SWINDER SINGH Vs. STATE OF PUNJAB

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The present appeal is preferred by the appellant Swinder Singh, who was aged about 29 years at the time of the occurrence and 42 at present, questioning the correctness of the judgment rendered by the High Court in Criminal Appeal No. 517 of 1980 confirming the conviction of the appellant under Section 302, IPC and the sentence of imprisonment for life imposed therefore.

(2.) The entire edifice of the prosecution is rested only on circumstantial pieces of evidence. Those circumstances are that (i) there was a strong motive for the appellant to liquidate the deceased; (ii) both the appellant and the deceased were seen together before and after the occurrence; and (iii) the suspicious conduct of the appellant before and after the occurrence led to an illation of his guilt. The motive for the prosecution is spoken to by PWs 5, 8 and 9. It transpires from the evidence adduced by the prosecution that the appellant and the deceased were very close friends having studied together in the school as well as in the college for a period of six years and that each of them had paid frequent visits to the house of the other. One Joginder Singh, a resident of the nearby village, Lopoke was a friend of the deceased. He is said to have developed friendship with the appellant and in that manner he also developed illicit relationship with the sister of the appellant, namely, Balwindro. This girl Balwindro was subsequently betrothed to one Raj Singh who is the sister's son of the mother of the deceased. The deceased was suspected to have informed this illicit relationship of the sister of the appellant with Joginder Singh to the family members of Raj Singh to whom the girl had been betrothed.

(3.) On receipt of that information Raj Singh decided not to marry the girl. It is also admitted that this girl Balwindro thereafter died either of poisoning or by being killed by her relatives. However, the fact remains that the girl died under some suspicious circumstances. This according to the prosecution was the motive for the appellant to put an end to the life of the deceased whom the appellant suspected to have been responsible for the tragic end of his sister. It is, said that the appellant, thereafter, was not in talking terms with the deceased for about six months. Subsequently, he developed his friendship again with the deceased. The next piece of evidence the prosecution has attempted to adduce is that the appellant and the deceased travelled together by a bus to Amritsar. To substantiate this part of the case the prosecution has examined PWs 6 and 7. Yet another circumstantial piece of evidence put forth by the prosecutions that the deceased was taken to the hospital, SGTB-Hospital, Amritsar by the appellant where he was examined by PW 1 (Doctor). He examined Prabhdiyal Singh who was at the time was in a state of coma and having alcoholic smell. The deceased was taken to the hospital by the appellant about 8.10 p. m. and he expired at 8.40 p. m. Postmortem was conducted by PW 1 who found four abrasions on the body of the deceased, which injuries in the opinion of the medical officer could have been caused by a blunt weapon. The viscera was sent for chemical analysis. On receipt of the report of the chemical examiner, PW 1 gave his opinion stating that the death of the deceased in his opinion was due to strychnine and alcohol poison. According to the medical officer the blood alcohol found in this case showed that it was a fatal dose of alcohol. The case was registered by PW 8 and the same was investigated. However, the police filed a report referring the case on the ground that the evidence gathered during the investigation was not sufficient for presenting a challan against the appellant.