- (1.) PRAFULLA C. Pant, J. These two appeals, preferred under Sec tion 374 (2) of the Code of Criminal Pro cedure, 1973 (for brevity hereinafter Cr. RC.), have arisen out of the same judgment and order dated 05-02-1987, passed in Sessions Trial No. 94 of 1984, by the then learned Sessions Judge, Nainital, whereby, accused/appellant Satnam Singh has been convicted un der Section 302 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 (for brevity hereinafter I. P. C.), and sentenced to imprisonment for life. He is further convicted and sen tenced to undergo rigorous imprison ment of two years under Section 324 read with Section 34 of the I. P. C. Ac cused/appellant Baba Singh has been convicted under Section 302 read with Section 34 of the I. P. C. and also under Section 324 of I. P. C. He is sentenced to imprisonment for life under Section 302/ 34 of the I. P. C. , and further sentenced to undergo rigorous imprisonment of two years under Section 324 of the I. P. C. Accused/appellant Harbhajan Singh has also been convicted under Section 302 read with Section 34 of the I. P. C. and under Section 324 read with Section 34 of the I. P. C. He is sentenced to impris onment for life under Section 302/34 of the I. P. C. , and further sentenced to undergo rigorous imprisonment of two years under Section 324/34 of the I. P. C.
(2.) WE heard learned counsel for the parties and perused the entire record. Prosecution story, in brief, is that about 10-12 days before the date of in cident, some altercation took place be tween Kulwant Singh (deceased) and accused/appellant Satnam Singh regard ing irrigation through a water channel. On 1/-03-1984, at about 6:30 P. M. , when Kulwant Singh (deceased) reached near culvert on the bank of water canal, flowing towards Village Majra, he met accused/appellant Satnam Singh, who told him that he would be taught lesson for not permitting him (Satnam Singh) to irrigate his fields. Accused/appellant Baba Singh, armed with sword, and ac cused/appellant Harbhajan Singh, armed with spear, reached behind Satnam Singh on the spot. Accused/ap pellant Harbhajan Singh handed over his spear to Satnam Singh and exhorted him to kill Kulwant Singh. Kulwant Singh raised an alarm on which wit nesses P. W. 1 Jaimal Singh, P. W. 2 Mula Singh and P. W. 5 Jeet Singh along with one more person rushed towards the spot. However, accused/appellant Satnam Singh, meanwhile, gave a blow with the spear on the chest of Kulwant Singh. P. W. 2 Mula Singh, came forward to save his son Kulwant Singh (de ceased), but accused/appellant Baba Singh hit a blow with the sword on the hand of Mula Singh and in the process injured him. Thereafter, all the three accused/appellants ran away from the place of occurrence. Meanwhile, Kulwant Singh died of the injuries on the spot. A First Information Report (Ext. A-l) of the incident was lodged by P. W. 2 Mula Singh, on 1/-03-1984, at about 8:40 P. M. , with police station Gadarpur. On the basis of the First Information Report, its check report (Ext. A-12) was prepared by P. W. 7 Head Constable Rameshwar Dutt Tyagi, who also made necessary entry in the general diary, copy of ex tract of which is Ext. A-13. P. W. 6 Sub Inspector Hemant Kumar Mishra started the investigation of the crime. He in spected the spot and took the dead body of Kulwant Singh in his possession, pre pared the inquest report (Ext. A-5), sketch of the dead body (Ext. A-6), po lice form No. 13 (Ext. A-7), and letter (Ext. A-8) addressed to the Chief Medi cal Officer, requesting for postmortem examination of the dead body. Also, P. W-2 Mula Singh was sent for medical examination, at about 11:00 P. M. , on the same day to Primary Health Center, Gadarpur. Dead body of Kulwant Singh was sent for postmortem examination. P. W. 4 Dr. R. N. Singhal, conducted the autopsy on the dead body on 18-03-1984, at about 12:20 P. M. , in L. D. Bhatt Hospital, Kashipur. The Medical Officer opined that Kulwant Singh had died on account of shock and haemor rhage due to injury over liver. The Inves tigating Officer further investigated the crime, prepared site plan (Ext. A-9) and recorded the statements of the witnesses. He also collected the simple soil and blood stained soil and prepared memo Ext. A-10. He also recovered spear (Ext. 1) used in the crime, and prepared memo thereof. On completion of the in vestigation, the Investigating Officer sub mitted charge sheet (Ext. A-ll) to the Magistrate concerned, against all the three accused persons, namely Satnam Singh, Baba Singh and Harbhajan Singh. The Magistrate on receipt of the charge sheet, it appears after