TEJA SINGH Vs. STATE OF RAJASTHAN

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THIS is an appeal against the judgment of the learned Sessions Judge, Sri Ganganagar dated 30 -10 -1982 whereby he has convicted the accused appellant Tejasingh under Section 302 IPC and accused appellants Kalasingh and Jasvindra Singh under Section 302 read with Section 34 IPC. He has also convicted all the three accused appellants under Section 307 read with section 34, IPC and under Section 27 of the Arms Act. Tejasingh has been sentenced to life imprisonment along with a fine of Rs. 500/ - and in default of payment of fine to further under go six months' rigorous imprisonment under Section 302 IPC, the accused appellants Kala Singh and Jasvindra Singh under Section 302/34 IPC have been sentenced to life imprisonment along with a fine of Rs. 100/ - each and in default of payment of fine to further undergo one month's rigorous imprisonment; all the three accused under Section 307/34 IPC sentenced to five years rigorous imprisonment along with a fine of Rs. 100/ - each and in default of payment of fine to further undergo one month's rigorous imprisonment. He has also convicted the accused appellants under Section 27 of the Arms Act and sentenced them to three years rigorous imprisonment.

(2.) THE facts giving rise to this case are that on 5 -11 -1981 PW 8 Rajendra Singh, PW 6 Jeet Singh and deceased Nashib Singh and PW 1 Hari Chand all the four went in a jeep to the court of Munsif and Judicial Magistrate Padampur in the matter pending in that court. At 11.30 a.m. when they were standing out -side the court premises they got near the Piou, There was one tea -stall there Nashibsingh got down from the jeep and sat down on a bench at the tea stall. Jeet Singh and Harichand were standing besides him. At that time accused Tejasingh, Jasvindrasingh and Kalasingh case over there. All the three accused persons were armed with pistols. They took out their pistols from the pocket of their pants and accused Tejasingh fired on the back of deceased Nashibsingh from a distance of about 3 -4 feet. Nashibsingh immediately fell down from the bench. Thereafter Jeetsingh and Harichand rushed towards Rajendra Singh. Accused Jasvindra Singh and Kalasingh fired towards Rajendrasingh, Harichand and Jeetsingh. Harichand received fire injuries of pellet on his right leg. Thereafter, all the accused left the place of occurrence and went towards eastern direction. Thereafter, Rajendrasingh, Jeetsingh and Harichand took deceased Nashibsingh in the jeep and rushed to the police station, Padampur, Rajendra Singh kept the jeep outside the police station and went inside to inform the Station House Officer, Police Station, Padampur. The First Information Report was reduced into writing which is Ex. P 17. Thereafter the Station House Officer, Astali Khan came out and brought the dead body of the deceased from the jeep to inspect and thereafter directed them to go to the hospital for post -mortem. The body of deceased Nashibsingh was taken to the Government Hospital, Padampur, where Dr. Iqbal Singh conducted the post mortem of the deceased. Dr. Iqbalsingh also examined the injuries of Harichand. The Doctor found that the deceased received a fire arm injury and he found that there is an enterance wound of 3/4 cm x 3/4 cm at the back of the body on the right side of fifth intercostal space and he also found an exit wound 1 -1/4 cm x 1 cm anterior of the chest left side at the 4th rib medial to anterior axillary fold. He also found injuries on the person of Harichand; one, lacerated wound of entrance 1 cm x 3/4 cm on the upper fourth of right leg. The investigation was taken up by the Investigating Officer PW 9 Astali Khan. The necessary site inspection and the inquest report was prepared. During the course of investigation the accused persons were arrested and at the instance of accused Tejasingh one pistol and live cartridges were recovered. Likewise, the Investigating Officer arrested the accused Jasvindrasingh and got one revolver and six cartridges recovered at his instance. Thereafter, close of the investigation all the three accused persons were sent for trial and ultimately all the accused persons were committed to the court of Sessions for trial under Sections 302, 307/34 IPC and 25/27 of the Arms Act. During the trial the prosecution examined about 10 witnesses and got a large number of documents exhibited whereas the defence examined only one witness i.e. D.W. 1 Virendrajeet Singh and got Ex D. 1 exhibited. The learned Sessions Judge after due trial convicted and sentenced the accused appellants as aforesaid, Hence, this appeal.

(3.) MR . Purohit, learned Counsel for the appellants has urged that the prosecution examined three eye -witness to bring home the guilt of the accused appellants. Out of the three eye -witnesses examined by the prosecution, PW 1 Harichand and PW 6 Jeetsingh have turned hostile. PW 8 Rajendra Singh is the sole eye -witness of the incident, and his testimony is also full of contradictions. Mr. Purohit, learned Counsel for the appellants further submitted that in fact Rajendra Singh has given an affidavit Ex. D. 1 where in he has completely disowned the version given by him before the court as an eye -witness. He has also submitted that when the body of the deceased was taken to the hospital in the jeep no blood was recovered from the jeep. He has further submitted that when the dead body was carried in the jeep Rajendrasingh should have received some blood stains on his clothes also. These have also not been produced. Learned Counsel further submitted that it is not known that how this witness was present on the date of the incident in the court. Thus, the learned Counsel submits that the testimony of this witness is wholly unreliable and deserves to be ignored. Learned Counsel has also submitted that the recovery of the pistol at the instance of the accused from the open place is not reliable.