- (1.) THIS Criminal Appeal has been di rected against the judgment and order dated 26-08-1989 passed by Shri M. L. Singhal, the then Sessions Judge, Pithoragarh in S. T. No. 30/1988 State Vs. Hari Singh & another, whereby the appellant-Hari Singh was convicted and sen tenced to undergo imprisonment for life and for six years under section 302 & sec tion 307 I. P. C respectively. The appellant-Inder Singh was convicted and sentenced to undergo imprisonment of life and for six years under section 302/34 I. P. C and sec tion 307/34 I. P. C respectively. Both sen tences were to run concurrently.
(2.) THE facts, in nutshell, are that Hari Singh and Inder Singh (appellants) are the cousins of Laxman Singh-informant and Kundal Singh-deceased. Mohan Singh PW2 is the real uncle of appellants (Hari Singh & Inder Singh), Laxman Singh PW1 and Kundal Singh-deceased. THE family of the appellants- accused were not having good relations with the families of Kundal Singh (deceased) and Laxman Singh PW1. THEy were not even on visiting and talk ing terms for the past six to seven years from the date of incident. THE appellants-accused devoured the land of the family of the deceased-Kundal Singh. Laxman Singh PW1-brother of the deceased was employed in the Army while the appellants-accused were unemployed. THE appellants-accused have developed jealously with the family of the deceased. On 18- 05-1989 the marriage procession of one-Prahlad Singh was going from Beda village to village Sirmoda- near Gyaradevi. In the said mar riage procession, the appellants (Hari Singh & Inder Singh), the deceased-Kundal Singh, Laxman Singh PW1, Mohan Singh PW2 and Gopal Singh PW3 were present alongwith other guests ('baraties' ). At about 9. 30 pm when the marriage party (Barat) was going on the way to Gurna from Gyaradevi, the procession came to a halt and few 'baraties' started dancing. THEre were 4-5 gas lanterns in the proces sion. One-Khim Singh persisted to continue the dance there. Mohan Singh PW2 - real uncle of the appellants, informant and Kundal Singh deceased asked him to dis continue the dance and to proceed further as it was getting late. Both Khim Singh and Mohan Singh PW2 joined over this issue and the exchange of hot words took place between them. THE deceased Kundal Singh also appeared there and tried to intervene in the matter. Kundal Singh asked them to stop the dance and to proceed further. In the meantime, the appellants Hari Singh and Inder Singh also appeared there and pressed for continuance of the dance and challenged as to who was going to stop them. Laxman Singh PW1 also told them for discontinuance of the dance as the 'baraat' was already getting late. Laxman Singh also told them that they were causing unnecessary delay in the 'baraat'. On this, Inder Singh got enraged with Laxman Singh PW1 and slapped on his face. In order to save him, Kundal Singh (deceased) appeared there and asked Inder Singh as to why he was beat ing his brother. THEreafter, the appellant Hari Singh took out a knife and gave knife blows to Kundal Singh. Consequently, he fell on the ground. When Laxman Singh PW1 came forward to rescue him, the ap pellant Inder Singh caught hold of Laxman Singh from behind and exhorted the ap pellant Hari Singh to kill him. On this, the appellant Hari Singh tried to give a knife blow in the stomach of Laxman Singh, but the turned around and the knife struck at his hip. THEreafter, the appellants Hari Singh and Inder Singh fled away from there. Immediately after the occurrence, Mohan Singh PW2, Gopal Singh PWS and other villagers took the injured persons Kundal Singh and Laxman Singh PW1 to the District hospital, Pithoragarh for medi cal treatment. Kundal Singh was seriously injured and his condition was precarious. He succumbed to his injuries on the same night at 11:45 pm in the hospital. A writ ten FIR Ex. ka. 1 was lodged by the injured Laxman Singh PW1 on the same night at 12:15 P. M. On the basis of written report Ex. ka. 1, a Chick EI. R. Ex. ka. 13 was pre pared and necessary entry was made in the general diary Ex. ka. 14. S. I.-Shyam Lal PW6, Investigating Officer started the in vestigation and sent the dead body for postmortem. THE I. O. prepared the site plan. He also recorded the statement of the witnesses. After completing the inves tigation, the Investigating Officer submit ted the chargesheet before the court. After submission of chargesheet the appellants-accused were committed to the court of Sessions for trial and the trial court framed charges against the accused persons. They denied the charges levelled against them and claimed their trial. The prosecution in support of its case examined as many as six witnesses. Laxman Singh PW1 - informant is the cousin brother of the appellants-accused. He is an injured eyewitness of the incident. Mohan Singh PW2 is the real uncle of ap pellants, deceased and informant. He is equally related to both parties and he is eye-witness of the incident. Gopal Singh PW3 is also eye-witness of the incident. Gopal Singh PW3 is the resident of the same village i. e. Bera. His testimony does not show that he is, in any way, inimical with the accused persons or closely affili ated with the prosecution party. Dr. Harish Chandra Pathak PW4 is the Medical Of ficer, who conducted the postmortem of the dead body of the deceased. Dr. M. D. Bhatt PW5 was the Medical Officer, Dis trict Hospital, He had given the medical treatment to the injured Kundal Singh in the hospital. He also examined the injured Kundal Singh before admission to the hos pital and he also examined the injuries of Laxman Singh PW1 S. I.- Shyam Lal PW6 is the Investigating Officer of the case. After completing the investigation, he submitted the chargesheet, Ex. Ka. 21. The appellants-accused did not adduce and evidence in their defence.
(3.) THE accused persons were exam ined u/s 313 Cr. P. C. and they have pleaded not guilty to the offence. THEy have stated that they have been falsely implicated in this case. The learned Sessions Judge on ap preciation of the evidence held the appel lants guilty and convicted and sentenced them as mentioned above.;