Criminal Appeal No.549-DB of 1998 -1- IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB & HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH. Krishan and others APPELLANTS VERSUS The State of Haryana RESPONDENT CORAM : HON'BLE MR.JUSTICE MEHTAB S.GILL HON'BLE MR.JUSTICE RAM CHAND GUPTA Present:- Shri S.K.Vohra, Advocate for the appellants. Shri S.S.Randhawa, Additional A.G. Haryana. MEHTAB S.GILL, J. This is an appeal against the judgment/order 7.11.1998/11.11.1998 whereby he convicted Krishan son of Laxman Singh under Section 302 I.P.C. and sentenced him to undergo imprisonment for life and to pay a fine of Rs.5000/-, in default, to further undergo RI for 2 years. Rajesh son of Teka Ram, Teka Ram son of Laxman Singh and Kamla wife of Teka Ram were convicted under Section 323 I.P.C. and were sentenced to undergo RI for six months and to pay a fine of Rs.1000/- each, in default, to further undergo RI for 15 days. The case of the prosecution is unfolded by the statement Ex.PC of Criminal Appeal No.549-DB of 1998 -2- Kartar Singh. Kartar Singh stated that he has five brothers. Rajinder Singh is the eldest. Kartar Singh is younger to him. Younger to Kartar Singh is Dharam Pal, then Ram Niwas and then Narinder and Vajinder. Their house is near the gate of Kaman locality. The house of Teka and Krishan sons of Laxman is near their house. Shamlat land of the village is lying vacant in front of their house. In the Shamlat land, residents of the locality park their buggies (carts and trolleys etc.). The family of Teka appellant used to come and throw dirty water in front of the house of complainant Kartar Singh where he used to park his cart. The mud there used to become slushy and dirty. Kartar Singh and his brothers tried to restrain them several times. On 15.12.1995 at 3 p.m. Kartar Singh along with his brother Rajinder returned from the fields and went inside their house to take tea after parking their Buggi (cart). In the meantime, Kartar Singh's father Jawala Ram, Bhikhu son of Bhala Ram and Jhangi Ram son of Ram Sarup also came to their house and started taking tea. Kartar Singh and his brother Rajinder came out of their house. On coming out of their house, Krishan son of Laxman and Rajesh son of Teka were seen throwing water, Kartar Singh tried to stop them, but they started abusing Kartar Singh and his family members. Teka then armed with a Lathi and his wife Kamla armed with a brick, came out of their house. Kartar Singh's father Jawala, mother Giano, Bhikhu and Jhangi Ram also came to the spot. Kamla threw a brick which hit Giano on the lower portion of her left knee and because of this, the fight got intensified. In the meantime, Krishan son of Laxman and Rajesh son of Teka rushed to their house and came back armed with a pestle and a Lathi respectively. Krishan gave a Mussal blow on the head of Rajinder Singh. Rajinder Singh fell down. Teka gave a Lathi blow on the right hand finger of Giano. Rajesh gave a Lathi blow on the head of Giano. As a result, Giano fell down. A large number of Criminal Appeal No.549-DB of 1998 -3- people gathered there. Thereafter Teka, Krishan, Rajesh and Kamla ran away. Rajinder succumbed to his injuries. Giano was admitted in the Primary Health Centre Hospital at Village Puthi. On the basis of this statement F.I.R. Ex.PC/1 was registered on 16.12.1995 at 1.15 a.m. and the special report reached S.D.J.M., Hansi at 5.20 a.m. on the same day. The prosecution to prove its case, brought into the witness-box Dr.Pawan Jain PW-1, Shamsher Singh PW-2, ASI Roshan Lal PW-3, Constable Balbir Singh PW-4, Constable Kaptain Singh PW-5, HC Satbir Singh PW-6, Dr.Satvir Singh PW—7, Dr.O.P.Charya PW-8, Dr.Vinod Kumar Boora PW-9, Kartar Singh PW-10, Giano Devi PW-11, ASI Madan Lal PW-12 and SI Nihal Singh PW-13. Learned counsel for the appellants has argued, that appellant Teka Ram according to the M.L.R. Ex.PG, received two injuries, one on the head and the other on his shoulder. These injuries were inflicted to him by the complainant party. The place of occurrence was the water tap. The Investigating Officer SI Nihal Singh PW-13, was not fair in his investigation as he did not investigate the injuries on the person of Teka Ram appellant/accused. He did not collect the bed-head ticket, nor did he record his statement, though Teka was also admitted in the same Hospital i.e. Primary Health Centre, Puthi where Giano Devi PW-11 had been admitted. The version put forward by the appellants was not taken into consideration by the Investigating Officer. In fact, the fight did take place between both the parties near the water tap. Teka Ram in self defence snatched the Lathi from Rajinder deceased and hit Rajinder on the head. Dr.Satvir Singh PW-7 who prepared the medico- legal report of appellant Teka Ram, has stated that injuries on the person of Teka Criminal Appeal No.549-DB of 1998 -4- Ram could not be self suffered. Learned counsel has further argued that there was no previous enmity between the parties it was a sudden fight on a trivial matter and at the most, the case falls under Section 304 Part-I I.P.C., as the fight was a sudden fight over a trivial matter of throwing of water. The prosecution has not explained the injuries on the person of Teka Ram. Learned counsel for