Criminal Appeal No.472-SB of 1999 -1- IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB & HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH. Nirbhai Singh APPELLANT VERSUS State ofPunjab RESPONDENT CORAM : HON'BLE MR.JUSTICE MEHTAB S.GILL Present:- Shri H.S.Sangha, Advocate for the appellant. Shri S.S.Gill, Additional A.G. Punjab. MEHTAB S.GILL, J. The case of the prosecution in brief is that Nirbhai Singh and Surinder Kaur appellants on 16.8.1995 stopped Gurmit Singh from taking his buffaloes to a pond of water. One of the buffaloes entered the paddy fields of Nirbhai Singh. Both appellants Nirbhai Singh and Surinder Kaur started shouting at Gurmit Singh on which Paramjit Kaur, Gurmit Singh's wife and Jaswinder Singh his brother came to the spot. Surinder Kaur came to her house and took out his .12 bore gun and handed it over to Nirbhai Singh. Nirbhai Singh fired a shot at Gurmit Singh which hit his right thigh. Another shot was fired which again hit him on his right thigh. On the basis of this F.I.R. Ex.PD/2 was registered. The prosecution to prove its case, brought into the witness-box Criminal Appeal No.472-SB of 1999 -2- Dr.Manjit Singh PW-1, Dr.Harinder Singh PW-2, Gurmit Singh PW-3, Jaswinder Singh PW-4, Paramjit Kaur PW-5, ASI Virsa Singh PW-6, ASI Tara Singh PW-7, Raj Kumar Patwari PW-8, Constable Durga Dass PW-9, Dr.Jajbir Singh Sandhu PW-10, HC Harvinder Singh PW-11, Constable Sher Singh PW-12, Constable Harnek Singh PW-13, Dr.Kulbhushan Gupta PW-14, SI Jassa Singh PW-15, Amarjit Singh Licence Clerk PW-16 and Constable Gurnam Singh PW-17. I have heard the learned counsel for the parties and perused the impugned judgment and the relevant record with their assistance. The injury attributed to Gurmit Singh is as under :- “7 cm x 5 cm lacerated wound on right thigh on anterior side 31 cm distal to right anterior superior iliac spine. Margins of the wound were inverted. Underlying visible muscles were lacerated. Fresh bleeding was present from the wound. Angular deformity of the limb was present at the site of the wound. Abnormal mobility and crepitus of underlying bone was felt. Depth of the wound was not probed. The wound was kept for X-ray examination.” Nirbhai Singh appellant has taken a specific stand in his statement under Section 313 Cr.P.C. which is as under :- “On 16.8.1995 in the early hours of the morning Gurmit Singh untied a buffalo belonging to me from my cattle shed and committed theft thereof and was taking that buffalo with him from my farm house. I raised noise “Chor-Chor” or that people from the vicinity collected and came out from their houses. Gurmit Singh did not leave that buffalo and someone from the mob fired in darkness in order to scare Gurmit Singh and get the buffalo freed from him and he received injuries in that process. Ajaib Singh, my brother informed the police and got Gurmit Singh admitted in Rajindra Hospital, Patiala. Jaswinder Singh and wife of Gurmit Singh were not present and have been falsely introduced as witnesses in the case. Gurmit Singh put pressure on the police through his brother Jaspal Singh who is working in the legal Criminal Appeal No.472-SB of 1999 -3- profession and got me and my wife involved in this false case. The police in connivance with the complainant party prepared the statement of Jaswinder Singh in the morning on 19.8.1995. The police took my gun and some live cartridges from my house on 16.8.1995. I and my wife were joined in the investigation on 16.8.1995 and our arrest was shown later on according to the suitability of the prosecution. I and my wife are innocent and have been falsely involved in the case. Jaswinder Singh is the brother of Gurmit Singh and Paramjit Kaur is his wife and on that account, they have been falsely introduced as witnesses in the case.” This is an eye-witness account of Paramjit Kaur PW-5 wife of Gurmit Singh and by his brother Jaswinder Singh PW-4. The occurrence had taken place near the house of the complainant party. The medical evidence corroborates the ocular account. The statements of the eye-witnesses corroborate the statement of Gurmit Singh. Gurmit Singh was fit to make a statement at 6.30 p.m. on 16.8.1995 which was recorded by the Investigating Officer. It comes out that the dispute was of a trivial nature. The parties do not have previous enmity and everything happened at the spur of the moment. I do not find any infirmity in the judgment of the learned trial Court. The learned trial Court has rightly held the appellants guilty under Section 338 I.P.C. and Section 27 of the Arms Act. They have rightly been acquitted of the charge under Section 307 I.P.C. In the interest of justice, sentence of the appellants is modified to the extent already undergone by them. Appeal is dismissed. (MEHTAB S.GILL) January 22, 2010 JUDGE GD WHETHER TO BE REFERRED TO REPORTER? YES/NO Criminal Appeal No.472-SB of 1999 -4-