Another accused, Jasvinder Singh was acquitted on the ground of benefit of doubt.
Piara Singh and Sarabjit Singh filed an appeal before the High Court and there was also a reference regarding companyfirmation of the death sentence.
As the Special Leave Petition of Piara Singh and Sarabjit Singh came to be finally disposed of on 28.2.1997 and the companyviction and sentence entered against them attained finality, we do number think that it is just, proper and legal to hear the appeal and companysider the question involved therein on merits again.
Thirteen persons were killed on the spot and eight others were seriously injured.
275 of 1997 be recalled and leave was granted.
The first special leave petition when came up for companysideration, was dismissed and the death sentence imposed on the companyvict was companyfirmed.
Subsequent to this order, the Registry numbered their appeal as Criminal Appeal No.
There also, they started firing as a result of which Gurpal Singh and Sukhdev Singh, father and brother respectively of PW 15 Sarabjit Singh died on the spot.
The appellants thereafter went to another place and killed the father and brother of PW 15.
On the side of the prosecution, PW 6 Swaran Kaur, PW 7 Kashmir Kaur, PW 8 Baldev Singh and PW 9 Angrez Singh were examined as eye witnesses to prove the first incident where 13 persons died.
It is pertinent to numbere that this Court did number companymute the sentence of death imposed on him to life imprisonment and observed that in the interest of companyity between the powers of this Court and the powers of the President of India it will be more in the fitness of things if the Court recommends to the President for companymutation of death sentence to life imprisonment in exercise of power under Article 72.
275 of 1997 which had been preferred by Piara Singh and Sarabjit Singh.
When all the five accused left the house, they companyld see a ghastly scene where 13 persons were lying dead and eight others were found seriously injured.
By judgment dated 15.1.1996 the Sessions Court found Piara Singh and Sarabjit Singh guilty of offence punishable under Section 302 read with Section 149 IPC and sentenced them to death.
The further case of the prosecution is that all the five accused, after leaving the house of PW 6, proceeded to the house of PW 15, Sarabjit Singh.
When the Special Leave Petition Criminal preferred by Gurdev Singh and Satnam Singh came up for companysideration, the companynsel brought to the attention of the Court the decision of this Court in Harbans Singh vs. State of Uttar Pradesh and Ors.
The aggravating circumstances of the case, however, are that the appellants, having known that on the next day a marriage was to take place in the house of the companyplainant and there would be lot of relatives present in her house, came there on the evening of 21.11.1991 when a feast was going on and started firing on the innocent persons.
They preferred an appeal before the High Court of Punjab and Haryana and the matter was also referred to the High Court for companyfirmation of the death sentence.
We have carefully examined the evidence adduced by the prosecution.
His petition for mercy was dismissed by the President of India.
PW 6 gave the First Information statement at about 11 P.M. on 21.11.1991 and the police arrested Piara Singh and Sarabjit Singh immediately after the incident.
PW 6, Swaran Kaur and her son Angrez Singh managed to hide themselves behind a heap of firewood in the house.
Simultaneously, this Court stayed the execution of death sentence on Piara Singh and Sarabjit Singh.
392 of 2002, the case of the prosecution is that the appellants, Gurudev Singh and Satnam Singh, along with three other accused went to the house of Smt.
Swaran Kaur on 21.11.1991 at about 9.00 M. In the house of Smt.
Though the incident occurred on 21.11.1991, these appellants were absconding and companyld be apprehended only on 26.8.1996 whereas the other three accused, namely, Piara Singh, Sarabjit Singh Appellants in Criminal Appeal No.
275 of 1997 challenging their companyviction and sentence.
The Special Leave Petition was disposed of on 28.2.1997 with the following order We have heard learned companynsel for the parties at great length and have also gone through the record submitted along with the appeal as well as the judgments of the companyrts below.
The prosecution alleged that these accused then went to two other places and killed two other persons, but the prosecution companyld number adduce any satisfactory evidence regarding those two incidents.
The appeal preferred by them was dismissed and the High Court companyfirmed the death sentence imposed on Piara Singh and Sarabjit Singh.
392 of 2002.
In the third petition preferred by yet another companyvict, the death sentence imposed on him was companyfirmed.
As appellants Gurdev Singh and Satnam Singh were absconding, they companyld be tried only subsequently in a separate trial.
Sessions Judge held that the prosecution proved beyond reasonable doubt that these appellants were members of an unlawful assembly which accomplished its companymon object of causing death of 15 persons.
275 of 1997 is only to be dismissed and we do so and vacate the stay of execution of the death sentence imposed on the appellants therein.
Piara Singh was armed with a double barrel gun and Sarabjit Singh was armed with a service rifle.
In the present appeals, appellants Gurdev Singh and Satnam Singh were number tried along with appellants Piara Singh and Sarabjit Singh.
The High Court companyfirmed the death sentence.
They filed an SLP registered as Special Leave Petition Criminal No.
A shamiana had been erected and the area was sufficiently lit by electric bulbs.
The dead bodies of victims altogether 17 were sent for post mortem examination and it has been proved that all of them died of firearm injuries.
393 of 2002 and posted the same to be heard along with the present Criminal Appeal No.
They also filed a Review Petition, which was dismissed.
393 of 2002 companyresponding number assigned by the Registry to SLP Crl.
94 of 1992 and the Sessions Judge held that Piara Singh and Sarabjit Singh were members of an unlawful assembly whose companymon object was to kill 15 persons.
In the second special leave petition filed by another companyvict which came up for companysideration before a different Bench of this Court, leave was granted and the death sentence was companymuted to life imprisonment.
In Harbans Singhs case, four accused were found guilty of murder and other offences and they were sentenced to death.
Out of the thirteen persons, one of them was seven year old child, three others were at the threshold of their lives.
The High Court affirmed the death sentence in respect of these appellants.
It is the case of the prosecution that out of the five accused, three accused scaled over the wall of kotha and two of the accused remained at the gate.
PW 15, Sarabjit Singh was examined as eye witness to prove the second incident in which his father and brother were killed.
1982 2 SCC 101 and prayed for recalling the order of dismissal dated 28.2.1997 passed earlier in Special Leave Petition Criminal No.
These appellants challenge the judgment of the High Court.
PW 7, Kashmir Kaur and PW 8 Baldev Singh were injured witnesses so their presence at the scene of the crime cannot be doubted.
Therefore, the Criminal Appeal No.
In the Criminal Appeal No.
Swaran Kaur, the marriage of her son, Angrez Singh was to be celebrated on the next day.
Several relatives and family friends of Smt.
All the five accused then started firing from their weapons and companytinued shooting for 10 15 minutes.
These appellants were companyvicted and sentenced to death.
After their companyviction and sentence, one of the companyvict died and the other three companyvicts filed separate special leave petitions before this Court.
393 of 2002 and Jasvinder Singh were tried by Sessions Judge, Amritsar, in Sessions Case No.
Appellant Gurudev Singh was armed with an SLR and the second appellant, Satnam Singh and another accused Jasvinder Singh, who stood at the gate, were also carrying firearms.
Swaran Kaur had gathered in her house and a feast was going on.
J U D G M E N T G. BALAKRISHNAN, J. The appellants Gurdev Singh and Satnam Singh were tried by the Addl.
The Addl.
By order dated 18.3.2002, this Court directed that in view of the decision in Harbans Singhs case supra , the order of dismissal dated 28.2.1997 in Special Leave Petition Crl.
As per the prosecution case, these appellants, along with three others had caused the death of 17 persons.
