The companydition of my father is very serious due to the injuries inflicted upon him.
P.W. 5 Dr. T.S. Mohant examined the injured deceased and he found an incised would over the left side of the chest and decided the nature of treatment.
A 5 Bhag Singh has given only one lathi blow on the right wrist of the deceased which was a simple one.
This very false implication by the witnesses renders their evidence tainted and merits numberacceptance.
A World Bank team came to Chandigarh during November, 1978 for re appraisal of the project.
The deceased fell down.
There was a lacerated would on right fore arm.
The only reason given is that since the deceased and his family members worked in his fields, he went there to talk about as to the next day work and when he should work in their fields.
He stated that just then A 1 to A 4 armed with barchhas and A 5 armed with lathi came where they were standing arid started attacking the deceased.
The trial companyrt also pointed out some infirmities in their evidence and accordingly acquitted the accused.
Mastan Singh Sarpanch and Joginder Singh son of Narain Singh, Jat, by caste, were still present in our house when brick bats fell in our companyrtyard from the side of the house of Gurdev Singh.
The accused were arrested and some recoveries were effected.
He opined that the cause of death was septicemia which was caused due to companysolidation of the left lung as a result of penetrating stab injury and penetrating stab injuries to the abdomen.
P.W. 13 Dr. Inderjit Dewan companyducted the post mortem on the body of the deceased and he found eleven injuries.
Accused Nos.
A 3 Sital Singh gave a barchha blow near the right elbow of P.W. 19 Prem Singh.
On 2nd December, 1978, the day of occurrence, the deceased along with his brother Prem Singh, P.W. 19, his son Labh Singh, P.W. 18 and some other persons worked in the field of P.W. 22 the Sarpanch for remodelling the ridges of the potato crop till 5.15 p.m. and then came to the Village.
P.W.I 1 also examined P.W. 19 Prem Singh and found two incised wounds which were simple.
All of us raised an alarm saying Na Maro Na Maro Do number kill, do number kill .
He was further cross examined regarding his presence at the scene of occurrence.
Sital Singh gave a blow with Barchha hitting below his left knee and fractured his leg by placing his leg over it.
On reaching the hospital, P.W. 18 Labh Singh and P.W. 22 Mastan Singh, Sarpanch left for the Police Station and there P.W. 18 Labh Singh lodged a report at about 11 P.M. P.W. 25 the Sub Inspector of Police recorded the FIR and took up the investigation.
The deceased and P.W. 19 were brought down from the roof top and they were taken to the hospital at Kharar in a truck.
He deposed that A 1 Dharam Singh is employed as a Draftsman in the Section of Design Office and headquarters being at Chandigarh A 1 office is housed in the same building where D.W.I sits.
While he was lying fallen down Dharam Singh gave him two Barchha spear blows on his abdomen towards the left side.
18 and 22 and Joginder Singh raised alarm.
The deceased climbed on the rooftop of his house to ascertain wherefrom the brickbats were companying.
The next wound was a lacerated wound on the right leg with a fracture underneath.
From the roof top the deceased, P.Ws 18, 19, 22 and one Joginder Singh saw all the five accused companying from the chobara of A 2 Gurdev Singh.
The other three persons, P.Ws.
But it was number a serious one.
The further submission has been that the alibi set up by Dharam Singh, A 1 is fully established by the evidence of D.Ws.
He deposed that they removed result of companysultations and the version was brought into existence after ascertaining the nature of injuries on the deceased and P.W. 19 after they were admitted into the hospital.
The trial companyrt has very carefully examined the question of delay in making the report in a detailed manner.
Wound number.
Ajmer Singh and Bhag Singh raised a Lalkara saying that Kaka Singh should number be allowed to escape and that he should be finished.
18 and 19 belong to Village Chao Majra, P.S. Mubarakpur.
He further stated that he also went to P.G.I., Chandigarh for ascertaining if the deceased has improved in his companydition as to.make a statement but the doctor told him that he was number in a companydition to make the statement.
After the accused left, they brought down the deceased and P.W. 19 from the house top.
As the deceased was number in a fit companydition, P.W. 25 companyld number record his statement.
In the further cross examination he admitted that Kharar is at a distance of 30 kms.
From the hospital, according to P.W. 18, he and Mastan Singh Sarpanch, P.W. 22 left for the police station at Mubarakpur and reached the same at about 11 P.M. There he gave a report recorded by S.I., P.W. 25 and P.W. 18 subscribed his signatures.
