Criminal Appeal No.430-SB of 1998 -1- **** IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH Criminal Appeal No.430-SB of 1998 Date of decision : 18.12.2008 Amarjit Singh ....Appellant Versus State of Punjab ...Respondent CORAM : HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE S. D. ANAND Present: Ms. H.S.Bhullar, Advocate for the appellant. Ms. Manjari Nehru Kaul,Deputy Advocate General, Punjab S. D. ANAND, J. The appellant was convicted by the learned Trial Judge in case FIR No. 73 dated 30.4.1993 under Section 302 IPC registered as Police Station Sadar, Batala on a charge of having murdered his own father Santokh Singh with whom he had uneasy relationship in the matter of payment of certain amount of tax. The ocular presentation consists of PW-3 Amarjit Kaur, who claimed to have entered into a marriage with Santokh Singh who was otherwise already a married man but whose wife predeceased about 13 years ago prior to lodging of the FIR. The medical segment consists of testimony of PW-1 Dr. Harbhajan Singh, who had conducted the post-mortem examination on the dead body of Santokh Singh. PW-2 Satish Chander, Draftsman, had prepared a scaled site plan Ex. PD on the pointing of Amarjit Kaur on 11.8.1992. PW-4 Inspector Pritam Chand is the Investigating Officer of Criminal Appeal No.430-SB of 1998 -2- **** this case. Rajwinder kaur and Dashwinder Singh were given up as having been won over by the appellant while Tarlochan Singh, Tarlok Singh, Satnam Singh and Dalbir Singh were given as unnecessary. The prosecution plea at the trial was as under:- On 30.4.1993, at about 8.30 P.M., first informant Amarjit Kaur was sitting in her office in the company of her grand son. On hearing noise, she came out of the office and found Santokh Singh requiring appellant Amarjit Singh to pay the tax. Her grand daughter was also available at that time. Appellant caught hold of the deceased by latter's hair and dashed his head three times against the wall. The alarm raised by her attracted a number of persons to the spot. Santokh Singh required Amarjit Kaur to inform the police. She went inside the house to lock up the premises. Thereafter, she went over to the house of appellant and found Santokh Singh lying upon the ground. Santokh Singh was dead by that time. The dead body of Santokh Singh was lifted to his own house. The appellant denied the prosecution allegations and pleaded innocence by raising the following plea:- “I am innocent. I was to start my furnace for melting and moulding pig iron for which I had collected the material such as pig iron and fuel near the furnace. I was to burn the furnace on the morning of 1.5.1993. On the proceeding evening, my father came there to know if he could also put his pig iron in the furnace for the said purpose. While we were discussing over it, he slipped over the pig iron pieces and fell down. He was already suffering from heart attack due to which he died. I had no dispute on that day or previously on any account Criminal Appeal No.430-SB of 1998 -3- **** including the house tax. Amarjit Kaur wanted to make a false will after his death when the body was still there, but I resisted her attempt due to which she got me falsely implicated in this case. “ DW-1 Dashinder Singh, son of Jasbir Singh (grand son of deceased Santokh Singh), DW-2 Satnam Singh Sallopuria, Advocate, District Courts, Gurdaspur and DW-3 Gian Singh Man, Notary Public, District Courts, Gurdaspur were examined in defence evidence. DW-1 Dashinder Singh testified that his grand father came over to the house of appellant to find out if the former could melt his iron owe in the Bhatti of the latter. After ten minutes thereof, the appellant raised raula that Santokh Singh had suffered a heart attack. DW-1 Dashinder Singh (who was living in the house adjacent to that of the appellant) rushed to the house of the appellant alongwith his sister Amarjit Kaur. On reaching there, they found that appellant was putting the deceased on a cot. DW-2 Satnam Singh had identified Amarjit Kaur PW-3 on affidavit Ex. DA which had been attested by DW-3 Gian Singh. Learned counsel for the appellant, at the very outset, argues that the prosecution presentation qua the culpability of the appellant, as the perpetrator of the impugned crime, is falsified by the testimony of PW- 1 Dr. Harbhajan Singh, who had categorically opined that cause of death was heart attack. Learned counsel further points out that there was no occasion for Amarjit Kaur PW-3 to have come over to the house of the appellant to witness the impugned occurrence because PW-1 Dr. Harbhajan Singh had equally categorically averred that death was Criminal Appeal No.430-SB of 1998 -4- **** instantaneous. In that very context, it is also argued that Amarjit Kaur is proved on record to have sworn affidavit Ex. DA wherein she averred that her husband Santokh Singh died of heart attack and not on account of any altercation with the appellant. The testimony of Dr. Harbhajan Singh completely falsifies the prosecution presentation. In view of the testimony of PW-1 Dr. Harbhajan Singh that the death of the deceased was instantaneous, It is evident that there was hardly any time with the deceased to tell Amarjit Kaur PW-3 to inform the police. In the light of the testimony of PW-1 Dr. Harbhajan Singh, there was no time during which Amarjit Kaur could over hear any conversation between the appellant and the dedceased. Further, affidavit Ex. DA was put to her in the course of cross- examination. Though, she denied having sworn any such affidavit, she did not require that her specimen signature be got compared with her purported signature on affidavit Ex. DA. As already noticed, she had been identified by DW-2 Satnam Singh Sallopuria, Advocate, who clarified in the course of cross-examination that the deponent thereof had been to him earlier as well when she came over to get affidavit of two other girls attested. He also indicated that the affidavits of those two girls were required for the purpose of being given in the Employment Exchange. There is not even a suggestion that he had any inimical inclination towards Amarjit Kaur or was favourably inclined towards the appellant. Likewise, DW-3 Gian Singn Man categorically testified that deponent put her signature at points A and B in his presence and she was identified by Satnam Singh Sallopuria, Advocate who accompanied her. There is also no indication that he had any reason to hurt the interest of PW-3 Amarjit Criminal Appeal No.430-SB of 1998 -5- **** Kaur In the course of the FIR, Amarjit Kaur had indicated that the occurrence was witnessed by her grand children as well. No grand children were produced by the prosecution. Dashinder Singh, one of the grand children of the deceased, was given up as won over by the appellant. He opted to enter the witness box as DW-1. He testified that Santokh Singh died on account of heart attack. He also denied having witnessed Santokh Singh falling down on the ground. He was categorical that Santokh Singh, had cordial relation with Amarjit Singh, that there was no dispute between them about the payment of tax etc. and that Amarjit Kaur was also with him at the time he reached the office of the appellant and found that deceased was dead by that time. Inspite of the testimony of Amarjit Kaur PW-3 to appear that a large number of people had collected there, not even a single witness from the vicinity entered the witness box to support her testimony. In the light of foregoing discussion, the appeal shall stand allowed. The finding of conviction recorded by the learned Trial court shall stand set aside. The appellant shall stand acquitted of the charge. December 18, 2008 (S.D. ANAND) Pka JUDGE