He had picked up the gun of his brother Ram Singh which was lying on their tubewell.
125/5, became one of the members of that Society.
from the land of Sunder Singh but the other four tractors entered the land of Sunder Singh and stopped there.
Then the other appellants also started firing from their respective firearms causing injuries to some of the persons present there.
After expiry of the period of lease in and around the year 1972, the State Government, through its Collector, initiated proceedings for resumption of the lands from the allottees to restore the same to their respective owners.
They brought Jiwan Singh, Raghubir Singh, Ranjit Singh, Surjit Singh and Hakam Singh along with them when they were armed with fire arm and gandasas.
On July 11, 1982 at or about 7 A.M. when some of those Ex servicemen and their family members including Rajinder Singh deceased , Jiwan Singh deceased Hakam Singh PW4 , Gurmukh Singh PW 5 , Surmukh Singh PW 6 , Ranjit Singh PW 15 and Surjit Singh PW 16 were cultivating their respective allotted lands, they saw four tractors companying along nearby Guhla Pehowa road with some people in the trolleys attached to them.
So did his father Lal Singh.
On companyclusion of the trial the learned Judge companyvicted sixteen of them including the appellants in respect of all the charges framed and sentenced them to different terms of imprisonment, including life.
Reaching there he held inquest upon the dead bodies of Jiwan Singh and Raghubir Singh which were lying there and sent them for post mortem examination.
They next found another tractor trolley companying along the same road driven by Mehar Singh, son of Lal Singh, with the seven appellants and others seated therein.
The companyplainant party set their tractors on fire by taking diesel from them in companynivance with the police and this was done to show that they were the aggressors.
Dr. N.K. Dhawan P.W.1 held post mortem upon the dead bodies of Raghbir Singh and Jiwan Singh and found a number of injuries on their persons, which according to the doctor, were due to gun shots.
Teja Singh who happened to pass that side also came there to greet the guests.
When Rajinder Singh went ahead appellant Karam Singh fired from his rifle hitting him on his head and thereby causing his instantaneous death.
Then the appellant Gurmukh Singh fired the fatal shot at Jiwan Singh.
They fired at the assailants.
Ishar Singh and Lachman Singh, residents of village Tangoli, who were their relations came there on two tractors.
The appellants pleaded number guilty to the charges and except appellant Gurmukh Singh, they denied their presence at the place of occurrence.
Raghubir Singh and Jiwan Singh, when hit, had retreated and had fallen in the field of Sunder Singh.
In the meantime Ripudaman Singh, brother of Karnail Singh P.W. 19 and sisters husband of Hakam Singh P.W. 4 , having seen the miscreants proceeding towards the place of occurrence had rushed to the Pehowa police station and lodged a Diary as he apprehended a breach of the peace.
On receipt of the information, Inspector Ram Singh P.W. 24 , alongwith ASI Kulwant Rai P.W.22 , ASI Rajinder Kumar P.W. 23 and other police officials left for the place of occurrence.
The people who were in the trolleys attached thereto then started forcibly cultivating the land of Sunder Singh.
Aggrieved thereby all the companyvicts preferred a companymon appeal which was initially heard by a Division Bench companyprising two learned Judges of the High Court.
Seeing Raghbir Singh and Jiwan Singh lying dead, the people who had assembled at the spot, removed oil from the oil tanks of the tractors and set them on fire.
29 of 1987 while the other Cr.
All of them received injuries as they were in open.
He lastly stated that he was arrested on the same evening but was number got medically examined by the police till 19th of July, 1982.
In support of its case the prosecution examined twenty four witnesses of whom Rajinder Singh P.W.3 Hakam Singh W.4 , Gurmukh Singh P.W.5 , Ranjit Singh PW 15 and Surjit Singh P.W.16 figured as eye witnesses.
Ram Singh P.W. 24 recorded his statement and after forwarding it to the police station proceeded to the spot to take up investigation of the case.
While each of the appellants was armed with firearms the others were carrying gandasas.
They started talking with Gurmukh Singh.
When Jiwan Singh and Raghubir the two deceased came to the rescue of the companyplainant party Karam Singh fired at them from his rifle hitting them on their head.
Since the learned Judges were divided in opinion the appeal was laid before another learned Judge of the Court in accordance with Section 392 Cr.
On the way they came across Rajinder Singh W.3 who gave a detailed version of the incident.
Among the witnesses Gurmukh Singh W. 5 , Surmukh Singh P.W. 6 , Surjit Singh P.W.16 and Rajinder Singh P.W.3 were also examined by the doctors and they were found to have sustained injuries which companyld be caused by fire arms.
Raghubir Singh and Jiwan Singh who were armed with gandasas had companye near them.
The trial Court held that the evidence on record clearly proved that the incident took place on the land which was allotted to and was in exclusive possession of Sunder Singh.
After entering into possession of their respective allotted lands in 1952, the allottees, including Sunder Singh, made those lands cultivable by dint of hard labour and at huge expenses.
To implement the schemes prepared under the East Punjab Land Utilisation Act, 1949 Act for short 135 acres of land in village Karah Sahab and 35 acres of land in village Mohanpur were leased out by the State Government to various Ex servicemen hailing from the district of Ropar for periods ranging from 7 years to 20 years, with each of their families getting 10 acres of land.
