Criminal Revision No.947 of 1999 1 IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH Criminal Revision No.947 of 1999 Date of decision: February 05, 2008 Raj Pal … Petitioner Versus State of Haryana … Respondent CORAM: HON’BLE MR. JUSTICE KANWALJIT SINGH AHLUWALIA Present: Mr. C.R. Dahiya, Advocate for the petitioner. Mr.Manmohan Sikka, Assistant Advocate General, Haryana for the State. KANWALJIT SINGH AHLUWALIA, J. (Oral) Raj Pal son of Lal Kishan was employed as a driver on Bus No. HRT 5357 by Haryana Roadways. The case of prosecution is that on 7th February, 1992, when complainant Balbir Singh PW-1 went along with his aunt Jamna and other relatives to see off his cousin sisters, a bus driven by petitioner rashly and negligently hit Jamna, which resulted into her death. In order to prove the case, prosecution examined PW-4 Bani Singh as eye witness along with PW-6 Bansi Lal and PW-8 Vijay. Mr.Dahiya appearing for the petitioner has taken me through the testimony of the witnesses. He is unable to point out anything which can lead to the inference that the witnesses are not reliable. Mr.Dahiya has further alleged that in the testimony of PW-3 Dr.R.S. Bishnoi in cross examination, he has stated that the bones of the deceased were fractured, Criminal Revision No.947 of 1999 2 therefore the question asked by the defence counsel that the injuries could not be result of accident, stood demolished. Mr.Dahiya has very fairly stated that he is conscious that the Revisional Court cannot re-appreciate the facts of the case, especially when the two courts below have returned findings of fact. Faced with this, Mr.Dahiya has drawn my attention to the statement of accused recorded at the time of awarding sentence. The statement has been recorded by the Judicial Magistrate (1st Class), Hisar on 17th November, 1998 and in that statement, the petitioner has given his age as 42 years. Mr.Dahiya states that in the present case, occurrence has taken place on 7th February, 1992. A period of more than 15 years has elapsed. He further states that during this period, petitioner has committed no other offence. It is further stated that on 17th July, 1999, petitioner was taken into custody and his sentence was suspended by this Court on 25th August, 1999 and thereafter, he was released on bail and thus, it is contended that petitioner has undergone about one month and 15 days in custody. He was awarded one year sentence. Taking the totality of circumstances, protracted trial of more than 15 years, the fact that petitioner has committed no other offence and within last 16 years he has fastened himself with many liabilities of the family, ends of justice will be met in case sentence of the petitioner is reduced to already undergone. However, sentence of fine is enhanced to Rs.30,000/-. The amount of fine shall be paid to the legal heirs of the deceased. [Kanwaljit Singh Ahluwalia] Judge February 05, 2008. rps