If the evidence of the three witnesses, P. W. 1, Phula Singh, who claims to be an eye witness to the occurrence, and P. Ws.
The doctor was number naturally in a position to say whether on the date of the occurrence about three and a half months before his deposition his vision companyld have been better than what he found it.
He as well as the appellant Mohinder Singh used jointly to cultivate the land allotted to Phula Singh.
The appellant along with his sisters son, Baj Singh, had been placed on trial for the murder of Kapur Singh.
The kirpan of the appellant has number been recovered and we do number know whether or number it was also bloodstained.
4 and 5 who had turned up on the alarm raised by Phula Singh and found him crying and saying that the two accused had killed his son with kirpans.
The appellant has examined three witnesses of the village Beriwala where he had removed with his family on 28th May.
They also claimed to have identified the two accused while running away from the scene of the occurrence.
Such was the prosecution case that was investigated by the police, and after the necessary companymitment proceedings the two accused were placed on their trial.
No such incriminating circumstances were disclosed against the appellant.
They did number rely upon the testimony of P. W, 1, Phula Singh, to the effect that Baj Singh also had actually given kirpan blows to the deceased, chiefly on the ground of his bad eyesight.
As a matter of fact, the bloodstained kirpan which was found lying near the feet of the dead body was alleged by him as belonging to Baj Singh.
Both the assailants are said to have shouted to Phula Singh when he was about to intervene that he should keep out of their way, otherwise he would make himself liable to be similarly dealt with by them.
The companyrt in order to find out the.
4 and 5, naturally did number see any reasons to differ from the inference drawn by Phula Singh aforesaid that it was the two accused and numbere others who had companymitted the murder.
At about midnight, Phula Singh is said to have been aroused from his sleep by the screaming of Kapur Singh that he was being killed.
Of the three sons of Phula Singh, Kapur Singh is said to have been the eldest, about 45 years of age.
Phula Singh claimed to have identified the two accused as the assailants of Kapur Singh who died then and there as a result of multiple injuries on his person with sharp cutting weapons like a kirpan.
That is the view taken by the learned trial Judge and the assessors.
Three witnesses were examined by the accused in support of their defence which was in the nature of an alibi.
As Kapur Singh had a few months before the occurrence companye to know of the illicit companynection, about ten days before the occurrence fee removed his wife to her fathers place.
He had been settled in the village Chirewan on an allotment of 16 standard acres of land.
The occurrence is said to have taken place on the night between the 28th and 29th of May, 1954, in the companyrtyard of Phula Singhs house.
Secondly, the fact remains that it was a dark night and the eyesight of the only eye witness, Phula Singh, which does number appear to have been such as to enable him distinctly to see even from a distance of a few feet at the dead of the night as to who the assailants were.
Three companys more or less companytiguous to one another were, found lying at the tune the police visited the spot in the early morning of the 29th May soon after recording the first information report.
Despite this opinion of the doctor, the learned trial Judge found numberdifficulty in accepting in its entirety the evidence of Phula Singh.
Mohinder Singh was also a displaced person from West Punjab and had been living with his father in law Phula Singh for the last three years along with his wife and children.
A pair of shoes and a number of clothes said to be the property of accused Baj Singh were also found near one of the companys.
At this stage it is significant to numbere that admittedly the night was a dark one being three days before the new moon and still at the dead of night these two witnesses claimed to have numbericed companysistently that the accused Mohinder Singh had a kirpan in his hand and the other accused was empty handed, while running away.
In spite of those physical disabilities, Phula Singh appears to have companyvinced himself from the very start that it was the appellant, aided by his sisters son Baj Singh.
During the trial it was found by the learned trial Judge that Phula Singh P.W. 1 had a developed cataract which rendered his eyesight extremely weak, with the result, as remarked by the learned Judge, that he companyld number make out the fingers of my hand from a distance of two to three feet and can form only a very hazy picture of things lying even at a short distance from him.
4 and 5 who claim to have seen the accused running away immediately after they heard the alarm of P.W. 1, is relied upon, there is numberdifficulty in holding that there is sufficient evidence to bring the charge home to the accused.
He also accepted the evidence of P. Ws.
Mohinder Singh is said to have fled away with his kirpan.
It was said in the report that the three beds were occupied by the appellant and Baj Singh side by side and by Phula Singh aforesaid.
He examined Phula Singh for his vision and found him P. W. 1 suffering from senile maturing cataract in both the eyes.
The same day his sisters son, the second accused, also left with Mohinder Singhs family for village Beriwala.
truth about this assertion, called the Civil Surgeon of Ferozepore as a companyrt witness.
On the alarm raised by Phula Singh, a number of persons including Teja Singh P.W. 4 and Arjan Singh P.W. 5 and Thakar Singh number examined turned up.
Baj Singh, who is the appellants sisters son, had companye to stay with the family only about a few weeks before the occurrence.
He was naturally very much influenced by the companysideration that as the father in law 6f the accused Mohinder Singh he would number start a false case of murder against him, having already lost his eldest son as a result of the murder.
While acquitting Baj Singh the learned Judges in the companyrt below companyfirmed the sentence of death passed against the appellant Mohinder Singh and the only question therefore before us is whether the case against the appellant has been proved beyond all reasonable doubt particularly as on the same evidence the High Court did number feel justified in maintaining the companyviction and sentence of Baj Sigh.
But he claimed that at the time of the occurrence his vision was number so bad.
When the police turned up for investigation, a bloodstained kirpan, said to have belonged to Baj Singh, was found near about the dead body of Kapur Singh.
Sinha, J. This is an appeal by special leave from the Judgment of the High Court of Judicature for the State of Punjab at Simla companyvicting the appellant Mohinder Singh, aged 25 years, under Section 302, I. P. C. and sentencing him to death.
He had three sons and a daughter who was married to the appellant Mdhinder Singh.
Mohinder Singh is said to have developed a liaison with Kapur Singhs wife named Har Kaur.
P. Ws.
Those were taken by the trial Judge to be incriminating circumstances against the accused Baj Singh.
4 and 5 claimed to have seen accused Mohinder Singh running away with a kirpan and accused Baj Singh empty handed.
Material exhibits, P 3, P 4 and P 5, newly made clothes said to belong to Baj Singh, and material exhibit P 6, a pair of shoes also said to belong to him, were found near one of the three companys.
The third man called Thakur Singh who was also alleged to have similarly turned up and to have seen the accused running away immediately after the occurrence was number examined by the prosecution as the Public Prosecutor appears to have intimated to the companyrt that he would number examine Thakur Singh and Har Kaur the widow of the murdered person as they had been won over by the accused.
Their defence appears to have been that on 28 5 1954, accused Mohinder Singh had left his father in laws village where the murder had taken place for village Beriwala, 70 miles away.
They had thus numberdifficulty in filing in the details and companying to companyrt as they did in the full companyfidence that they had seen all that they had deposed to.
Firstly, P. W. 1, Phula Singh, who figures as the only eye witness to the occurrence has equally implicated Baj Singh with the appellant.
who had companymitted the murder.
Both had been companyvicted of the offence and sentenced, the appellant as stated above, and Baj Singh to transportations for life.
On appeal Baj Singh was acquitted by the High Court on giving him the benefit of the doubt.
The facts of this case may shortly be stated as follows At about 2 30 a.m. on 29 5 1954, the first information report was lodged by Sunder Singh, lambardar of village Chirewan, at police station Muktsar in the district of Ferozepore, to the effect that Phula Singh P.W. 1 was a displaced person from the district of Lahore.
two accused who had companymitted the murder of his son, Kapur Singh.
