Arijit Pasayat, J. - (1.) These appeals are inter-linked and are directed against the judgment of a Division Bench of the Punjab and Haryana High Court. By the impugned judgment the High Court allowed the appeal filed by the respondents. The appeal before the High Court was numbered as Criminal Appeal No. 406-DB of 1996. The learned Additional Sessions Judge, Amritsar had found the accused persons guilty of various offences. Accused Lal Singh was found guilty of offence punishable under Section 302 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 (in short the 'IPC') while Dial Singh, Atma Singh, Sajjan Singh and Karam Singh were found guilty of offence punishable under Section 302 read with Section 149 IPC. Accused Dial Singh was also found guilty of offence punishable under Section 302 IPC while four others were found guilty of offence punishable under Section 302 read with Section 149 IPC. All the five accused persons were guilty of offence punishable under Section 148 IPC. Accused Lal Singh was found guilty of offence punishable under Section 307 IPC while accused Lal Singh, Atma Singh, Sajjan Singh and Karam Singh were found guilty of offence punishable under Section 307 read with Section 149 IPC. Accused Atma Singh, Sajjan Singh and Karam Singh were found guilty of offence punishable under Section 324 IPC. Accused Lal Singh and Dial Singh were found guilty of offence punishable under Section 324 read with Section 149 IPC. Accused Lal Singh and Dial Singh were also found guilty under Section 27 of arms act, 1959 (in short the 'Arms Act').
(2.) It is to be noted that Criminal Revision No. 279 of 1997 was filed by Atma Singh and Others and it was taken up alongwith Criminal Appeal as noted above. The High Court by the impugned judgment held that the prosecution case suffers from various infirmities and, therefore, allowed the appeal.
(3.) Prosecution version in a nutshell as unfolded during trial was as follows: At about 6.45 p.m. on 11.2.1993 Mal Singh (PW-1) accompanied by his sons Major Singh and Bhupinder Singh was returning to his dhani in the fields after closing the shop. When they were on the kacha path leading to the house of accused Lal Singh, they were confronted by Lal Singh armed with a DBBL gun, Atma Singh with a Gandassi, Sajjan Singh with a kirpan, Karam Singh with a datar, while Dial Singh son of Lal Singh was empty handed. On seeing Mal Singh and his sons, the accused raised a lalkara that the opposite party should be done to death for getting their relatives arrested by the Batala Police. At this, Lal Singh fired a shot from his gun, which hit Major Singh on his chest, receiving which he fell down on the ground. Lal Singh fired another shot which hit Bhupinder Singh on his right arm after which he took shelter in the fields and raised a halla. On hearing the noise, Dalip Kaur W/o Mal Singh and his sons Mohinder Singh and Manohar Singh came to the spot and tried to rescue them. Sajjan Singh and Atma Singh then gave one blow each to Mohinder Singh on his head, on receiving which he fell down on the ground. Karam Singh then gave a datar blow on the head of Mohinder Singh and when Dalip Kaur came forward to rescue them, Dial Singh snatched the gun from his father Lal Singh and fired a shot on her head and she too fell down. Mal Singh and his son Manohar Singh raised a raula on which all the accused ran away carrying with them their weapons. Mal Singh and Manohar Singh came forward and found that Dalip Kaur and Major Singh had succumbed to their injuries. Leaving Manohar Singh near the dead bodies, Mal Singh rushed to Amritsar and got a vehicle to take the injured sons Mohinder Singh and Bhupinder Singh to the hospital. He however came across a police party headed by S.I. Satwant Singh (PW-13) at the bus stand of Khalchain, who recorded Mal Singh's statement at 0.05 a.m. on 12.2.1993 and on its basis the formal FIR was registered at Police Station 30 minutes later with the special report being delivered to the Illaqa Magistrate at 6.11 p.m. on 12.2.1993. Sub Inspector Satwant Singh thereafter accompanied by the complainant and other police officials reached village Kaleke. He examined the place of incident in the presence of respectable persons of the village and completed the necessary formalities. He also picked up 4 empty cartridge cases of .12 bore DBBL from the spot. Accused Lal Singh and Dial Singh were arrested on 26.2.1993 and on the basis of the disclosure statement made by Lal Singh a licensed DBBL gun was duly recovered. Accused Atma Singh, Sajjan Singh and Karam Singh were arrested on March 4, 1993 and on the basis of the disclosure statements made by them the weapons of offence that they had been carrying were also recovered. On completion of investigation charge sheet was filed. Since the accused pleaded not guilty, trial was held. In the present appeals the informant and the State of Punjab had question the acquittal directed by the High Court. The High Court primarily directed acquittal on the ground that there was delay in lodging the FIR and there is doubt about the weapon used. It was also observed that there was delay in delivery of the special report of Illaqa Magistrate. The direction of injuries was referred to by the High Court. In that view the prosecution version was held to be not acceptable. ;