MATHUR, J. - (1.) THIS is a murder reference made by the learned Additional Sessions Judge No. 2, Sri Ganganagar, dated 17. 5. 99 in accordance with the provisions of Section 366 Cr. P. C. for confirmation of death sentence, awarded to accused Darshan Singh, having held him guilty of committing murder of Tota Singh and convicting him of offence u/sec. 302 IPC. The accused Darshan Singh has also challenged the conviction and sentence by way of filing an appeal through jail, which has been registered as D. B. Criminal Jail Appeal No. 294/1999 "darshan Singh vs. State of Rajasthan".
(2.) BRIEF facts of the case are that on 20. 03. 1998, PW 1 Gurdeep Singh lodged an oral F. I. R. at Police Station Sadul Shahar at 9. 15 P. M. stating inter alia that there was dispute between his father P. W. 3 Mohan Singh uncle Darshan Singh (accused) with respect to distribution of the land. In order to resolve the dispute, his father had approached his maternal grand father Tota Singh (deceased) residing in village Indrapura as it was understood that he will be able to make Darshan Singh understand. On the fateful day at about 5. 45 P. M. , his maternal grand father Tota Singh came to his house. At that time, he had gone to the house of Gora Singh, whose daughter was to be married. After 10-15 minutes, when he was returning to his house, he found that a big crowd had assembled in the lane. He rushed to his house fearing that some quarrel might not have taken place with Darshan Singh. When he reached to his house, he found that his maternal grand father was lying smeared with blood. His father Mohan Singh (PW 3), his mother Manjit Kaur (PW 2) any younger brother Bohad Singh (PW 8), sister Baint Kaur, uncle Chandra Singh and Bhola Singh were standing in the lane. He enquired from his father as to who caused injuries to his maternal grand father. Upon which, his father disclosed that while his uncle Darshan Singh was assaulting Bohad Singh, his maternal grand fa-ther, in order to save him, intervened. This enraged his uncle Darshan Singh. He gave a `barchhi' blow to Tota Singh and ran away. He also stated that his uncle Darshan Singh had also committed a murder about twenty years back and that he had returned from jail after having undergone the sentence. On this information, police registered a case for offence u/sec. 302 I. P. C. and proceeded with investiga-tion. PW 9 Bhan Singh, SHO, PS, Sadul Shahar, reached on the spot. He prepared the inquest. The dead body of Tota Singh was sent for post mortem. The accused was arrested. In pursuance of the information given by the accused, a blood stained `sela' was recovered. After usual investigation, police laid a charge-sheet against the accused Darshan Singh for the offence u/sec. 302 IPC. The accused pleaded not guilty and claimed trial. The prosecution in support of the case examined twelve witnesses. The accused respondent in his sta-tement under Sec. 313 Cr. P. C. stated that he has been falsely implicated because of the land dispute. He also stated that Bohad Singh and his family members had assaulted him and Tota Singh. The learned trial Judge held the accused respondent guilty of committing murder of Tota Singh. In the opinion of the learned trial Judge, it was a fit case for awarding the death sentence as the accused respondent had earlier also committed a murder for which he was convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment. Assailing, the conviction of the respondent, it is contended by Mr. H. S. Sandhu, learned counsel appearing for the accused, that no reliance can be placed on the testimony of the alleged eye witnesses namely PW 2 Manjit Kaur, PW 3 Mo-han Singh and PW 8 Bohad Singh, as they are interested and inimical witnesses. It is submitted that the prosecution has not explained the injuries on the person of the accused respondent, as such, it must be inferred that the prosecution has suppressed the genesis and origin of the occurrence and has not presented the true version. In the alternative, it is submitted that the defence version of the case be rendered probable on account of non-explanation of injuries throwing doubt on the prosecution case. A submission has also been made with respect to the nature of the offence. It is submitted that it is the case of single injury and, as such, no intention to commit murder can be inferred and that the accused ought to have been convicted for the offence u/sec. 304 Part II IPC. It is also submitted that the material witnesses have not been produced. A submission has also been made on the point of sentence. On the other hand, learned Public Prosecutor has supported the Murder Reference and the judgment of the trial Court. Mr. H. S. S. Kharlia, learned counsel appearing for the complainant, has dealt with all the contentions raised by the accused respondent. He has made a serious attempt to bring the case in the category of "rarest of rare case" to award the death sentence.
