GURA SINGH Vs. STATE OF RAJASTHAN

JUDGEMENT

(1.) BY his judgment, dt. 8. 3. 78, the learned Sessions Judge, Ganganagar convicted the accused Gura Singh under Section 302, I. P. C. and sentenced him to imprisonment for life. The accused has come up in appeal to challenge his conviction and sentence.

(2.) BRIEFLY stated, the prosecution case is that deceased-victim Gandasingh had two sons Paharasingh and P. W. 1 Mohansingh. The appellant is the son of Paharasingh. Paharasingh passed away nearly 20 years ago. Gandasingh had forty bighas of agricultural land for cultivation. After the death of Paharasingh he gave thirteen bighas of land to the appellant, thirteen bighas of land to Mohansingh (PW 1) and retained the remaining thirteen bighas or so for himself. Gandasingh lived with Mohansingh (PW 1 ). As such Mohansingh was cultivating 26 bighas of land. The accused was not serious about the work and gathered a company of bad elements around him. Gandasingh used to ask the accused off and on to be serious at the work and give up the company of bad associates. In the morning of the day of occurrence 6. 8. 76, Gandasingh asked the accused to give up rowdyism and be careful about the work as he had to support his mother and wife. This led to a wordy wrangle between the two. Mohansingh intervened and the matter got sub-sided. Gandasingh lay down on a cot in his Bethak shown by mark "1" in site plan Ex. P. 2. The accused went away. Mohan Singh (PW 1) went to bring cattle fodder stacked in a Kotha, shown by mark "19" in Ex. P. 2. His wife Mst. Surjeet Kaur (PW 2) started cooking food in the courtyard situate just in front of the Bethak of Gandasingh. While she was cooking the food, the accused came with a 'tamba' (lathi) and struck blows to Gandasingh with it. Surjeet Kaur raised cries. PW 1 Mohansingh and PW 3 Jogendra Singh, who were passing that way, rushed to help the victim. Mohansingh challenged the accused and the accused then went away. There was profuse bleeding from the wounds of the victim. Many persons from the locality gathered there. Gandasingh did not survive and succumbed to the injuries after a little while. P. W. 1 Mohansingh went on foot to Police Station Kesarsinghpur and verbally lodged report Ex. P. 1 of the occurrence at about 1. 30 P. M. The Police registered a case and took up the investigation. Narainsingh (PW 9), A. S. I. arrived at the place of occurrence and while he was inspecting the site, PW 8 Prem Narain, Station House Officer, also, reached there. The site was inspected and the site plan was prepared. The inquest report of the victim's dead body was also prepared. The accused was arrested and in consequence of the information furnished by him whilst under police custody, Tamba was recovered. The bloodstained articles were also seized and sealed. The post-mortem examination of the victim's dead body was performed at about 10. 30 A. M. on 7. 8. 76 by PW 6 Dr. Ram Lai Beniwal, the then Medical Officer in charge. Government Dispensary, Guiabewala. On examination, the doctor found the following injuries:

(3.) THERE is no room for doubt that the death of victim Gandasingh was not natural but homicidal. According to Dr. beniwal (PW 6), as stated above, as many as ten antemortem injuries were found on the victim's dead body. He further deposed that the injuries were sufficient in the ordinary course of nature to cause death.