STATE OF H.P. Vs. SWARAN SINGH

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THE State prefers this appeal against the judgment of the learned Additional Sessions Judge -(I), Kangra at Dharamshala, acquitting the accused - respondents for offences under Sections 147, 148, 149, 323,302 IPC.

(2.) ACCUSED Swaran Singh, Ramesh Singh are brothers, Sandeep Singh son of Swaran Singh, Sham Singh son of Bachan Singh and Tarsem Singh son of Ram Singh, who have been charged for these offences for causing the death of Jagdish Singh and simple injuries to Rajinder Singh and Gautam Singh on 17.12.1994 by forming of an unlawful assembly to achieve their common object when they were armed with deadly weapons like ˜Lathis and ˜hockey sticks and assaulted the deceased.

(3.) THE accused pleaded not guilty. Swaran Singh (accused), in his statement under Section 313 Cr.P.C., stated that on the fateful day Subhash, Rajinder, Gautam, Purshotam and others got drunk. Purshotam was armed with a gun and others with dandas and hockey sticks. They came to his house, abused him and his brother and asked them to come out of the house. When he came out, he was brutally assaulted by them. His wife Samela Devi and mother Savitri Devi came out to rescue him but they were also set upon by the accused. In this scuffle, he snatched the gun and danda from the accused who then ran away from the spot. At 10.30 P.M. on the same night, he with his wife Samela Devi and brother Ramesh Singh decided to deposit the gun and danda with the Pradhan. When they were going to the house of Pradhan Kartar Singh, near the house of one Thakur Singh, the complainant had organized himself alongwith Jagdish, Parshotam, Rajinder and Subhash pounced on them and snatched the gun from them. He and his wife fled to the house of Thakur Singh to save their lives and they deposited the gun with Kartar Singh, Pradhan. 5.The learned trial Court, notices that there are three versions of the incident on the record of the case.The first is as narrated in Ex.PW -1/A by the complainant PW -1 Gautam, the second version is what he states in Court and the third is what probalises the defence of the accused which they have set up in their statements under Sections 313 of the Code of Criminal Procedure.