iminal Appeal No 87 of 1962
Appeal by special leave from the judgment and order dated February 21 1962 of the Punjab High Court in Cr A No 1231 of 1961 and Murder Reference No 98 of 1961  587 Purushottam Trikamdas C L Sareen and R L Kohli for the appellants
NS Bindra and P D Menon for the respondent
August 10
The two appellants Gurcharan Singh and Surjit Singh along with three others Baland Singh Daljit Singh and Ajit singh were tried before the 2nd Addl
Sessions Judge Ferozepore for offences under Section 148 and section 302149 IPC
The prosecution case against these five persons was that on or about the 18th May 1961 they formed an unlawful assembly at the village Jhote with the common object of killing Arjan Singh Sukhjit Singh Gurdial Singh and Piara Singh alias Balo and that in prosecution of the said common object they committed the offence of rioting when they were armed with deadly weapons
That is the essence of the charge under section 148
It was further alleged that on the same day and at the same time and place the said members of the unlawful assembly carried out its unlawful object and in so doing the appellant Gurcharan Singh murdered Gurdial Singh and Sukhjit Singh while the appellant Surjit Singh murdered Arjan singh and Piara Singh
That is how all the five accused persons were charged under section 302149 of the Indian Penal Code
The trial Judge held that the charges against Daljit Singh had not been proved beyond a reasonable doubt and so according to him the prosecution case under section 148 had not been proved and that charge under section 149 bad not been sustained
In regard to the four other accused persons he held that they were guilty under section 30234 IPC Having thus convicted them of the said offence the learned Judge sentenced Gurcharan Singh Baland Singh 588 and Surjit Singh to death and directed that Ajit Sigh should suffer imprisonment for life
The sentence of death imposed by the learned trial Judge was submitted to the Punjab High Court for confirmation while all the four convicted persons preferred an appeal challenging their convictions and sentences imposed on them
The High Court considered both the matters together and has come to the conclusion that the charge under section 30234 had not been proved against Baland Singh and Ajit Singh
That is why the said two accused persons have been acquitted whereas the conviction of the appellants Gurcharan Singh and Surjit Singh as well as the sentence of death imposed on them have been confirmed
It is against this order that the two appellants have come to this Court by special leave
The incident which has given rise to the present criminal proceedings against the appellants took place on May 18 1961 and as a result four persons have been murdered they are Arjan Singh Sukhjit Singh
Gurdial Singh and Piara Singh
The prosecution case is that on May 18 1961 at about 630 AM the appellant Gurcharan Singh was pro ceeding to the house of his friend Ajit Singh
GurCharan Singh Surjit Singh and Daljit Singh are the sons of Baland Singh
Whilst Gurcharan Singh was thus proceeding to the house of Ajit Singh he had to pass by the house of Saudagar Singh
Saudagar Singh objected to Gurcharan Singh paying by his house and that led to an altercation
In this altercation Saudagar Singh and his two sow Kulwant Singh and Darshan Singh inflicted some injuries on Gurcharan Singh as well as on Ajit Singh who came on the scene
Gurcharan Singh and Ajit Singh thereupon ran away
This is the first incident which took place on that day
About half an hour after this incident another incident took place
It appears that the five 589 accused persons got together and wanted to avenge the beating given by Saudagar Singh and his sons to Gurcharan Singh and Ajit Singh
Gurcharan Singh and Daljit Singh armed themselves with gandasas Surjit Singh carried a gun for which his Gaj brother Daljit Singh had a licence Ajit Singh carried a dang  while Baland Singh the appellants  father headed the party but was not armed
This partly came across Arjan Singh near the house of Jarnail Singh
It appears that Arjan Singh was afraid of these men and so he used to carry with him a licensed gun
As soon as Arjan Singh was sighted Baland Singh told his sons and Ajit Singh to assault him and the party began to assault Arjan Singh
A gandasa blow was given on his forearm as a result of which Arjan Singh lost his grip on the gun and it fell down
Immediately thereafter Gurcharan Singh picked it up
Arjan Singh then implored his assailants not to beat him and offered to go to the Gurdwara to take an oath that the allegation against him was untrue
It is suggested that Baland Singh was satisfied with this offer and so persuaded his sons and their friend not to harass him any more
This is the second incident which took place as a result of the first incident
It is the epilogue of the second incident which followed soon after that led to the murder of the four victims
It appears in evidence that while Arjan Singh was imploring his assailants not to attack him and soon after the attack stopped Gurdev Singh the son of Arjan Singh happened to come out of the Gurdwara and saw his father facing a dangerous crowd
So he ran to his house and asked his brothers to come and help him to rescue their father
While Arjan Singh was returning to his house on the way he met his sons Gurdev Singh Gurdial Singh and Gurcharan Singh who had armed themselves and were
proceeding towards 590 the spot where he had been encircled by his opponents
At that time Rekha Ram also come on the spot and he was being followed by his brother Piara
