- (1.) This appeal against acquittal filed by the State of Punjab arises out of the following facts : P.W-2 Ram Charan and Vidya Rani (since deceased) had been married about 18 years prior to the incident but no child has been born to the couple. At about 6/7 P.M. on August 4, 1989, Ram Charan took his wife to the Dera of the accused, situated in village Sahera for getting her exorcised of the civil spirits, which had apparently seized her. They found Kewal Nath and Pritam Nath who claimed to be Sadhus in the Dera and Pritam Singh and Raghbir Singh their Chelas (all four accused) present there. He told them that his wife had been seized by evil spirits, which needed to be exorcised and requested them for their help, whereupon the four accused, who were carrying an iron rod, a Trishool and Chimtas tied Vidya Rani to a tree and started giving blows on various parts of her body. After some time, Ram Charan got alarmed and tried to intervene by telling them that this treatment would kill her. The accused, however, assured him that Vidya Rani would not die. Vidya Rani, however, became unconscious during the night and Ram Charan received the information, the next day, that she had, in the meanwhile, died. He raised a Raula, which attracted Bhagwan Singh, Balbir Singh, Bhola Ram and Surinder Singh to the spot. Ram Charan then left for Police Station, Mulepur and made his statement before P.W.-8 SI Jaspal Singh and on its basis, the formal F.I.R. was registered in the Police Station at 3.05 P.M. on August 5, 1989; with the special report being delivered to the Illaqa Magistrate at 8.00 P.M., the same evening. ASI Sutjit Singh and other police officials accompanied by Ram Charan then reached the Dera and found the dead body of Vidya Rani lying face down in a room of the Dera. The Police Officer made the necessary inquiries and sent the dead body for its post-mortem examination. The accused were arrested on August 11, 1989 and on the basis of their disclosure statements, the weapons that they had been carrying were duly recovered. On the completion of the investigation, the accused were charged for an offence punishable under Section 302/34 of the Indian Penal Code and as they pleaded not guilty, were brought to trial.
(2.) To bring home the charge against the accused, the prosecution examined P.W-1 Dr. Vijay Kumar, who had conducted the post-mortem examination on the dead body and had found 16 injuries thereon including a large number of burn injuries; P.W-2 Ram Charan, the complainant and an eye-witness to all that had happened; P.W-5 Harsurinder Singh Kanungo, who had prepared the site plan; and P.W-8 SI Jaspal Singh, the Investigating Officer.
(3.) The prosecution case was then put to the accused and their statement recorded under Section 313 of the Code of Criminal Procedure. They denied the very existence of the dera and asserted that they had been residing in village Sahera and had been involved in a false case.;