RAHUL SINGH Vs. STATE OF HP

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The present eight appeals, whose particulars are given in the heading of this judgment, are being disposed of by a common judgment, as all of them are directed against two judgments delivered in the same Sessions Trial and evidence, upon which the judgments are based, is the same. The judgments are dated 20th January, 2005 and 22nd September, 2007, delivered by Sessions Court at Una. As a matter of fact, there could have been a single judgment, but the necessity for writing a second judgment arose, because one of the appellants (convicts), namely Gurjant Singh, after the close of the evidence by the prosecution and even after his own examination, under Section 313 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, absconded and he had to be declared a proclaimed offender, on account of his being not traceable. A separate judgment was written in his (Gurjant Singh's) case on 22nd September, 2007.

(2.) We may notice the prosecution case, which led to the trial. Una Police filed a report, under Section 173 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, against 15 persons, under Sections 147, 148, 302, 323, 324, 341, 212, 201, and 120-B, read with Section 149 of the Indian Penal Code, and Section 25 of the Arms Act. Out of the challaned 15 persons, eight, namely appellant Amrish Rana, appellant Gurjant Singh, appellant Harjinder Singh, appellant Naveen Kumar, Ashok Kumar (deceased), appellant Rahul Singh, appellant Malkiat Singh and appellant Manjit Singh, all of whom have filed separate appeals, were alleged to have formed a unlawful assembly, on 10th September, 1999, with the common object of making murderous assault upon PW-1 Ashwani Kumar, PW-2 Ram Pal, deceased Rajiv, deceased Santokh Singh, deceased Raj Kumar @ Kaka, another Raj Kumar son of Hari Prakash, and in prosecution of that object, all the above named appellants and their deceased accomplice Ashok Kumar allegedly armed themselves with deadly weapons, like swords, gandasis, hockey sticks, clutch wire, etc. and waylaid the above-named deceased and injured, when they were going by a Maruti Car to a place called Pir Nigah, near village Malahat, at a distance of 2-3 kms from Una. The above named appellants and their deceased accomplice Ashok Kumar had allegedly blocked the road by parking a Car, bearing registration No. PB-7A-8408 and a motor cycle to force the injured and the deceased to stop at the site of the occurrence. When the injured and the deceased, who were travelling by their Maruti Car No. HP-20A-0948, reached village Malahat, the road being blocked, as aforesaid, they had to bring their Car to a halt. As soon as the Car stopped, the injured and the deceased were attacked. They were still in the Car, when attacked. Front screen of the car of the injured and the deceased was broken and the injured and the deceased were attacked with sword by appellant Amrish Rana and with Gandasi by appellant Gurjant singh, while other appellants attacked them with hockey sticks, dandas and clutch wire. Injured and the deceased came out of the Car, one-by-one, and when they came out they were dealt more blows with the aforesaid weapons. The incident took place around 9.30 in the night. It was a lighting attack, as the appellants took only 3-4 minutes to accomplish the intended act. Thereafter, they escaped by Car No. PB-7A-8408 and the motorcycle, which they used to block the road. Injured and the deceased raised alarm, but before the residents of village Malahat could come to their rescue the appellants fled from the scene.

(3.) Police was informed by someone, at 9.35 p.m., telephonically. Entry, copy Ex. PW-32/A, was made in the Rojnamcha, at Police Station, Una, with regard to the said information. SHO, PW-38 Inspector Kishan Singh, after getting the aforesaid information, went towards Mehatpur to prevent the assailants from escaping to the neighbouring State of Punjab.