Sukhjit Singh and Jagjit Singh also came on the scene
Arjan Singh told them all to go back and assured them that his offer to take the oath in the Gurdwara had pacified his opponents and he was no longer in any difficult situation
As a result of this statement of Arjan Singh the persons who were going to the spot to help him desisted from going any further
At that time all the five accused persons spotted Arjan Singh s sons coming to the spot and that infuriated Baland Singh
He then rene wed his exhortation to his companions and asked them to finish their enemies Soon thereafter Gurcharan Singh fired a shot from the gun which hit Gurdial Singh on his forehead and in consequence he fell down dead on the spot
Surjit Singh fired two shots in quick succession which hit Arjan Singh and killed him
Gurcharan Singh fired another shot which hit Sukhjit Singh who fell down with serious injuries
Surjit Singh again fired another shot which hit Piara and
he fell down dead on the spot
All the five accused persons then indulged in lalkaras and abused their enemies
This occurrence was witnessed by Gurdev Singh PW 2 Sukhdev Singh PW 3 Gurcharan Singh PW 4 Rakha Ram pw5 and Jagjit Singh PW 6
sukhjit Singh who lay seriously injured was taken to the hospital at Ferozepure for medical treatment but not withstanding the treatment he succumbed to his injuries
I at in brief is the prosecution case against the appellants
The prosecution attempted to prove its case by examining the eye witnesses Gurdev Singh Sukhdev Singh Gurcharan Singh and Rekha Ram Jagjit Singh was tendered for cross examination
The defence admitted that Guroharan Singh and Ajit Singh were present on the scene andthat 591 Gurcharan Singh fired twice from a gun but that was in self defence
The remaining three accused persons denied their presence on the scene of the offence and alleged that they had been falsely implicated
It does appear that there was bitter enmity between the two parties for several years past
Criminal proceedings had taken place between them and there is no doubt  about the existence of hostility between them
Sometime before this occurrence Kulwant Singh PW 7 was arrested in an excise case for running a still and in that case the appellant Gurcharan Singh was a prosecution witness
Besides the appellant Gurcharan Singh had opposed Arjan Singh for the office of Sarpaneh but had failed
The defence therefore was that it is out of enmity and hostility that the three accused persons who were not present had been falsely involved in this case and that in respect of Gurcharan Singh and Ajit Singh who were present the truth was that they had been attacked by the persons belonging to the party of Arjan Singh and Gurcharan Singh had fired in exercise of his right of private defeence
The trial Judge examined the evidence adduced before him considered the arguments raised by the defence and came to the conclusion that the charge of murder under section 30234 had been proved against Baland Singh Gurcharan Singh Surjit Singh and Ajit Singh
The High Court in substance
has agreed with the conclusions of the trial Court in respect of the prosecution case against the two appellants Gurcharan Singh and Surjit Singh
It has however held that the evidence about the exhortation alleged to have been given by Baland Singh was not proved by satisfactory evidence and the main charge against Baland Singh and Ajit Singh had not been proved beyond a reasonable doubt
It is on this 592 finding that the said two accused persons were acquitted whereas the appellants  conviction and sentence have been confirmed
Mr Purushotam for the appellants contends that the judgment of the High Court suffers from some serious infirmities and so he argues that in the interest of justice we ought to examine the evidence ourselves
It is therefore necessary to examine the broad arguments on which the judgment under appeal has been attacked by Mr Purushotam
The first point which has been urged before us is that the High court has not properly considered the pies of self defence raised by Gurcharan Singh and it is pointed out that in rejecting the said theory the High Court had relied on a prior statement of Gurcharan Singh which had been excluded from evidence by the trial Judge
It appears that Gurcharan Singh had filed a complaint against the prosecution witnesses and that complaint was admitted at the trial as Exbt
The said document first describes the injuries inflicted on Gurcharan Singh and then proceeds to give a detailed account of the incident which led to the said injuries
This document was proved by Sub Inspector Udham Singh by the defence in cross examination
When this document was tendered the part of the document which referred to the injuries on Gurcharan Singh was marked and admitted in evidence
The remaining portion of the document was excluded
When the High Court considered the theory of self defence urged on behalf of Gurcharan Singh it took the view that the said theory could not be accepted because it was inconsistent with Gurcharan Singh s version about the incident contained in Exbt
Mr Purushotam objects to this part of the judgment and we think rightly
It is unfortunate that the attention of the High Court was not drawn to the fact that the portion of document DE on which it was basing its criticism against the defence theory 593 of self defence had not been admitted in evidence
That no doubt is a serious infirmity in the reasoning and so Mr Purushotam is entitled to say that the conclusion of the High Court on this part of the defence case cannot be accepted without examination of its merits by us