(3.) WE have scanned the prosecution evidence carefully. P. W. 1 Gurdeep Singh has made a statement with respect to the incident as given in the F. I. R. He has stated that when he reached on the spot, his maternal grand father was dead. The incident is alleged to have taken place at about 5. 45 p. m. and he reached on the spot at about 6 P. M. The F. I. R. has been submitted at 9. 15 P. M. the distance between the police station and the place of incident is about 20 kms. It is also stated that after about 15 to 20 minutes, he left for Sadul Shahar for lodging the F. I. R. The efforts were made to arrange a jeep but as the same was not available, he had to go on foot. In our view, there is no delay in filing the F. I. R. Nothing has been elicited in the cross examination to disbelieve the testimony of this witness. P. W. 2 Manjit Kaur stated that the accused Darshan Singh is her brother-in-law being the elder brother of her husband Mohan Singh (P. W. 3 ). The deceased Tota Singh was her father. They were having dispute with Darshan Singh with res-pect to distribution of land. With a view to settle the dispute, her father Tota Singh was invited because it was understood that Darshan Singh could be made understand by her father. Her husband Mohan Singh went to village Indrapura to invite Tota Singh. Accordingly, her father Tota Singh arrived at her house. Her son Gurdeep Singh had gone to attend the marriage at the house of Gora Singh. Accused Darshan Singh, armed with a `barchha', appeared in the lane and ensued quarrel with her son. P. W. 8 Bohad Singh. The high pitched voice attracted her husband Mohan Singh, daughter Baint Kaur, brother-in-law Chand Singh and Bhola Singh. Her father Tota Singh intervened in order to pacify Darshan Singh, who lost the temper and plunged `barchhi' in the neck of her father Tota Singh. Her father immediately fell down. There was a profuse bleeding. Accused Darshan Singh climbed on the `kotha', jumped and ran away. After sometime, her son Gurdeep Singh also arrived. The incident was narrated to him. She also stated that her father Tota Singh died instantaneously on the spot on account of the injury caused to him by `barchhi'. She also stated that after sometime, Gurdeep Singh was sent to make a report of the incident to the police. In the cross-examination she admitted that there was no enmity between Darshan Singh and her deceased father Tota Singh. She also admitted that oral altercation took place between Bohad Singh and Dar-shan Singh all of a sudden. She denied that any injury was sustained by Darshan Singh in the said incident. She denied the suggestion that her father was armed with a lathi and Bohad Singh was armed with a Barchhi. Inspite of lengthy cross-examination, nothing has been elicited to discredit the testimony of this witness. She is a natural and trustworthy witness. P. W. 3 Mohan Singh stated that accused Darshan Singh is his elder brother and deceased Tota Singh was his father-in-law. There was a dispute between him and Darshan Singh with respect to distribution of land. It was understood that Tota Singh could make Darshan Singh understand, therefore, with a view to sort out the dispute, he went to village Indrapura to invite him. On the fateful day, his son Gur-deep Singh had gone to the house of Gora Singh to attend the marriage. His younger son Bohad Singh was in the street. At that time, accused Darshan Singh appeared armed with a `barchha' and took up quarrel with him. Hearing their voice, his father-in-law Tota Singh came out. He was followed by his wife, daughter and brother Chand Singh. Bhola Singh also arrived there. His father-in-law reprimanded Darshan Singh for taking up the quarrel with Bohad Singh. Darshan Singh plunged `barchha' in the neck of his father-in-law Tota Singh. Tota Singh fell down on the ground and died instantaneously. Darshan Singh climbed on the `kotha', jumped out and ran away. After ten minutes, his son Gurdeep Singh arrived. They narrated the entire incident to him. After sometime, he left for the Police Station to lodge the report of the incident. He has proved police memos, prepared at the place of the incident. In the cross-examination, he admitted that verbal altercation between Darshan Singh and Bohad Singh took place for about ten minutes. Accused Darshan Singh was abusing him. Bohad Singh was asking not to abuse him. He denied if any injury was caused to Darshan Singh during the incident. He denied the suggestion that Tota Singh gave any lathi blow on the head of Darshan Singh. Inspite of lengthy cross-examination, nothing has been elicited to discredit the testimony of this witness. ;