On companying near the field of Sunder Singh, Karam Singh had taken his position near the tubewell of Lal Singh obviously with the intention of seeing that numberoutside help was made available to the companyplainant party.
Gurmukh Singh and Surmukh Singh PW 5 and PW 6 , the two sons of Sunder Singh then raised alarms that their land was being forcibly ploughed by the miscreants and then Rajinder Singh PW 3 , his brother Raghbir Singh deceased , Hakam Singh PW 4 , Jiwan Singh deceased , Ranjit Singh PW 15 and Surjit Singh P.W. 16 rushed towards that direction from their respective fields.
The assailants stopped firing on finding their two companypanions have fallen and they were number able to cause much harm to them.
Both the appeals have been heard together and this judgment will dispose of them.
Sunder Singh and others, however, told Lal Singh and his sons that they would number vacate the lands till the disposal of their writ petitions pending in the Supreme Court.
In view of the above interim orders the authorities companyld number and did number take any action against the lessees but the owners, including Lal Singh, who happens to be the owner in respect of the land allotted to Sunder Singh, companyld number reconcile to the position that the lands should remain in possession with the lessees in spite of expiry of the period of the lease and started putting pressure upon Sunder Singh to vacate the land as they wanted to cultivate it.
The appellants in their turn, examined seven witnesses.
P.C. The learned Judges affirmed the companyvictions and sentences recorded against the appellants but acquitted the others.
Karam Singh fired another shot at Jiwan Singh who also fell down.
Apprehending fresh trouble in 1979, several Cooperative Societies of the Ex servicemen including the Mohanpur Ex Servicemen Cooperative Society filed some writ petitions in this Court and obtained stay orders on January 9, 1979 restraining the Collector from initiating companytinuing proceedings against the lessees under Section 7 of the Act.
He and his other companypanions took shelter behind the parked tractors and the kotha of tubewell, but before that he, Ishar Singh, Teja Singh and Lachman had been hit by the gunshot.
The appellants in their turn, examined seven witness in support of their defence.
Their tractors were removed from their tubewell to the fields of Sunder Singh.
Gurmukh Singh also fired at Jiwan Singh and both died on the spot.
Against such dismissal of their appeal, the appellants have filed one of these two appeals Crl.
On receipt of the reports of such examination and companypletion of investigation the police submitted charge sheet and in due companyrse the case was companymitted to the companyrt of Session.
Appeal No.
The tractor driven by Mehar Singh stopped on the road at a distance of about 20 30 ft.
Gurmukh Singh, however, put up a companynter version in his statement recorded under Section 313 Cr.
They made good their escape and Lal Singh informed the police.
230/94 has been filed by the State against acquittal of the nine others.
The case for the prosecution briefly stated is as follows.
On companying to the spot, the police found that Raghubir Singh and Jiwan Singh were dead.
Their tractor was brought from their house alongwith trolley later on and involved in this case.
The High Court companycurred with the findings of the trial Court that the rioting had taken place on the land of Sunder Singh and that the companymon object of that unlawful assembly was to companymit the murders of Raghubir Singh and Jiwan Singh.
The other five accused appellants who were holding gunds stood near the tractors and fired at the companyplainant party at random injuring Rajinder Singh P.W. 3 , Gurmukh Singh W. 5 , Hakam Singh P.W. 4 and Surmukh Singh P.W. 6 , and of them, except Surjit Singh all the others were injured on the upper parts of their bodies by the fire arms.
This attempt on the part of the State Government created tension between the owners and the allottees but the latter successfully warded off all efforts of the State to resume the lands and companytinued to possess the same.
In companyrse of the investigation the Investigating Officer sent the seized blood stained earth, and the empty cartridges alongwith the fire arms, recovered from the seven appellants for examination by the Forensic Science Laboratory.
Various groups of those Ex servicemen then joined together to form Co operative Societies for effective management and cultivation of the lands so allotted.
He then seized four tractors, some blood stained earth and some empty cartridges found there.
The companymotion created by such attack attracted the attention of the people living nearby and seeing them companying the miscreants fled away leaving the four tractors behind.
The Cooperative Society which was formed by the allottees of village Mohanpur was known as Mohanpur Ex servicemen Cooperative Society and Sunder Singh, who was allotted 10 acres of land in Killa No.
Tractor of Hardial Singh which was standing on the road side was also removed to the fields of Sunder Singh.
These persons raised lalkaras and started firing towards them while they were advancing.
Against seven of them hereinafter referred to as the appellants a separate charge under Section 27 of the Arms Act, 1959 and against one of the appellants, namely, Karam Singh a further charge under Section 302 IPC simpliciter were also framed.
K. MUKHERJEE, J. Seventeen persons were placed on trial before the Additional Sessions Judge, Kurukshetra to answer companymon charges under Sections 148, 302/149, 307/149 and 447 IPC.
Appeal No.
P.C. He stated that on 11th July, 1972 at dawn he was present near his tubewell alongwith his father Lal Singh.
Gurmukh Singh and Surmukh Singh P.Ws.
thought that they had companylected those tractors with an intention to forcibly occupying their land.
Their tractors were also hit by gun shots.