The other contention which Mr Purushotam has raised before us is that in dealing with the case of Self defence the High Court has not referred to the injuries on the person of Gurcharan Singh
The evidence adduced in the case shows that Gurcharan Singh had 13 injuries on his person 12 of which were
contusions and one was a grievous hurt as disclosed by X ray
It was an injury on the foot and it may be that there was a fracture or a crack
Whether these injuries decisively helped the defence version or not is a different matter
The argument is that these injuries should have been considered by the High Court when it was called upon to decide the validity of the defence claim of the exercise of the right of private defence
There is some force even in this contention
Since we are satisfied that these two contentions are well founded we have examined the plea of self defence ourselves and in that connection we have considered the oral evidence adduced by the prosecution
It is true that Gurdev Singh and Gurcharan Singh can be said to be interested witnesses and in that sense their evidence is the evidence of parti san witnesses and has to be carefully examined
On the other band Sukhdev Singh and Rekha Ram are not shown to be hostile to the appellants and their evidence cannot therefore be characterised as partisan
It is true that Rekha Ram s brother Piara has been murdered but Piara has apparently died as a result of reckless shooting and it is not shown that either Piara was the enemy of the appellants or Rekha Ram is hostile to them
The attempt made 594 in the cross examination of Sukhdev Singh to show that he was related to the complainants  party has failed and so Sukhdev Singh must be held to be disinterestedwitness
Purushotam fairly conceded that the account given by all these witnesses about the occurrence is consistent and cogent and the only criticism he had to make against that evidence was that it is partisan evidence
We have consi dered the whole of this evidence and we are satisfied that the courts below were right in substantially accepting it against the appellants
If this evidence is believed then the sequence of events that took place is clearly disclosed and that shows that the plea of selfdefence urged by the appellant Gurcharan Singh cannot be accepted
Injuries on his person are of a minor character and they may have been inflicted while some of the victims may have beaten him with a stick
However that may be having regard to the sequence of events it is impossible to accede to the argument that Gurcharan Singh fired twice from the fire arm in order to save himself
In this connection it is relevant to recall that the party of the appellants was armed with deadly weapons
Gurcharan Singh had picked up the gun which fell down from the hands of Arjan Singh and Surjit Singh had a gun for which his brother Daljit Singh had a licence
The others were armed with gandasas and similar deadly weapons
Therefore when the incident took place the two appellants were armed with fire arms and on the evidence which is believed aggression proceeded from them and not from Arjan Singh or his friends
That also shows that the theory of self defence cannot be accepted
Therefore though the High Court has not considered this point as well as it should have and though a part of the reasoning 595 adopted by the High Court in dealing with this point suffers from the infirmity to which we have referred
in the result its conclusion on this point seems to be right
Incidentally it may be pointed out that this plea of self defence was not seriously pressed before the High Court
That takes us to the next broad criticism made by Mr Purushotam against the judgment of the High Court
It is urged that the High Court did not take into account the fact that Gurcharan Singh who had been charged under section 19 f of the Indian Arms Act has been acquitted by the same learned Sessions Judge who convicted him for the offence of murder under section 302149
It appears that the prosecution case is that Gurcharan Singh produced the fire arm when he surrender and since he had no licence to keep a fire arm and indeed the fire arm in question belonged to Arjan Singh a charge under section 19f had been framed against him
The learned trial Judge believed the evidence of the two witnesses Puran Singh and Sohan Singh as well as the evidence of the Sub Inspector Udham Singh and held that about 630 PM on May 18 1961 Gurcharan Singh produced the fire arm
The evidence shows that Arjan Singh Sarpanch of Valtoha took Gurcharan Singh and Ajit Singh to Udham Singh and the two of them then surrendered
The document containing the memo about this surrender has been duly proved ExtP21
The trial Judge delivered his judgment in the principal case on November 18 1961
It appears that on the same day he delivered his judgment in the companion case in which Gurcharn Singh was charged under section 19f of the Indian Arms Act and held that the said charge had not been proved and so he acquitted him of that charge
It may be conceded that in this judgment the same evidence about the production 596 of the weapon by Gurucharan Singh has been dis believed
On these facts
Mr Purushotam contends that this matter was argued before the High Court and it was urged that the finding of the trial Court in the principal case about the recovery of the weapon from Gurcharan Singh should not be accepted and this argument has not been considered by the High Court
It would be noticed that this argument is based on the decision of
this Court in Pritam Singh vs State of Punjab1