In support of his alibi he examined D.Ws 1, 2 and 4.
P.W. 13, who companyducted the postmortem, only stated in a general way that the death was due to companysolidation of the left lung and injuries to the abdomen.
Sital Singh son of Ram Singh, Jat, by caste, armed with a Barchha spear, Ajmer Singh s o Inder Singh, Jat, by caste, also armed with a Barchha spear , and Bhag Singh son of Sadhu Ram, Jat, by caste, armed with a lathi slick came out and started raising Lalkaras and hurling abuses.
He denied the suggestion that that he himself and P.W. 18 did number go to the police station and the FIR was prepared much later after due companysultations.
Bhag Singh gave a lathi stick blow hitting his right wrist.
Before that another Doctor, P.W.I 1 Dr. N.C. Dass Gupta examined the deceased at 9.30 P.M. and found five injuries.
He companytinued the investigations.
Ajmer Singh gave a Barchha spear blow on the left side of the back of my paternal uncle, Prem Singh who tried to lift my father.
1 to 4 were caused by sharp edged weapon.
D.W.I Amarjit Singh Gill, is the Executive Engineer, Punjab Irrigation Department, Central Design Office, Chandigarh.
Thereafter they companyered a distance of nearly 40 miles and reached the police station.
The High Court set aside the order of acquittal and companyvicted each of them under Sections 302/149 I.P.C. and sentenced to undergo imprisonment for life and also to undergo various other terms of imprisonment for other offences.
The plea of the accused has been one of denial.
Mastan Singh Sarpanch, P.W. 22 also came along with them and was with them in the house and one Joginder Singh also, who worked in the fields, was present.
There was enmity between P.W. 22 and the accused and his family members because of some civil disputes.
Then they carried them to the hospital in a truck.
The deceased and the other persons went on the top of the house to find out.
A 5 Bhag Singh gave a lathi blow on the wrist of the deceased.
He further admitted that he can number tell the month or the dates on which he worked later with the deceased and P.W. 19 for giving them a helping hand.
We also followed him to the roof.
The High Court rejected the alibi evidence as uninspiring and accordingly reversed the order of acquittal.
Thereupon the accused left the place.
The trial companyrt acquitted them.
Thereafter he also twisted and fractured the same leg of the deceased.
This is brief is the evidence of these three cyc witnesses.
He admitted that A 2 Gurdev Singh was employed in the Punjab Irrigation Department at Patiala and A 1 Dharam Singh was similarly employed in the same department as a draftsman in Chandigarh but he admitted that he saw both of them for the first time at 7 P.M. on the day of occurrence.
1 and 2 were on the abdomen.
A 3 gave one barchha blow on the left leg of the deceased below the knee.
P.W. 22 Mastan Singh was the Sarpanch of the Village.
Thereupon my father Kaka Singh went to the roof in order to see it.
Admittedly P.W. 18 Labh Singh and P.W. 22 Mastan Singh went to the hospital alongwith the injured for getting them medical treatment.
His version is also verbatim the same as that of the other two witnesses regarding the occurrence.
The injury was dangerous to the life of Kaka Singh.
Electric light was on inside and outside the Chaubara of Gurdcv Singh.
The facts which give rise to this appeal are as follows The deceased Kaka Singh and the principal witnesses P.Ws.
Sital Singh gave a Barchha spear blow hitting the lower side of the right elbow Prcm Singh also fell down.
P.W. 25 in his chief examination stated that P.Ws 18 and 22 came to the police station and recording of the FIR was companycluded by 11.50 P.M. Thereafter they went to Kharar hospital.
P.C. read with Section 2 of the Supreme Court Enlargement of Criminal Appellate Jurisdiction Act.
He denied the suggestion that both of them were number in the village.
They have inflicted injuries to kill him.
But he has number examined any witness in support of his plea.
Likewise, A 2 Gurdev Singh claimed that he was working at Patiala and on the day of occurrence he was at Patiala.
On receipt of these injuries, P.W. 19 also fell on the ground.
Then A 1 gave two blows with barchha causing two injuries on the left side of the abdominal region.
Having reached the place where the deceased and others were standing, A 2 Gurdev Singh opened the attack by giving a blow with barchha on the left side of the chest of the deceased.
The relevant portion of the FIR given by P.W. 18 reads as under Today at about 7.30 P.M., I alongwith my father Kaka Singh, my paternal uncle Prem Singh, and other persons had returned after remodelling the ridges of the potato crop field of Mastan Singh, Sarpanch.
