- (1.) Harbans Singh, Gurdial Singh and Sarwan Singh were charged in the Court of the learned Additional Sessions Judge at Ludhiana; with having committed an offence of murder punishable under S. 302, Penal Code. The case against them was that they, along with Banta Singh, the approver, had intentionally caused the death of Gurdev Singh by inflicting injuries on his person with kirpan, toki and dang on 23rd November 1955, within the limits of the village Sohian, police station Jagraon. The learned trail Judge held that the charge framed against all the three accused had been proved beyond a reasonable doubt. That is why he convicted them of the offence charged and sentenced each one of them to death. On appeal to the High Court of Punjab, the order of conviction and sentence imposed against Harbans Singh and Sarwan Singh was confirmed whereas the order of conviction and sentence against Gurdial Singh was set aside and he was ordered to be acquitted and discharged. Accused 1 Harbans Singh and accused 3 Sarwan Singh have come to this Court in appeal by special leave.
(2.) It would be convenient to state the prosecution case very briefly at the outset. Gurdev Singh, the victim of the assault, was the brother of accused 1. It appears that the father of the two brothers had left the village some years ago and is apparently no longer alive. Harbans Singh was a shirker and a waster and that made Gurdev Singh impatient. When Gurdev Singh tried to improve Harbans Singh, Harbans Singh resented Gurdev Singh's efforts and his irritation and annoyance had reached such a stage and extent that he began to plan his murder. According to the story of the prosecution, Harbans Singh got in touch with his friends Sarwan Singh and Gurdial Singh and requested them to assist him in his plan to get rid of his brother. It appears that Gurdial Singh himself was on inimical terms, with Gurdev Singh because he was angry with Gurdev Singh for having cut jokes with his sister. A few days before the commission of the offence, Harbans Singh and Sarwan Singh were sitting on a canal bank near their village enjoying their drink when Danta Singh joined them. He was also asked to partake of the liquor and was told about the plan to murder Gurdev Singh. A few days later there was another meeting between these three men and it was agreed that an attempt should be made to procure arms for the purpose of carrying out the plan. Rakha was accordingly approached and as a result of the negotiations he sold a country-made pistol and a cartridge for Rs. 40 to Sarwan Singh. Rakha was also requested to join the conspiracy. He was however unwilling to respond and though he did not openly say 'no' to the proposal, at the material time he refused to join the conspirators. On the day of the offence itself, Sarwan Singh, Gurdial Singh and Banta Singh went by a bus together and got down near the road which leads to the village Sohian. Then they proceeded on foot until they met Harbans Singh near the canal minor. Harbans Singh then advised his co-conspirators to hide themselves in the bushes. He then fetched a bottle of liquor and all the four drank from it. This took them to sunset time, when Harbans Singh left the place and promised his friends that he would send his brother to the place where they would lie concealed. He also told them that he would give a signal as soon as his brother would approach the place of their concealment by clapping his hands. In accordance with this plan Harbans Singh persuaded his brother to go ahead. Sarwan Singh then coughed and this raised an apprehension in the mind of Gurdev Singh that some people may be lying in wait for him. So he called out to his brother Harbans Singh and said that he suspected that there were some people there. Harbans Singh assured him that he would soon join. Meanwhile, according to plan, the three assailants emerged from their place of concealment and attacked Gurdev Singh. Harbans Singh also arrived on the scene and joined them in the assault. The prosecution case is that Harbans Singh was armed with a kirpan, Gurdial Singh with a lathi, the approver Banta Singh with a toki and Sarwan Singh used a kirpan. The attack was undoubtedly brutal and callous and it resulted in as many as 69 incised wounds and two contused injuries which had been caused with a blunt weapon. Having assaulted Gurdev Singh in this brutal manner his assailants ran away.
(3.) Harbans Singh returned to his village and raised a hue and cry. He complained that his brother had been carried away by a number of persons and he pretended that his brother's assailants were Darshan Singh, Jagat Singh, Gurnam Singh and Banta Singh of the village Pona. The villagers, however, found that Harbans Singh was not keen on joining them in rendering help to the victim or in pursuing his assailants. Finally, however, he was persuaded to accompany the villagers and the villagers in the company of Harbans Singh reached the spot where Gurdev Singh's body was found in a pool of blood. Thereafter Harbans Singh went to the police station and made a report of the occurrence at about 10.30 p.m. He alleged in his report that his brother had been murdered by the aforesaid four persons of the village of Pona. Purporting to act on this report, the police reached the spot in the early hours of the next morning and so the investigation commenced.;