SURESH PAL Vs. STATE OF PUNJAB

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THIS appeal is directed against the judgment dated 29.5.2002/3.6.2002 passed by Additional Sessions Judge (Adhoc), Patiala, whereby he convicted appellants, namely, Ran Singh and Nayaka under Sections 201/34 of the Indian Penal Code and sentenced to the period already undergone. Appellants, namely, Suresh Pal and Baldev Singh were convicted under Sections 302/34 of the Indian Penal Code and sentenced to undergo rigorous imprisonment for life and they were ordered to pay fine of Rs. 2,000/- each; in default thereof, they were directed to further undergo rigorous imprisonment for one month each. Appellant Suresh Pal was convicted under Section 376 of the Indian Penal Code and sentenced to undergo rigorous imprisonment for seven years and he was ordered to pay a fine of Rs. 500/-; in default thereof, he was directed to further undergo imprisonment for a period of 15 days. Appellants, namely, Suresh Pal and Baldev Singh were convicted under Sections 201/34 of the Indian Penal Code and sentenced to undergo rigorous imprisonment for two years each. The sentences awarded by the trial Court shall run concurrently. However, appellants Ran Singh and Nayaka were acquitted of the charges framed against them under Sections 201/34 of the Indian Penal Code by giving them the benefit of doubt. However, they were convicted and sentenced for the period already undergone under Sections 201/34 of the Indian Penal Code.

(2.) AS per the prosecution, on March 11, 1998, a police party headed by Inspector Rachhpal Singh, the Station House Officer, Police Station Sadar, along with other police officials, was present on the bridge of Canal Pasiana, where Ran Singh son of Chuhar Singh along with Naurang Singh appeared before the police party and disclosed that he has four sons and two daughters, out of them, Ujjagar Singh is the eldest son, next to him are Jagmel Singh, Baldev Singh and Suresh Pal. Ujjagar Singh and Jagmel Singh are serving in the Indian Army. Both are married. He further disclosed that Ujjagar Singh was married to Tej Kaur daughter of Ram Niwas and Jagmel Singh was married to Angoori daughter of Ujjagar Singh and his other sons, namely, Baldev Singh and Suresh Pal were unmarried and daughters of Ran Singh were also married. Ujjagar Singh was married to Tej Kaur for the last 14-15 years. He had two children, i.e. one son aged 8 years and one daughter, aged 3 years. On the morning of March 11, 1998, his daughter-in-law Tej Kaur had gone outside in the fields to ease herself and when she did not return for long, they started searching for her. He also sent his son Suresh Pal to the house of parents of Tej Kaur to know her whereabouts. They also started making search of Tej Kaur to know her whereabouts. They also started making search of Tej Kaur around the village. On reaching near the well of the village, they noticed that Salwar and rubber shoes of Tej Kaur were there. On the basis of suspicion, they searched for the body of Tej Kaur from the well of the village. On finding the dead body of Tej Kaur from the well of the village, it was found having injuries on chin, nose and the lips besides on the left cheek. Both the knees of the deceased were having abrasions signs. Ran Singh further reported to the police that his daughter-in-law was murdered by some one and thereafter she was thrown into the well to destroy the body of the deceased. He also disclosed that from the injuries suffered by the deceased, it appears that she was raped by some body. Naurang Singh son of Ram Niwas, Bhagwan Singh, Bhajan Singh and Wazir Singh reached the spot, who were appraised about the facts and thereafter Naurang Singh stayed there for the protection of the dead body and he left towards the police party for reporting the matter. Statement of Ran Singh was recorded by the police and thereafter, matter was investigated and during the course of investigation, salwar and plastic shoes were taken into possession and post- mortem examination on the dead body was conducted. Police also recorded the statements of the witnesses and the investigation was carried out by the Deputy Superintendent of Police, Patiala. During the course of investigation, the signs of the teeth on the left cheek of the deceased were found to be of Suresh Pal after medical examination on the basis of which, Suresh Pal was arrested. During the investigation, it was found that on March 11, 1998, Suresh Pal had raped his sister-in-law Tej Kaur. Tej Kaur wanted to raise a hue and cry, but Suresh Pal and his brother Baldev Singh besides their father Ran Singh and mother Nayaka stopped Tej Kaur from doing so. Since Tej Kaur was still adamant, they strangulated Tej Kaur and threw her dead body in the well of the village to destroy the evidence. All the four accused were thereafter arrested. After completion of investigation and other formalities, all the accused were sent up for trial.

(3.) THE prosecution, in order to prove its case, examined Dr. O.P. Aggarwal (PW-1), Inderdresh Khanna (PW-2), Joginder Singh (PW-3), Naurang Singh (PW-4), Ram Singh (PW-5), Head Constable Bachna Ram (PW-6), Constable Tarsem Singh (PW-7), Sampuran Singh (PW-8), Ms. V. Neerja, IPS, Superintendent of Police (PW-9), Head Constable Sahib Singh (PW-10), Head Constable Bhupinder Singh (PW-11), Constable Chet Ram (PW-12), Dr. Jagmohan Lal (PW-13), Dr. Parmeel Goyal (PW-14), Satinder Kumar Gupta (PW-15), Constable Jaswant Singh (PW-16), Ashish Kapoor (PW-17) and Rachhpal Singh, Deputy Superintendent of Police (PW-18).