STATE OF HARYANA Vs. NIRMAL SINGH

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The prosecution case in brief is that Tale Ram s/o Nathan, Jat was resident of village Shahpur Turk, PS Sadar Sonepat. Smt. Krishna was his wife. They had three daughters named Nirmala, Punam @ Bimla and Neelam and two sons named Tinu and Parveen. Punam was married to Raj Kumar son of Ram Kishan, Jat resident of village Basoli (U.P.) about a year prior to 6/93. Nirmala was also married. Neelam, Tinu and Parveen were putting up with their parents Tale and Krishna in village Shahpur Turk. For many years, Tale had been putting up with Nathan at his house. All the children were born to Tale in village Shahpur Turk. Nathan was owning 4 acres of land. He was sonless. Nathan had transferred his land in the name of Tale. Transfer of the land by Nathan in favour of Tale had given rise to civil suit by the daughters of Nathan. Tale had been taken in adoption by Nathan.

(2.) Dharampal and Nirmal accused sons of Chander Singh are collaterals of Tale. In January 1991 i.e. prior to this occurrence, in which Tale, Krishna, Neelam, Tinu and Parveen lost their lives, Dharampal accused had committed rape upon Punam @ Bimla. In the rape case, Punam and Neelam were prosecution witnesses and they appeared as prosecution witnesses. Dharampal was sentenced to 10 years' RI in the rape case. Dharampal had threatened them to resile and not to support the charge of rape and in case they persisted in supporting the charge of rape, he would liquidate all the members of their family. Despite those threats, she and Neelam did not relent. They did not feel cowed down. Her family also did not relent and feel cowed down and they deposed against Dharampal and supported the rape charge with vehemence. After Dharampal was convicted, he and Nirmal threatened to liquidate their entire family.

(3.) On 9-6-93, Punam @ Bimla and her husband Raj Kumar came to village Shahpur Turk from village Basoli to meet her parents. They reached village Shahpur Turk at about 6 p.m. After having taken their meals, they went upstairs and slept on the roof of their house while Tale, Krishna, Neelam, Tinu and Parveen slept in the courtyard of the house. Electric bulb was on, on one corner of that house. At about 3.30 a.m., Smt. Punam and Raj Kumar heard alarm "Maar diye - maar diye". Smt. Punam and Raj Kumar got up on hearing that alarm and they saw Dharampal armed with Kulhari and Nirmal armed with Barchhi dealing blows to Tinu, Parveen and Neelam. Smt.Krishna got up and ran towards the village street for safety. Dharampal-accused chased Smt. Krishna and in the process he dealt Kulhari blow on the neck of Smt. Krishna while she was running. Smt. Krishna sustained that blow on the right side of her neck. Smt. Krishna fell on the ground. Dharampal dealt 2-3 more blows on Smt. Krishna. Thereafter, Dharampal came back to their house. Both the accused gave injuries to Tale with their respective weapons i.e. Kulhari and Barchhi. Tale, Smt. Krishna, Neelam, Tinu and Parveen died at the spot on account of the injuries dealt brutally to them by Dharampal and Nirmal. Thereafter, Dharampal and Nirmal dragged the dead bodies and placed the dead bodies in one line in the street. Thereafter, Dharampal and Nirmal while leaving the spot with their respective weapons declared in fear inducing tone that if anybody dared appear against them and gave evidence, he would also meet the same fate. They further declared that two daughters of Tale were still alive and they would also kill them. Smt. Punam and Raj Kumar became terribly frightened. They did not dare come down. They were fearful that the accused would also kill them. Smt. Punam and Raj Kumar became terrified and remained terrified for quite sometime and they came down after the accused had left the spot and saw that Tale, Krishna, Neelam, Tinu and Parveen were dead on account of the injuries on their face, head, neck etc. Dharampal had come to the village on bail a few days earlier in that rape case. Dharampal joined his brother to settle scores with Tale, Krishna, Neelam, Tinu and Parveen on account of their inability to reconcile with 10 years' sentence inflicted on Dharampal in the rape case by the Court. 10 years' sentence awarded to Dharampal by the Court generated venom in Dharampal and Nirmal to an extent that they brought about the elimination of the five members of the family of Smt. Punam's parents, rather the total effacement of that family. Smt. Punam went to many people of village Shahpur Turk and requested them to accompany her for reporting the matter to the police but none came forward to accompany her. Thereafter, she became unconscious as a result of shock and the sight of ghastly tragedy. At about 10 a.m. she regained consciousness. Thereafter, she along with Karambir, Sarpanch went to Police Station Sadar, Sonepat and lodged FIR Ex. PR. Shri Chaman Lal, SHO, PS Sadar Sonepat accompanied Smt. Punam and Karambir to the spot and reached there. He took ASI Pirthi Singh and other police officials with him. He inspected the spot. He held inquest on the dead bodies of Tale, Krishna, Neelam, Tinu and Parveen and the inquest reports are Ex. PF/1, PG/1, PH/1, PJ/1 and PK/1 respectively. He despatched the dead bodies to Civil Hospital, Sonepat for post-mortem examination together with applications Ex. PF/2, PG/2, PH/2, PJ/2 and PK/2 respectively which are requests for post-mortem examination on the dead bodies. He took into possession blood-stained earth from underneath the dead bodies of each of the deceased lying in the thoroughfare street. Thereafter, he took into possession the blood- stained earth from the place where Krishna had fallen after the receipt of injuries at the hands of the accused. SHO, PS Sadar, Sonepat, SI Chaman Lal took into possession blood-stained dari and blood-stained bed sheet from near the main gate after entering into the house of Tale which were lying on the ground. SI Chaman Lal saw 4 cots lying in the courtyard of the house. He took into possession blood-stained quilt having corresponding cuts lying on those cots, he took into possession blood-stained ban of the cots, a pair of leather shoes (Jutti) and also blood-stained earth from underneath the cot. Blood-stained dari, bed sheet, quilt and pair of juttis are P 43 to P 48 made into sealed packet. He took into possession blood- stained bichhona, two pillows, ban of the cot and also the blood-stained earth from underneath the second cot. These articles are P 49, P 50 and P 52, made into sealed packets. From the third cot, he took into possession, blood-stained bichhona, a butidar pillow, ban of the cot and also the blood- stained earth from underneath the third cot. Bichhona and pillow are P 52 to P 53 made into sealed packet. Thereafter, he inspected the fourth cot and took into possession the blood-stained ban, bath room chappal. Hawai Chappal is P 54. SI Chaman Lal got the spot photographed, he prepared rough site plan Ex. PT of the place of occurrence. He took into possession the sealed packets containing the clothes of the deceased vide memo Ex. PU. These sealed packets were produced by UGC Krishan Kumar co. 308 before SI Chaman Lal.