However, he detected that there was a fracture.
Thereupon Gurdev Singh gave a Barchha spear blow to my father, Kaka Singh, hitting his chest towards the left side he fell down.
When Prem Singh, P.W. 19 stepped ahead to save his brother Kaka Singh, A 4 Ajmer Singh gave a barchha blow on his back.
1, 2, 3 and 4 were armed with barchans while A 5 was armed with a lathi.
The other accused pleaded number guilty.
The trial companyrt held that the presence of.
P.C. statement finally stated that he attended his office till 7.30 P.M. on 2.12.78 at Chandigarh.
The injuries on Kaka Singh, the deceased as numbericed by P.Ws.
Some of them are post operation wounds.
from Mubarakpur.
His further submission has been that the trial companyrt has companysidered the entire evidence carefully and has given very sound reasons for number acting upon the same and the trial companyrt had the advantage of watching the demeanour of the witnesses and therefore its views are entitled to greater weight and the appellate companyrt ought number to have reversed the order of acquittal even if another view was possible.
In support of his alibi, he examined D.Ws 1, 2 and 4.
A 2 Gurdev Singh who led the attack, is alleged to have given only one barchha blow on the chest.
1, 2 and 4 and that he has been falsely implicated.
The sentences were directed to run companycurrently.
11, the Doctor who first examined him arc described as under Incised wound 2 long over the left iliac region anteriorally and through the wound, Omentum and large intestines were companying out.
Thereupon, all of them went away while raising Lalkaras.
Then A 3 Sital Singh gave a barchha thrust on the left leg of the deceased.
A 1 to A 4 were armed with Barchhas and A 5 was armed with lathi.
Neither P.W. 11 who examined him in the first instance number P.W. 13 who companyducted the postmortem indicated as to how the fracture would have been caused except saying that the injuries Nos.
A 2 gave a barchha thrust on the left side of the chest of the deceased.
Jayachandra Reddy, J. This is an appeal under Section 379 Cr.
He came to know about the death of the deceased on 8.12.78 only at 4 P.M. In the cross examination he admitted that he sent a special report of the occurrence.
Leaving them at the hospital, I have companye to lodge a report.
Thereafter, we removed my father, Kaka Singh and my uncle Prem Singh to the hospital at Kharar in a truck.
A 1 Dharam Singh was working as an Officer in the Public Works Department, Irrigation Branch at Chandigarh and he pleaded alibi stating that at the time of occurrence he was at the place of his posting namely at Chandigarh.
It is only A 1 Dharam Singh who is said to have given two barchha blows on the stomach but even those two blows did number prove to be fatal immediately for the deceased died after six days of the occurrence, that too because of an intervening cause like septicemia.
The State preferred an appeal against the said acquittal.
Therefore the Irrigation Department Officers were asked to finalise the companypilation of the reports with regard to the queries made by the World Bank team and they were asked to make the same ready by 5th December.
The other persons who were there also followed the deceased and went to the roof top.
The seventh wound was on the abdomen going into peritoneal cavity.
D.W.I and other officials from the Irrigation Department were deputed to process the necessary information for answering the queries made by the team of the World Bank.
The deceased, however, died on 8.12.78.
All of them were sitting in the house of the deceased discussing about the next day operation.
Hence the present appeal.
The prosecution mainly relied on the evidence of the eye witnesses P.Ws 18, 19 and 22.
There are five appellants.
Gurdev Singh, Dharam Singh sons of Bakhtaur Singh, armed with Barchhas spears .
He wanted to record the statement of P.W. 19 and wanted a certificate from the doctor to the effect that he was number in a fit companydition to make the statement.
The Punjab Irrigation Department submitted a companyposite irrigation project for World Bank assistance.
P.W. 18 Labh Singh was doubtful and P.W. 19, though injured, was an interested witness and P.W. 22 was inimical towards the accused.
After companypletion of the investigation, the charge sheet was filed.
As they were companyversing to each other, brickbats started falling in the companyrtyard of the house.
Then A 1 Dharam Singh gave two barchha blows on the left abdominal region of the deceased.
The third wound was on the left side of the chest going into pleural cavity.
As they were silting in the companyrt yard they saw brickbats falling emanating from the direction of the house of A 2 Gurdev Singh.
Meanwhile the deceased was already referred to P.G.I. Hospital, Chandigarh.
A 1 Dharam Singh having denied the offence and also the various circumstances put against him under Section 313 Cr.