the State has argued that there is no delay in lodging of the F.I.R. Occurrence had taken place at 4.15 p.m. On 15.12.1995 and the F.I.R. Ex.PC/1 came into existence on 16.12.1995 at 1.15 a.m. at Police Station Narnaul which is at a distance of not less than 20 kms. from the place of occurrence. Special report reached the S.D.J.M., Hansi on the same day at 5.20 a.m. Both Kartar Singh complainant PW-10 and Giano Devi PW-11 received injuries as per the medico-legal report prepared by Dr.Vinod Kumar Boora PW-9. Giano Devi PW-9 could not give her statement at night time, as she was declared unfit vide opinion Ex.PQ/1 given by Dr.Vinod Kumar Boora PW-9. The medical evidence corroborates the ocular account. We have heard the learned counsel for the parties and perused the record with their assistance. Injuries suffered by Krishan on his head and shoulder have not been explained by the prosecution. The place of occurrence is admitted by both the parties as being in front of the houses of both the appellant and complainant party where they used to stop their carts. On the fateful day i.e. 15.12.1995, the complainant party had brought their cart and stopped it in the Shamlat land in front of their house near the water tap. Appellant Rajesh and Krishan emptied their bucket of water near the cart parked by the complainant party. Kartar Singh PW-10 along with Jawala his Criminal Appeal No.549-DB of 1998 -5- father, younger brother Jhangi Ram and Bhikhu asked them not to do so. Appellants started abusing them in the name of their sisters and mother. Appellants Kamla and Teka Ram stated, that they will not allow the cart to be parked there. Thereafter appellant Teka Ram armed with a Lathi, Kamla carrying a brick bat, Jawala, Giano Devi, Bhikhu and Jhangi Ram were also came there. Appellant Rajesh and Krishan went inside their own house and came back armed with a Lathi and Mussal (pestle). Thereafter injuries were inflicted on the deceased by appellant Krishan, Rajesh, Teka Ram and Kamla. Injuries inflicted by appellant Krishan on the person of Rajinder deceased proved fatal. In his statement under Section 313 Cr.P.C., Krishan has stated as under :- “I am innocent. Kartar Singh was not present at the spot. My brother Teka and his wife Kamla were bathing their buffalos on a hand pump present in the open place outside our houses. Rajinder deceased and Bijender came there armed with Kassi and Lathi and picked up a quarrel with Teka and Kamla over the discharge of water. Rajinder gave Kassi blow on the head of Teka and Bijender gave a Lathi blow on his back. Teka snatched the Lathi of Bijender and in his self defence to avoid the blow aimed at his head gave a lathi blow on the head of Rajinder. Giano grappled with Kamla and fell down on the head of bricks. I and Rajesh took Teka and Kamla to Hansi and got Teka admitted there. I and Rajesh did not participate in occurrence. Kartar Singh and others colluded with the police and made out a false case against us.” Krishan stated that after deceased Rajinder inflicted injuries on him, he snatched the Lathi from him and then gave blows to Rajinder which proved fatal. Criminal Appeal No.549-DB of 1998 -6- The Investigating Officer SI Nihal Singh PW-13 has stated in his statement that he did not record the statement of the appellants. He did not collect the bed-head ticket of appellant Teka Ram. It is clear that the Investigating Officer did not go into appellants side of the story, though he was duty bound to investigate the version put forward before him by the accused party and especially he should have gone into the injuries as to how appellant Teka Ram received the injuries. The place of occurrence has been admitted by both the parties. We are in consonance with the learned counsel for the appellant that it was a sudden fight. There was no previous enmity apart from parking of cart in the Shamlat land. No physical fight had taken place between the parties earlier. It was a petty issue which erupted to a fight which led to the death of Rajinder. The injuries on the person of Teka Ram appellant have not been explained by the prosecution. There could be a possibility that appellant Krishan snatched the Lathi from Rajinder and in order to save himself, inflicted a fatal blow on the head of the deceased apart from the other injuries. The case of appellant Krishan falls within the ambit of Section 304 Part-II I.P.C. Conviction of appellant Krishan son of Laxman is modified from Suction 302 I.P.C. to Section 304 Part-II I.P.C. He is sentenced to undergo RI for 10 years. Fine shall remain intact. We do not find it a fit case to intervene in the conviction and sentence of appellants Rajesh son of Teka Ram, Teka Ram son of Laxman Singh and Kamla wife of Teka Ram as the State has not filed an appeal for the enhancement of their conviction from Section 323 I.P.C. All the three i.e. Rajesh son of Teka Ram, Teka Ram son of Laxman Singh and Kamla wife of Teka Ram who were convicted under Section 323 I.P.C., their sentence is modified from 6 months RI to 3 months RI. Criminal Appeal No.549-DB of 1998 -7- With the above modification in conviction and sentence, appeal is dismissed. ( MEHTAB S.GILL ) JUDGE (RAM CHAND GUPTA) October 26, 2009 JUDGE WHETHER TO BE REFERRED TO REPORTER? YES/NO