There is no doubt that if the order of acquittal under s19f had been pronounced before the judgment in the principal case was delivered then in the latter case the prosecution will not be entitled to contend that Gurcharan Singh was in illegal possession of the fire arm
This position cannot be and is not disputed
The question however still remains as to whether the judgment in the fire arm case was pronounced first or the judgment in the murder case was pronounced first
Mr Purushotam frankly stated before us that he was not in a position to contend that the judgment on which he reliefs was pronounced in point of fact before the judgment in the murder case
The manner in which this judgment has been produced before this Court is very irregular
The judgment does not appear to have been filed in the High Court as it should have been if it was intended to rely upon it But the petition for special leave states that it was utilised for the purpose of raising the point in appeal before the High Court
This judgment was not filed before this Court along with the petition for special leave
It has been tendered at a later stage when the index of papers was settled for inclusion in the paper book in this Court
In our opinion this 1 AIR 1956 SC 415
597 method of producing this document is irregular
But apart from this unless it is shown that the judgment on which the defence relies was pronounced first no argument can be raised about the invalidity of the conclusion in the murder case that Gurcharan Singh surrendered the gun
Prima facie the judgment in the murder case must have been delivered fir at
It is numbered as 88 and 93 of 1961 whereas the arms case is numbered as 89 and 94 of 1961
Therefore we do not think it is open to the appellants to contend that the acquittal of Gurcharan Singh under a 19f was prior to his conviction under s 302149 and so the finding that he surrendered the weapon should not be accepted
It is to be regretted that the same learned Judge should have rendered two inconsistent findings in two companion cases in judgments pronounced on the same day
This is a matter to which his attention ought to be drawn by the High Court
Though the point sought to be raised on the strength of this judgment cannot technically arise we thought it necessary to examine the evidence about the production of the weapon ourselves
We have accordingly gone through the evidence of Puran Singh Sohan Singh and Udham Singh and we have taken into account the fact that Gurcharan Singh was produced by Arjan Singh who is a Sarpanch of Valtoha
We feel no hesitation in holding that this evidence clearly establishes the fact that Gurcharan Singh produced the weapon as disclosed by the production memo
In this connection we may recall the fact that Gurcharan Singh in fact admitted that he had used a fire arm and had fired twice in self defence
He did not admit that was the gun which was snatched from the hand of Arjan Singh  but that is another matter
Therefore the argument that the acquittal of Gurcharan Singh in arms case affects 598 the finding as to the surrender of the gun by him cannot be sustained
The last argument on which the judgment on the High Court was attacked by Mr Purushotam arises from the fact that a ballistic expert has not been examined in this case
 It is urged that this ground was taken before this High Court and has not been considered by it
Petition for special leave makes a definite averment to that effect
As the argument was presented before us by Mr Purushotam it assumed that a report had been received from the ballistic expert but that report had not been proved because it was apprehended by the prosecution that it would destroy its case
There is no doubt that the two fire arms along with two empty cartridges were sent to the Scientific Laboratory
 Chandigarh Ext P Z on June 28 1961
Of the two guns which were sent for examination one was used by Gurcharan Singh which he picked up as soon as it fell down from the hand of Arjan Singh and the other was used by Surjit Singh which was taken by him from Daljit Singh
It appears that Daljit Singh produced that gun and surrendered it on
May 27 1961 ie nearly a week after the incident took place
Mr Purushotam contended that since these weapons had been sent for examination by a ballistic expert and a report had been received it was the duty of the prosecution to examine the ballistic expert
We were impressed by this argument and so we adjourned the hearing of the case and called upon Mr Bindra to produce that report before us
Accordingly the report has been produced and it shows that according to the expert opinion out of the two fired cartridges sent for expert examination one had been fired from the right barrel of the gun contained in parcel No 1 and the other had been fired from the left barrel of the same gun
in other words this reports shows that two empties found near the scene of the offence had been fired 599 from the same gun
After this report was received and a copy of it was served on Mr Purushotam he fairly conceded that the said report was not inconsistent with the prosecution case though he argued that it did not corroborate it either
This report has not been proved and no ballistic expert has been examined in this case
But having regard to the fact that the report prima facie is not inconsistent with the prosecution case we do not see bow it would be urged that the failure of the prosecution to examine a ballistic expert is due to the fact that it was apprehended that the expert opinion would be against the prosecution case
That is the
