P. Sathasivam, J. - (1.) These appeals are directed against the common judgment and final order dated 01.05.2001 passed by the High Court of Punjab & Haryana at Chandigarh in Criminal Appeal Nos. 647 and 657 of 2000 and Criminal Revision Petition No. 475 of 2000 whereby the High Court allowed the appeals and acquitted all the eleven accused persons of the charges framed against them and dismissed the Criminal Revision filed by the appellant herein.
(2.) The case of the prosecution is as under: (a) Four-five days prior to the date of occurrence i.e. 25.10.1992, there was a dispute between Mohinder Singh PW-13, who is the son of Shambhu (the deceased) and Madan Lal and Sat Pal, the accused, who used to run Kiryana shop in the village, over payment of price of crackers. But, later on, the dispute was settled between them with the intervention of villagers and Mohinder Singh paid an amount to the accused as the price of the crackers. (b) On 25.10.1992, at about 9.00 p.m., when Mohinder Singh, after having meals, was going to his Garhi (outer house), he found eight persons, namely, Sat Pal, Pala Ram, Madan Lal, Jai Kumar, Ram Prakash, Rajesh, Ram Bhaj and Jai Singh standing there and they were armed with gandasis and lathis. Sat Pal raised a lalkara that Mohinder Singh should be taught a lesson for making less payment for crackers and he gave a gandasi blow on his right leg. Mohinder Singh shouted for help and on hearing the same, Ishwar - his brother came there. Pala Ram gave gandasi blows repeatedly from its reverse side on Ishwars chin and jaw and Madan Lal gave two lathi blows on his face and Jai Kumar gave lathi blows on his hands and chest. On hearing the calls for help, Shambhu-the deceased came to the spot. Rajesh and Ram Bhaj, who were standing in front of the house of Chandan came there with lathis and Ram Bhaj gave a lathi blow on the head of Shambhu and Rajesh gave a lathi blow on his legs. In the meantime, Ishwars wife - Murti Devi also came there and Naresh and Jai Singh gave lathi blow on Murti Devi. (c) Ganpat (PW-12)-the complainant (appellant herein), who was standing at a distance of 10 yards from the place of occurrence, shouted "Naa Maro Naa Maro". Thereafter, Ganpat brought a tractor from his house with the help of his son Shri Pal for taking the injured to the hospital. When they were lifting the injured persons, Mohan Lal gave one gandasi blow on his right arm and Rajesh gave a lathi blow on the back of his right hand palm and Ram Prakash gave a lathi blow on his left shoulder. Thereafter, Shri Pal, Chappa and Satta and other persons came there and rescued them and all the injured persons were taken to Primary Health Centre, Nissing. Dr. Sanjiv Grover, PW-3 examined the injured persons. Ishwar and Shambhu were referred to General Hospital, Karnal. Thereafter, Mohinder Singh and Murti Devi were also referred to the same hospital. Dr. Sanjiv Grover sent the ruqa to the in-charge, Police Station, Nissing on 26.10.1992 at 00:10 a.m. but due to inadvertence he mentioned the time as 12:10 a.m. On receipt of ruqa, ASI Ram Karan - PW-14 went to Primary Health Centre to inquire about the condition of the injured and came to know that the injured persons have been referred to General Hospital, Karnal. Then, on 26.10.1992, at 01:15 p.m., the ASI recorded the statement of Ganpat-the appellant herein in General Hospital, Karnal and a case was registered and a formal FIR was recorded at 2:30 p.m. under Sections 148, 149, 323, 324, 325 Indian Penal Code (hereinafter referred to as Rs. IPC). He could not record the statement of Shambhu as he was not fit for making statement. After taking the clothes of the injured persons into possession, he went to the scene of occurrence and prepared rough site plan and lifted blood stained earth. Thereafter, the accused were arrested and the weapons were also recovered. (d) On 09.11.1992, Shambhu died and the case was converted to that under Sections 148, 302, 323, 324, 325 read with Section 34 Indian Penal Code (hereinafter referred to as "IPC"). On 12.03.1993, challan was filed by the police in the Court, mentioning only the names of four accused out of the 11 accused, whose names were mentioned in the FIR. On 09.04.1993, Ganpat (PW-12), the appellant herein filed an application under Section 319 of the Criminal Procedure Code (hereinafter referred to as "Cr.P.C.") for summoning the other seven accused. The trial Court, vide order dated 12.05.1993, allowed the application and summoned the other seven accused persons to face trial along with the four accused. Vide order dated 22.03.1994, the trial Court ordered for framing of charges against all the 11 accused persons for offences under Sections 148, 302, 325, 324, 323 read with Section 149 IPC. (e) The prosecution examined 15 witnesses. After recording the evidence, the trial Judge convicted Pala Ram, Sat Pal Madan Lal, Ram Prakash, Rajesh, Ram Bhaj and Jai Kumar for the offence under Section 148 IPC and sentenced them to undergo rigorous imprisonment for two years and to pay a fine of Rs. 1000/- each, in default of payment of fine, each of them was ordered to undergo further rigorous imprisonment for three months. They were further convicted under Section 302 read with Section 149 IPC and sentenced to undergo rigorous imprisonment for life. They were also convicted under Section 325 read with Section 149 IPC and were sentenced to undergo rigorous imprisonment for two years and to pay a fine of Rs. 1000/- each. In default of payment of fine, each of them was ordered to undergo further rigorous imprisonment for three months. All of them were further convicted under Section 324 read with Section 149 IPC and sentenced to undergo rigorous imprisonment for six months and further they were convicted under Section 323 read with Section 149 IPC and each of them was sentenced to undergo rigorous imprisonment for four months. Mohan Lal was convicted under Section 324 IPC and sentenced to undergo rigorous imprisonment for six months, Naresh, Ramesh Chand and Jai Singh were convicted under Section 323 IPC and were sentenced to undergo rigorous imprisonment for four months. The substantive sentences of imprisonment were ordered to run concurrently. (f) Against the abovesaid order, Jai Singh, Ramesh, Naresh and Mohan Lal filed Criminal Appeal No. 647 of 2000 and Pala Ram, Sat Pal, Madan Lal, Ram Prakash, Rajesh, Ram Bhaj and Jai Kumar filed Criminal Appeal No. 657 of 2000 and Ganpat- the complainant and the appellant herein filed Criminal Revision Petition No. 475 of 2001 before the High Court of Punjab & Haryana for not holding guilty four of the eleven accused, namely, Jai Singh, Ramesh, Naresh and Mohan Lal under Sections 302/149 IPC. Vide judgment dated 01.05.2001, the High Court allowed the appeals and acquitted all the eleven accused persons and dismissed the criminal revision petition filed by the appellant herein. Challenging the judgment of the High Court, the appellant/complainant has preferred these appeals by way of special leave petitions.
(3.) Heard learned Counsel for the appellant as well as the respondents.;