giving necessary copies to the accused persons, as required under Section 207 of the Cr. P. C. , committed the case to the court of Sessions for trial. Learned Sessions Judge, after hearing the prosecution and the defence, framed charge of two heads against accused/appellant Satnam Singh for the offences allegedly committed by him, punishable under Section 302 of the I. PC. , and the one under Section 324 read with Section 34 of the I. PC. . A separate charge was framed against accused/appellant Baba Singh of two heads relating to the offences, allegedly committed by him, punishable under Section 324 of the I. PC. and under Section 302 read with Section 34 of the I. P. C. Also, a separate charge under two heads was framed against accused/ap pellant Harbhajan Singh relating to the offences, allegedly committed by him, punishable under Section 302 read with Section 34 of the I. P. C. and the one under Section 324 read with Section 34 of the I. P. C. All the three accused per sons pleaded not guilty and claimed to be tried. On this, the prosecution got examined P. W. 1 Jaimal Singh (eyewit ness); P. W. 2 Mula Singh (informant and injured eyewitness); P. W. 3 Dr. K. B. Singh (who medically examined injuries of Mula Singh); P. W. 4 Dr. R. N. Singhal (who conducted the autopsy on the dead body of the deceased); P. W. 5 Jeet Singh (an eyewitness); P. W. 6 Sub Inspector Hemant Kumar Mishra (who investi gated the crime) and P. W. 7 Head Con stable Rameshwar Dutt Tyagi (who reg istered the F. I. R. , prepared the check report (Ext. A-12) and made necessary entry in the general diary, copy of ex tract of which is Ext. A -13 ). The entire oral and documentary evidence was put to the accused persons under Section 313 of Cr. P. C. regarding which in their reply, the accused persons alleged that evidence adduced against them is false and they have falsely been implicated in the case due to enmity. No evidence in defence was adduced on behalf of the accused persons. The learned Sessions Judge, after hearing the prosecution and the defence, found all the three accused guilty of the charges framed against them, and after hearing on sentence, sentenced each one of the convict/appel lants as mentioned earlier i. e. accused/ appellant Satnam Singh was sentenced to imprisonment for life under Section 302 of the I. P. C. , and further sentenced to undergo rigorous imprisonment of two years under Section 324/34 of the I. P. C. Accused/appellant Baba Singh was sen tenced under Section 324 of the I. P. C. to rigorous imprisonment of two years. He was further sentenced under Section 302/34 of the I. P. C. to imprisonment for life. Accused/appellant Harbhajan Singh was sentenced under Section 302/34 of the I. P. C. to imprisonment for life. He was further sentenced to rigorous impris onment of two years under Section 324/ 34 of the I. P. C. Aggrieved by said judg ment and order dated 05-02-1987, the accused/appellants preferred these two appeals mentioned above, before the Allahabad High Court, from where both the Appeals were received by transfer to this Court under Section 35 of the U. P Re-organization Act, 2000, for their dis posal.
(3.) BEFORE further discussions, it is pertinent to mention here, the ante mortem injuries found on the dead body of Kulwant Singh by P. W. 4 Dr. R. N. Singhal, at the time of conducting au topsy. The postmortem report (Ext. A-4) discloses following ante mortem in jury on the body of the deceased : Stab wound with incised margins over right side of chest, 9 cm below right nipple measuring 4cm x 2cm x cav ity deep with a direction posteriorly, medially and downward. On internal examination the Medi cal Officer found that the right lung dia phragm as well as the liver of the de ceased were ruptured. Accordinq to P. W. 4 Dr. R. N. Singhal. the deceased had died on account of shock and haemor rhage due to injury over liver. The Medi cal Officer further opined that the injury sustained by the victim was sufficient in the ordinary course of nature to cause his death. It is also pertinent to mention here, before discussing the oral evidence of the eyewitnesses, that P. W. 3 Dr. K. B. Singh, who medically examined the injuries of Mula Singh (RW. 2) found on 1/-03-1984, at about 11:00 RM. , following injuries on the person of the injured, as mentioned in injury report (Ext. A-3) : 1. Incised wound 5cm x 0. 5cm x 0. 5cm over the dorsum of left hand extending from posterior to anteriorly oblique in direction, fresh bleeding present. 2. Incised wound 1cm x 0. 25cm x 0. 25 over the dorsum of proximal phalanx of middle finger, fresh bleeding present.;