only argument which it was alleged had been urged before the High Court but had not been considered by it
We are inclined to think that this argument may not have been pressed before the High Court and in any event now it is conceded that there is no substance in that argument
That is why we do not think any useful purpose would be served by examining the ballistic expert at this stage
Whilst we are on this point we may briefly indicate the nature of the prosecution case so far as the use of the guns is concerned
The appellant Gurcharan Singh has fired two shots one of which killed Sukhjit Singh and the other Gurdial Singh
The appellant Surjit Singh had fired three shots two at Arjan Singh and one at Piara
The evidence seems to show that Surjit Singh loaded the gun once in the presence of the witnesses and whilst so doing he put two cartridges in the gun and the spent cartridges in his pocket
The two empties which had been sent for expert examination were found and picked up on a thoroughfare in front of the house of Jarnail Singh
Apparently the prosecution case is that these two cartridges had been fired by the appellant Gurcharan Singh from Arjan Singh gun picked up by him
In any event the report shows that the two cartridges had been 600 fired from the same gun
That is why the failure to prove the report cannot be said to have prejudiced the appellants  case at all
Mr Purushotam however argued that a ballistic expert should have been examined in order to ascertain whether the gun surrendered by Daljit Singh had been used at all
But this argument is obviously untenable for the simple reason that this gun was surrendered more than a week after the incident and it takes imagination to realise that when Daljit Singh surrendered the gun he must have cleaned it so as to remove any evidence about its user on the date of the incident
It has however been argued that in every case where an accused person is charged with having committed the offence of murder by a lethal weapon it is the duty of the prosecution to prove by expert evidence that it was likely or at least possible for the injuries to have been caused with the weapon with which and in the manner in which they have been alleged to have been caused and in support of this proposition reliance has been placed on the decision of this court in Mohinder Sinqh vs The State 1
In that case this court has held that where the prosecution case was that the accused shot the deceased with a gun but it appeared likely that the injuries on the deceased were inflicted by a rifle and there was no evidence of a duly qualified expert to prove that the injuries were caused by a gun and the nature of the injuries was also such that the photo must have been fired by more than one person and not by one person only and there was no evidence to show that another person also shot and the oral evidence was such which was not disinterested the failure to examine an expert would be a serious infirmity in the prosecution case
It would be noticed that these observation were made in a case where the prosecution 1  601 evidence suffered from serious infirmities and in determining the effect of these observations it would not be fair or reasonable to forget the facts in respect of which they came to be made
These observations do not purport to lay down an inflexible rule that in every case where an accused person is charged with murder caused by a lethal weapon the prosecution case can succeed in proving the charge only if an expert is examind
It is possible to imagine cases where the direct evidence is of such an unimpeachable character and the nature of the injuries disclosed by post mortem notes is so clearly consistent with the direct evidence that the examination of a ballistic expert may not be regarded as essential
Where the direct evidence is not satisfactory or disinterested or where the injuries are alleged to have been caused with a gun and they prima facie appear to have been inflicted by a rifle undoubtedly the apparent inconsistency can be cured or the oral evidence can be corroborated by leading the evidence of a ballistic expert
In what cases the examination of a ballistic expert is essential for the proof of the prosecution case must naturally depend upon the circumstances of each case
Therefore we do not think that Mr Purushotam is right in contending as a general proposition that in every case where a fire arm is alleged to have been used by an accused person in addition to the direct evidence prosecution must lead the evidence of a ballistic expert however good the direct evidence may be and though on the record there may be no reason to doubt the said direct evidence
In the present case no useful purpose could have been served by examining an expert for the purpose of showing that the gun had been used by Surjit Singh because as we have already pointed out Daljit Singh took care to keep the gun with himself for over a week and
then surrendered it
It would be idle in ouch a case to suggest that it was 602 necessary for the prosecution to examine an expert even though it is extremely unlikely that traces of its use had not been removed by Daljit Singh before he surrendered it
Then as to Gurcharan Singh it is admitted that he fired twice and there is nothing on the record to show that the injuries disclosed by the post mortem notes and deposed to by the doctor could not have been caused by a gun which it was alleged belonged to Arjun Singh and which was picked up by Gurcharan Singh after it fell down from his hands
Therefore
