KASHMIRA SINGH Vs. CROWN

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Resham Singh, Angrez Singh, Kashmira Singh, Kundan Singh and Shingara Singh have been convicted under Section 355, Indian Penal Code, in the Court of Mr. V.P. Malhotra, section 30 Magistrate, Rupar. Resham Singh has been sentenced to seven years rigorous imprisonment, while Kashmira Singh, Kundan Singn, Shingara Singh and Angrez Singh have been sentenced to-three years rigorous imprisonment each and a fine of Rs. 500 each and in default of payment of fine to further rigorous imprisonment for one year each. Kashmira Singh, Resham Singh and Shingara Singh have come to this Court in appeal through Mr. Daulat Rarn Prem, while Kundan Singh and Angrez Singh have appealed through jail authorities.

(2.) This order will dispose of criminal Appeals Nos. 399, 425 and 426 of 1948.

(3.) Briefly the prosecution case is that dacoity took place in the house of Inder Singh P.W. 1 in Mandi Jamal on the night between 9 and 10 February 1948. Inder Singh P.W. was sitting with his family in his kotha. His kuram Teja Singh was also sitting with him. Mt. Dyalo P.W. 4, daughter of Inder Singh, had gone out to fetch water. Suddenly, six or seven men entered the compound of the house. Inder Singh same out of his kotha to see who they were. Presently, he heard the report of a gun fire. One of the dacoits caught hold of Inder Singh P.W. 1 by his keshas and injured him with his kipran. The other dacoits were armed with barchhas and guns. One of the other dacoits hit Inder Singh with a barchha. Inder Singh fell down. Mt. Gulab Kaur P.W. 2, wife of Inder Singh, also came out of the kotha and one of the dacoits forcibly took off her earrings. Presently, two of the dacoits went up the kotha. Of them one lit a torch and the other started firing indiscriminately to scare away the villagers. Some of the dacoits entered the kotha. They brought out a trunk and took it upstairs. The dacoits had chained the door of the kotha from inside and so the villagers could not come to the help of Inder Singh P.W. 1 and Mt. Dyalo P.W. 1. On the roof the dacoits sorted out their booty and got off from the roof on to a house at the back of the kotha and then made off. The whole incident took about an hour or so.