Case: Sadhu Singh Harnam Singh Vs. State of Punjab

2. The facts are, that onHarbachan Singh, deceased, went to village Bihla because he intended to borrow a camel from Nand Singh, P. W.4. P. Ws. Chand Singh and Amar Singh accompanied him to Bihla and the party reached there between 7 and 8 P.M. On arrival at Nand Singhs house it was found that he had gone to the house of Sadhu Singh. Nand Singhs son was asked to go to Sadhu Singhs house and call Nand Singh from there. Nand Singhs son returned with a message from his father inviting the party to Sadhu Singhs house. Accordingly they all went there and found Nand Singh in the midst of a liquor party. The appellants father Harnam Singh was also there. It is said that on the arrival of Harbachan Singh who was a Mahant, Sadhu Singh got up and received him respectfully and felt honoured by his visit to his house. The Mahant and his two companions, Chand Singh and Amar Singh were offered drinks. The deceased Mahant accepted the drink but the others did not.Later on, the deceased Mahant who was addicted to taking opium gave one rupee to a young boy who was there and asked him to get him opium worth that amount. Sadhu Singh at this remarked, that it was not proper that the Mahant should send someone else to bring opium while he was a guest in his house. He therefore asked his father to give opium to the Mahant. This was done. When, however, the deceased took some opium from the small tin given to him by Harnam Singh and returned it to him, the latter thought that very little opium was left in the tin for his own use and this annoyed him and he made some remarks showing his resentment at this. The deceased Mahant did not like this and returned the opium that he had taken and got ready to leave the place along with his companions. As soon as he came out of the room he was hit by gunshot in the chest. He was mortally wounded and fell down.Chand Singh and Amar Singh went to the police station and lodged the first information report atA.M. on the 30th. On the basis of this report a case was registered against the accused under Section 338, I. P. C. It was then thought by the police that the accused was guilty of a rash and negligent act endangering human life and personal safety. During the pendency of this case, Harbachan Singh died as a result of the injuries caused by the accused and the charge against him was then changed into one under Section 304A, I. P. C. Later on, it appears that some further change was made in the chalan and the offence was changed into one under Section 302, I. P. C. The Additional District Magistrate who heard the case, reached the conclusion that there was a prima facie case against the accused under Section 304A, I. P. C. He accordingly framed a charge against him under that section. He also held that there was no prima facie case against the accused under Section 302 and in these circumstances there was no sufficient ground for committing him to the court of session. In the result, the accused was convicted under Section 304A, I. P. C. and as he had already suffered as an undertrial prisoner he was directed to be released on his executing a personal bond for the amount of Rs. 5,000 and on furnishing a surety for a like amount with the undertaking that he will keep the peace and be of good behavior for a period of one year from the date of order.3. Against this order an application in revision was made to the Sessions Judge, Barnala, by the Public Prosecutor and another similar application was made by the heirs of Harbachan Singh. The learned Sessions Judge was not prepared to allow these applications and rejected them. Then two applications for revision were made to the High Court against both the orders of the Additional District Magistrate, viz., the order discharging Sadhu Singh of the offence of murder and also the order convicting him under Section 304A, I. P. C. The High Court in revision set aside both the orders of the Additional District Magistrate and remanded the case to him with a direction that he should frame a proper charge and commit the accused to the Sessions for trial. In accordance with this direction the Magistrate committed the accused to the Court of Session.4. The learned Sessions Judge accepted the evidence of the threeP. Ws. 3, 4 and 9, and held that Sadhu Singh, the accused, fired his gun at the deceased with the intention of causing death or such bodily injury as would suffice in the ordinary course of nature to cause death and that he was guilty of the offence under Section 302, I. P. C. He, however, held that the accuseds mind was affected by drink and he more readily gave way to violent passion and that the ends of justice would be sufficiently met if he was given transportation for life. A recommendation was made to the local Government to commute the sentence into a shorter term of imprisonment. On appeal, the conviction of the appellant as well as the sentence were maintained.

Reasoning: It is apparent that from the stage of the first information report to the final stage of the trial the witness has been giving different accounts of the actual happening. At the earlier stage it was not said that Sadhu Singh was present at the talk between his father and the Mahant which created some resentment between them, or that Sadhu Singh aimed the gun at the Mahant after loading it in the presence of the witness, or that he told him that he would not let him go as in the past he had not allowed anybody to leave his house in this fashion. There is a clear attempt on the part of the witness to make it appear that the firing which was either accidental or an act of bravado on the part of the accused in order to stop the Mahant from leaving his house, was an act of intentional killing.On a careful reading of the evidence of theand the different statements that have been made by them it is quite clear that the incident happened in a very short time and suddenly. There was no previous enmity between the deceased and the accused. On the other hand, the accused was very respectful to the Mahant and wasto show all hospitality to him. It seems that he was anxious that the Mahant should not go away from his house without taking meals and spending the night with him, and seeing that the Mahant was going away, in all probability he let go his gun without aiming it at the Mahant in order to prevent him from leaving his place by terrifying him to some extent. It is not possible to believe the embellished version of the witnesses that Sadhu Singh was present at the altercation between his father and the Mahant or that he loaded the gun after he himself had intervened in the altercation, or that there was the conversation alleged by the witness between him and the Mahant. It also appears that the story that the accused took aim before firing at the Mahant or that he said that he had never allowed in the past anybody to go like that from his house is a subsequent introduction in the case to add gravity to the offence committed by the accused.11. InPritam Singh v. The State, , this Court held that it will not grant special leave to appeal under Article 136(1) of the Constitution unless it is shown that exceptional and special circumstances exist, that substantial and grave injustice has been done and the case in question presents features of sufficient gravity to warrant a review of the decision appealed against and that only those points can be urged at the final hearing of the appeal which are fit to be urged at the preliminary stage when leave is asked for. It is well established that this court does not by special leave convert itself into a court to review evidence for a third time. Where, however, the court below fails in apprehending the true effect of a material change in the versions given by the witnesses immediately after the occurrence and the narrative at the trial with respect to the nature and character of the offence, it seems to us that in such a situation it would not be right for this court to affirm such a decision when it occasions a failure of justice.It seems to us that the High Court was in error in thinking that there was not a single difference between the statements made by the witnesses in the first information report and the statements made at the trial, which went to the root of the case. As above pointed out, the whole version as to the nature and character of the act of the accused had been completely changed. An act which on the facts stated in the first information report and on the statements made to the police may well be regarded either accidental or rash and negligent, has been deliberately made to look like an act of deliberate murder. If such a difference does not go to the root of the case it is difficult to conceive what else can fall within that class of cases. We are therefore of the opinion that the High Court was clearly in error in holding that the accused was guilty of the offence of murder under Section 302, I. P. C. On the materials placed on the record it could not be held proved that he had any intention of firing at the Mahant. He seems to have pulled the trigger without aiming at the Mahant in a state of intoxication in order to see that by the gun fire the Mahant was prevented from leaving his place. It was a wholly rash and negligent act on his part or at the worst was an act which would amount to manslaughter. It could not be held to constitute an offence of murder. No intention of causing death or an intention of causing such bodily injury as being sufficient in the ordinary course of nature to cause death could be ascribed to the accused or readily inferred in the circumstances of this case.