 in the circumstances of this case we do not think it would be possible to accept the plea that the failure of the prosecution to examine a ballistic expert has introduced a serious infirmity in the prosecution case
Even so since we were satisfied that the judgment of the High Court suffered from some infirmities and was not as satisfactory as it should have been we have read the evidence with Mr Purushotam and heard his comments on it
Having carefully considered the said evidence we see no reason to differ from the conclusion reached by the Courts below that broadly stated the incident took place as it has been deposed to by the prosecution witnesses and that eliminates the exercise of the right of private defence by the appellants and establishes that they used their fire arms aggressively and thus committed the offence of murder under section 30234
Before we part with this case however we would like to observe that in dealing with confirmation cases the High Court should consider the evidence carefully and record its conclusions clearly after dealing with all the points urged before it by the counsel for the defence
In all criminal appeals the findings recorded by the High Court bind the 603 parties and this Court is generally reluctant to interfere with them
This principle is usually followed even in confirmation cases but it is hardly necessary to emphasise that in dealing with confirmation cases judicial approach both at the trial and in appeal has to be careful and thorough and soit is of utmost importance that no room should be left for any legitimate complaint by the defence that important points were argued before the High Court and were not considered by it
In the present appeal we have come to the conclusion that some of the reasons given by the High Court are erroneous and apparently some of the arguments urged before it have not been duly considered
That is why we had to go through the evidence for ourselves
In the result the appeal fails and the order of confiction and sentences passed against the appellants is confirmed
Appeal dismissed


Summary:
The two appellants G and S together with three others B D and A were tried for the muder of four persons by shooting them with guns
Two spent cartridges were recovered at the spot G produced a gun on the very day of occurrence and D produced a gun one week after the occurrence
The cartridges and guns were sent for examination to the ballistic expert but neither he nor his report was produced before the Sessions judge
The Sessions judge convicted the appellants and B and D but acquitted A
The same judge tried G under s19f Arms Act for being in possession of the unlicensed gun which G had surrendered but acquitted him of the charge
On appeal against the conviction for murder the High Court confirmed the conviction and sentence of death passed against the appellants but acquitted B and D
The appellants contended i that in view of his acquittal in the s19f Arms Act case the allegation of the recovery of the gun from G in the murder case could not be accepted ii that the failure to produce the ballistic expert and his report had introduced a serious infirmity in the prosecution case and iii that the High Court had failed to deal with these and other points raised before it
Held that the conviction of the appellants was not vitiated by any infirmities
The acquittal of G in section 19f Arms Act case did not affect his conviction in the murder case
If the order of acquittal under s19f had been pronounced before the judgment in the murder case then in the latter case the prosecution could not contend that G was in illegal possession of the firearm
Though the two judgment were pronounced on the same day there was nothing to show that the judgment in the s19f Arms Act case was pronounced earlier
On the other hand there were indications that it was pronounced 586 after the judgment in the murder case
The evidence clearly established that G bad produced the gun
Pritam Singh vs State of Punjab AIR 1956 section C 415 referred to
There is no inflexible rule that in every case when a person is charged with murder caused by a firearm the prosecution can succeed only by examining an expert to prove that the in juries could be caused by the weapon alleged to have been used
Where the direct evidence is not satisfactory or disinterested or where the injuries are alleged to have been caused with a gun and they prima facie appear to have been inflicted by a rifle the apparent inconsistency can be cured or the oral evidence can be corroborated by the evidence of a ballistic expert
In the present case there was no necessity to examine an expert
Admittedly G had fired twice and there was nothing to show that the injuries could not have been caused by the pun which was in his hands
D had kept the gun with him for a week before surrendering it and it was unlike that D had not removed tracks of its use
The report of the ballistic examiner which was sent for by the Supreme Court did not help the defence and no inference could be drawn against the prosecution from its failure to produce it at the trial
Mohinder Singh vs The State 1 referred to
In dealing with confirmation cases the High Court should consider the evidence carefully and record its conclusions clearly after dealing with all the points urged before it by the defence
In all criminal appeals before it the Supreme Court is reluctant to interfere with the findings of fact recorded by the High Court
In the present case some of the reasons given by the High Court were erroneous and some of the arguments urged before it were not duly considered and the Supreme Court had therefore to go into the evidence