Mahajan, J. - (1.) -Palvinder Kaur, was tried for offences under Ss. 302 and 201, Penal Code, in connection with the murder of her husband Jaspal Singh. She was convicted by the Sessions Judge under S. 302 and sentenced to transportation for life. No verdict was recorded regarding the charge under S. 201, Penal Code. On appeal to the High Court she was acquitted of the charge of murder, but was convicted under S. 201, Penal Code and sentenced to seven years' rigorous imprisonment. Her appeal by special leave is now before us.
(2.) Jaspal Singh, deceased, was the son of the Chief of Bhareli (Punjab). He was married to Palvinder Kaur a few years age and they had two children. The husband and wife were living together in Bhareli house, Ambala. It is said that Jaspal's relations with his father and grandfather, were not very cordial and the two elders thought that Palvinder Kaur was responsible for this. It is also said that Jaspal lived on the allowance he got from his father and supplemented his income by selling milk and eggs and by doing some odd jobs. Mohinderpal Singh (a fugitive from justice) who is related to the appellant and was employed as a storekeeper in Baldevnagar Camp, Ambala, used occasionally to reside in Bhareli house. It is suggested that he had started a liaison with Palvinder.
(3.) The prosecution case is that Sardar Jaspal was administered potassium cyanide poison by the appellant and Mohinderpal on the afternoon of 6-2-1950. The dead body was then put into a large trunk and kept in one of the rooms in the house in Ambala city. About ten days later, i. e., on 16-2-1950, Mohinderpal during the absence of the appellant, removed the trunk from the house in a jeep when he came there with Amrik Singh and Kartar Singh (P. Ws.), two watermen of the Baldevnagar Camp. The trunk was then taken to Baldevnagar Camp and was kept in a store room there. Three days later, on 19-2-1950, Mohinderpal accompanied by Palvinder and a domestic servant, Trilok Chand (P. W. 27), took the trunk a few miles on the road leading to Rajpura, got on to a katcha road and in the vicinity of village Chhat took the jeep to a well on a mound and threw the box into it. The jeep was taken to a gurdwara where it was washed.;