of the Ilaqa Magistrate at Nawanshahar at 10 p.m. on the same day. It may be pointed out here that the distance between the place of occurrence and PS Banga is 8 kms. and the distance between PS Banga and the place of the Ilaqa Magistrate is 12/13 Kms.

(3.) PW 1 Harbhajan Singh, in his statement Exhibit PA stated that he was a resident of village Teharpur and had three sons and one of them was Daljit Singh (deceased) who was aged 15/16 years. He further submitted that on 29-5-1992 his father Piara Singh, his brother Joga Singh and he had been putting manure in the fields since morning which was being carried on a rehri (small cart) and at about 11 a.m. his son Daljit Singh went to irrigate the sugarcane field with the tubewell operated by engine. He remained present there and at about 3 p.m. they were coming to the field with a loaded rehri (of manure) and when they were about to unload the manure after parking the rehri in the field, they saw that Pavittar Singh and Paramjit Singh (appellants herein) residents of the same village were pulling and dragging his son Daljit Singh in the Pudina (mint) field. They parked rehri there and saw that Daljit Singh was lying dead near the edge of water-channel and within their sight said Paramjit Singh and Pavittar Singh fled away from the spot towards the tubewell of Ajit Singh and while going away, both the brothers were raising lalkaras that whosoever took their land on mortgage would face the same consequences. He further stated that the cause of grudge is that his father Piara Singh son of Niranjan Singh had taken 21/2 killas of land on mortgage from Piara Singh son of Puran Singh which was resented to by the sons of Piara Singh son of Puran Singh. He further stated that prior to this, there was some dispute between them which was got compromised with the intervention of the Panchayat. Paramjit Singh and Pavittar Singh sons of Piara Singh had murdered his son and the occurrence had been witnesses by his father, his brother Joga Singh and by him.