An appeal instituted by the two companyvicts was dismissed by a Single Judge of the High Court of Punjab and Haryana whose judgment dated 26th November 1971 is challenged in this appeal by special leave.
Gurdial Singh appellant and Shakuntala Devi accused also accompanied the party which was followed by Labh Kaur P.W. 3 who wanted to see her daughters off.
On the 27th June 1970, Sher Singh appellant and Shakuntala Devi accused came to village Pathreri Jattan and stayed with Gurdial Singh appellant.
Ajmer Singh PW 4 testified to having rescued Rajinder Kaur PW 1 from the canal with the help of a urban thrown to him by Fateh Din PW 5 .
The following pedigree table lends assistance in appreciating the facts of the case Dhera Singh Sher Singh Gurdial Singh Labh Kaur Appellant No.
When the party reached the Bhakra Canal, Sher Singh appellant caught hold of Rajinder Kaur P.W. 1 by her hands and Gurdial Singh appellant by her legs while Shakuntala Devi assisted them by holding the head of the girl who was then flung into the canal.
The defence was a companyplete denial of the allegations made by the prosecution and a plea of false implication.
Jaswant Kaur P.W. 2 rushed back and raised an alarm in which her mother joined her.
On the morning of the 28th June 1970, Sher Singh appellant took away his two daughters on the plea that they were to accompany him to his place of posting.
That statement forms the basis of the First Information Report.
1 Shakuntala Devi Appellant No.
Nine witnesses were produced at the trial in support of the prosecution case.
Labh Kaur gave birth to her three daughters from the joins of Sher Singh appellant.
Ajmer Singh P.W. 4 who was easing himself nearby ran to the scene of occurrence, jumped into the canal, caught hold of the drawing girl by the neck and brought her out of the canal with the help of a turban which Fateh Din P.W. 5 made available.
2 P.W. 3 acquitted accused Balbir Kaur Rajinder Kaur Jaswant Kaur married P.W. 1 P W. 2 The prosecution case may be stated thus.
Rajinder Kaur PW 1 , Jaswant Kaur PW 2 and Labh Kaur PW 3 gave the same version of the occurrence as has been set out above.
No report was made to the Police about the incident till the next day when A.S.I. Hardev Singh PW 7 visited village Pathreri Jattan late in the afternoon and was handed over a written statement exhibit PA which Rajinder Kaur PW 1 had scribed and signed, accusing her father, her uncle and her step mother of having thrown her into the canal in the manner above described.
Rajinder Kaur PW 1 was found to be unconscious but regained her senses soon afterwards and walked back with her mother and sister to the village, the three culprits already having made good their escape.
Sher Singh appellant said that he would take with him both Rajinder Kaur and Jaswant Kaur.
The former was told by his first wife Labh Kaur P.W. 3 that her two unmarried daughters had grown up and that it was time that their father took steps to arrange for their marriages.
About 20 years before the occurrence, which is said to have taken place on the 28th June 1970, Sher Singh appellant took another wife named Shakuntala Devi and there after neglected his daughters and their mother, who companytinued to live in village Pathreri Jattan while Sher Singh appellant, who was in Government employment as an overseer, lived with his second wife at his various places of posting.
The High Court companycurred with the findings of the trial companyrt in so far as the two appellants are companycerned.
In this he was companyroborated by Fateh Din PW 5 himself who further claimed to have seen the three accused running away from the spot.
The trial companyrt gave Shakuntala Devi the benefit of doubt but companyvicted each of the other two accused of the offence with which he was charged and sentenced him to rigorous imprisonment for three years and a fine of Rs.100/ , the sentence in default of payment of fine being imprisonment for a month.
D. Koshal, J. For attempting to murder Rajinder Kaur, aged 20 years and a resident of village Fathreri Jattan in District Ropar, her father Sher Singh and the latters wife and brother named Shakuntala Devi and Gurdial Singh respectively, were tried by an Additional Sessions Judge for an offence under Section 307 of the Indian Penal Code.
