KRISHAN LAL Vs. STATE

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The appellant was held guilty of committing the murder of Man Singh and attempting to commit the murder of Chini Lal, Swami Raj and Faqir Chand. He was also found guilty of causing grievious injuries to Faquir Chand and injuries with gun shot to Swami Raj and Chunni Lal. After having found him guilty of commission of offence under Ss.302,307,326,324 RPC, he was sentenced to imprisonment for life for the commission of offence punishable under S. 302 RPC, rigorous imprisonment for five years and a fine of Rs. 300/- for attempting to murder of Swami Raj, Chuni Lal and Faquir Chand on each of the three counts, to undergo rigorous imprisonment for seven years and pay a fine of Rs. 500/- for causing grievious injuries by gun shot under S. 326 RPC and to undergo rigorous imprisonment for two years under S. 324 RPC. All the sentences passed were directed to run concurrently.

(2.) Upon the FIR lodged by Thakru on 15-7-1981 at police station Doda, the investigation was initiated against the appellant who was alleged to have committed the offences of attempt to murder and causing of injuries with gun shots. It was alleged that the appellant illegally entered on a piece of land in possession of the informant on 15-7-1981 at about 8 a.m. and started ploughing the land. Chuni Lal and Swami Raj brothers of the informant, Faquir Chand sister's husband of the informant and Dindayal, the father of the informant, came on spot and told the appellant to desist from taking forcible possession of the land in their possession. When despite demand the accused did not pay any heed, the informant called Beli Ram and Man Singh for the purpose of dissuading the appellant from taking the possession of the land. They made an attempt to persuade the appellant to vacate the land but he threatened them with dire consequences. The informant and his two brothers thereafter unyoked the bullocks of the appellant and threw away the plough whereafter the accused left the place, rushed to his house situate nearby giving threats and appeared on the spot with a gun in his hand. He fired a short at Swami Raj and Chuni Lal who received the injuries and both of them were injured. When Faqir Chand went to assist the injured, the appellant fired another shot which hit Faqir Chand. Thereafter the appellant went towards the place where Man Singh was standing and reaching there he fired another shot which hit Man Singh on the chest as a result of which he fell down and died on spot. In the meantime one Ghulam Mohd. Parrey also came on spot and tried to pacify the appellant but as he was bent upon to kill all the members of the informant's family, the informant and another brother Shankru managed to escape and reached the police station along with one Rattan Singh to lodge the report. The whole of the incident had taken place on account of the alleged long standing dispute between the parties regarding the piece of land over which the occurrence took place. The appellant is alleged to have dispute with Man Singh deceased also regarding another piece of land and a path way.

(3.) After registering the case as FIR No. 69 of 1981 the police officers of police station Doda proceeded towards the place of occurrence to conduct the investigation. While the police party headed by the SHO were on their way, they found the appellant coming from the opposite direction and as soon as he saw the police men apprehending him he fired a shot on the police party from the gun, which he was holding, hitting a constable. The police claims to have over-powered the appellant and seized the gun from his possession. A separate case was registered against the appellant for the alleged occurrence of firing upon the police party. After his arrest the weapon of offence was recovered from the possession of the appellant. The police also recovered some empty cartridges at or near the place of occurrence and recovered some live cartridges, a few kilograms of lead and a couple of gun licences from the house of the appellant. The dead body of Man Singh was taken to hospital at Doda where post-mortem examination was conducted during the course of which a number of pellets were extracted from the dead body and were seized by the police. Some pellets were recovered from the body of Swami Raj, Faqir Chand and Chuni Lal when they were examined and medically treated in the hospital. 3A. In order to prove the case against the appellant the prosecution produced and relied upon the testimony of Thakru, Shankar Lal, Rattan Lal, Swami Raj son of Mehar Singh, Ghulam Mohd. Parrey, Swami Ram son of Dindayal, Chuni Lal, Hari Lal Numberdar, Mohammad Abdullah Chowkidar, Faquir, Din Dayal, Bhagat Ram, Heem Raj, Omprakash Head constable, Dr. Farooq Ahmad Tak, Dr. Jagdish Raj, Ghulam Hyder, Abdul Roaf Patwari, Mohd. Iqbal, Ghulam, Abdul Karim and Sheikh Hakim ud din SI as witnesses for the prosecution.