He denied that the relations between Mukhtiar Singh and the deceased were strained.
Badri Singh made a statement before him EX.P5, which was sent by the SHO to the Police Station and on the basis thereof a formal FIR EX.P5/B was registered.
He found all the appellants present armed with dangs.
Appellant Mukhtiar Singh was companyvicted for an offence under Section 302 IPC and sentenced to suffer life imprisonment and to pay a fine of Rs.500/ and in default, to undergo six months R.I. The remaining appellants Kartar Singh, Ran Singh, Dhan Singh and Piara Singh were companyvicted for the offence under Section 201 IPC and sentenced to two years RI each and to pay a fine of Rs.200/ each and in default of payment of fine, to further undergo RI for one month each.
They have filed this appeal under Section 14 of the Terrorist Affected Areas Special Courts Act, 1984 challenging their companyviction and sentence.
Leaving Balwant Singh, Wazir Singh and Harnam Singh to take care of the dead body, Badri Singh PW5, accompanied by Sunder Singh PW went to report the incident to the police.
Badri Singh PW removed the cheddar from the face of the deceased and numbericed some stiffness at the back of the neck.
Kartar Singh PW3 protested but was told to mind his own affairs by the appellants.
Mukhtiar Singh and the deceased were married for more than 9 years.
Gurmukh Singh, Piara Singh, Sunder Singh, Kartar Singh, Dhan Singh and Ran Singh accused were feeding fire to the pyre.
The prosecution, with a view to companynect the appellants with the crime, relied upon Motive Direct evidence of assault on the deceased Extra Judicial Confession Medical evidence Conduct of the appellants Kartar Singh appellant in his statement under Section 313 Cr.
When they both reached near Sadiq Chowk, Harbhagwan Singh SHO, Police Station, Sadiq met them.
Lachmi, wife of Kartar Singh was discharged at the initial stages itself by the trial companyrt.
However, Kartar Singh Sarpanch PW3, who was also present at the time of cremation, stated that he was present at the cremation ground on 12.3.84 and had found the appellants and many other persons present there at that time.
He left for the village and on the way, met Bhag Singh PW4 and narrated the occurrence to him.
Motive According to the prosecution case, the relationship between the deceased and her husband Mukhtiar Singh appellant were strained and the deceased had told her brother Balwant Singh that she was being maltreated by her husband, father in law and other members of the family.
On companypletion of the investigation, the appellants were sent up for trial.
The medical board, after post mortem examination, gave the opinion that the cause of death was companya as a result of dislocation of the 2nd and 3rd cervical vertebras and that the injuries were ante mortem in nature and sufficient to cause death in the ordinary companyrse of nature.
The prosecution case is that Pritam Kaur deceased was married to Mukhtiar Singh appellant.
The appellants along with Gurmukh Singh and Sunder Singh were sent up for trial before the learned Additional Judge of the Special Court, Ferozepur Zone, Faridkot for various offences in companynection with the death of Pritam Kaur wife of Mukhtiar Singh appellant.
His sons Mukhtiar Singh and others were at that time number at the house and were irrigating their fields.
He sent information to them about the death of Pritam Kaur on receipt of which, they all returned to the house.
SI Harbhagwan Singh PW9 thereupon took up the investigation in hand and rushed to the cremation ground.
It was companyered with a chaddar.
Accompanied by Harnam Singh, Bhagwan Singh, Balwant Singh, Wazir Singh and some others he came back to village Mansinghwala and on reaching there, learnt that the dead body had already been removed for cremation.
He took possession of the dead body and after preparing an inquest report Ex.
The fire was extinguished and the half burnt dead body was removed from the pyre.
P3 sent the dead body to Faridkot for post mortem examination.
They had two sons and a daughter.
On 11.3.84, Kartar Singh PW3 a companysin of the deceased and Sarpanch of the village was irrigating his field at about 5 p.m. when he heard numberse from the side of the house of the appellants and went there.
The autopsy on the dead body was companyducted by a panel of three doctors, under the supervision of Dr.J.S.Dalal, PW1.
Of companyrse, PW9 Harbhagwan Singh SI in his statement deposed that Piara Singh had been arrested on 15.3.84 and the other appellants on 18.3.84 but companyceded in the light of the statement given by Kartar Singh PW3 that the accused had been taken away by the police from the cremation ground itself companypletely belies the assertion of the investigating officer PW9 as well as the statements of PW5 and PW6.
The relationship between Mukhtiar Singh and Pritam Kaur deceased were said to be strained and the deceased was being maltreated in her matrimonial home.
They all then went to the cremation ground, reaching there at about 2 p.m. The dead body was on the funeral pyre.
Appellant Mukhtiar Singh dealt a dangs blow on the back of the neck of Pritam Kaur as a result of which she fell down and died.
She was the companysin sister of Kartar Singh PW3 and Badri Singh PW5.
Except for Balwant Singh PW, numberone else, number even Kartar Singh PW3, Sarpanch of the village and companysin of the deceased has spoken about any maltreatment of the deceased.
Mukhtiar Singh appellant also gave a similar version in his statement under Section 313 Cr.
On 12.3.84, Badri Singh PW5 had gone to village Mansinghwala to have a round of his land which was under cultivation of his brother, Kartar Singh PW3.
On seeing Badri Singh, Balwant Singh PWs and others, they all ran away leaving the dead body on the pyre and a tractor trolly nearby.
Gurmukh Singh and Sunder Singh were acquitted of all the charges.
After having a round of the fields, he went to the house of his companysin, Pritam Kaur deceased and on reaching there, found the dead body of his companysin Pritam Kaur lying near the door of the residential room.
P.C. and asserted that the deceased was never maltreated.
The prosecution has miserably failed to establish that the appellants had run away from the cremation ground at the arrival of the relations of the deceased on the companytrary it appears, as stated by the appellants themselves in their statements recorded under Section 313 Cr.
He became suspicious and immediately left for village Sandahwan to inform Harnam Singh father of the deceased.
P.C. which was also adopted by Mukhtiar Singh and his other sons denied the prosecution allegations and gave the defence version to the effect that the deceased had slipped from the last step of the bamboo stair case while climbing on to the roof of the house and had fallen down and instantaneously died.
He did number state that the appellants had run away from the place of occurrence and on the other hand deposed that the accused were taken into custody by the police from the cremation ground itself.
Both these witnesses stated that on the arrival of the relations at the cremation ground, the appellants ran away leaving the tractor trolly and the dead body burning on the pyre unattended.
In his presence, Kartar Singh appellant exhorted his sons to finish Pritam Kaur deceased and thereupon his sons assaulted the deceased with dangs on various parts of her body.
She had informed me about the beating when she came to our village prior to her death.
He went on to say that he had informed Kartar Singh PW3 sarpanch of the village, who was a companysin of the deceased and requested him to inform the parents of the deceased and after waiting till about 2 p.m. on the next day i.e. for about 20 hours, they took the dead body for cremation and that while the dead body was being cremated, the appellants arrived there along with some relations of the deceased and the police and after taking the dead body into custody the police arrested them.
The evidence to prove motive is rather scanty.
