Balwan & Ors vs State Of Haryana

3. The appellants herein are six in numbers and were tried along with others for the charges under Sections 148, 149, 302, 307, 449, 323 and 216 of Indian Penal Code and in addition under Section 25 of the Arms Act, 1959 against appellant Naresh and the Trial Court found them guilty of the offence under Section 302 read with Section 149 IPC and sentenced them each to undergo imprisonment for life and to pay fine of Rs.10,000/- each with default sentence; further found them guilty for the offence under Section 307 read with Section 149 IPC and sentenced them each to undergo rigorous imprisonment for 8 years and to pay fine of Rs.5000/- each with default sentence; further found them guilty for the offence under Section 449 read with Section 149 IPC and sentenced them each to undergo rigorous imprisonment for 5 years and to pay fine of Rs.3000/- each with default sentence; further found them guilty for the offence under Section 148 IPC and sentenced them each to undergo rigorous imprisonment for 2 years each and found them guilty for the offence under Section 323 read with Section 149 IPC and sentenced them each to undergo rigorous imprisonment for 9 months. In addition appellant Naresh was found guilty for the offence under Section 25 of the Arms Act and was sentenced to undergo rigorous imprisonment for 2 years and to pay fine of Rs.2000/- with default sentence. The Trial Court directed the substantive sentences to run concurrently. Challenging the conviction and sentence the accused preferred appeals in Criminal Appeal no.486-DB of 2004 and Criminal Appeal no.547-DB of 2004 and the High Court allowed the appeal preferred by accused Subhash and acquitted him of the charges. The appeals preferred by the other accused were dismissed. Aggrieved by the confirmation of their conviction and sentence six accused have preferred the present appeals.

4. The prosecution case in brief is stated thus : PW4 Smt. Rekha is the daughter-in-law of deceased Bani Singh. PW5 Smt. Sudha is the married daughter of the deceased. Accused Naresh and Naseeb are sons of accused Dharambir. Accused Satish @ Shakti and accused Satbir are real brothers. On 26.5.2001 at about 1.30 a.m. PW4 Smt. Rekha and her husband Rishikesh were sleeping in the upstairs room of their house. Her father-in-law Bani Singh, her mother-in-law Smt. Phulla and her sister-in-law PW5 Smt. Sudha were sleeping in the ground floor of the house. At that time accused persons Dharambir carrying gandasa, Naresh armed with country made pistol, Satbir, Satish @ Shakti and Dhillu all armed with gandasa, Balwan carrying jelly, Ram Mehar armed with gandasa and Dhaula armed with darant, all entered their house after scaling the boundary wall. The appellants/accused went upstairs and brought PW4 Smt. Rekha and her husband Rishikesh to the ground floor and exhorted that they should be killed to take revenge for the murder of Yudhvir. Thereafter, Satish @ Shakti inflicted a gandasa blow on the neck of Bani Singh, Satbir caused gandasa blow at the very same place on the neck of Bani Singh, as a result of which, Bani Singh fell down and Dharambir inflicted gandasa blow on his right wrist and Dhillu gave gandasa blow which hit him in between his little and ring finger of the right hand. Dhaula inflicted a darant blow on the right leg of Rishikesh. Ram Mehar gave two gandasa blows on the left side of PW4 Smt. Rekha’s back and one gandasa blow on the head of PW5 Smt. Sudha. Naresh fired shots from the pistol which he was carrying. Balwan gave a jelly blow causing an injury on the right hand of Smt. Phulla. Hearing the cries raised by the injured persons, Umed Singh and Ram Kumar rushed to the spot and the appellants/accused ran away with their weapons. Bani Singh succumbed to the injuries on the spot. The injured Rishikesh and PW5 Smt. Sudha were taken to the General Hospital, Bhiwani for treatment.

2. A lacerated wound present at upper back on the left lateral side measuring 6 cm x .5 cm x .5 cm and another just above it measuring 3 cm x .5 cm x .5 cm. Advised x-ray thorasic AP and lateral and opined for surgeon opinion.

12. During the trial the prosecution examined PWs 1 to 27 and marked documents. The accused persons were examined under Section 313 Cr.P.C. and their statements were recorded. Thereafter, two witnesses were examined in defence. The Trial Court acquitted accused Balbir Singh and found the remaining nine accused guilty. Out of them accused Naseeb was released on probation since he was found to be a juvenile. The remaining eight accused were convicted and sentenced as stated earlier.

13. On appeal to the High Court the appeal preferred by accused Subhash was allowed and he was acquitted of the charges and at the same time, the appeals preferred by the other appellants/accused were dismissed. Challenging their conviction and sentence six accused have preferred the present appeals.

examination of Nankoo, to which the accused raised the objection, would not materially affect the case of the prosecution. Normally, an injured witness would enjoy greater credibility because he is the sufferer himself and thus, there will be no occasion for such a person to state an incorrect version of the occurrence, or to involve anybody falsely and in the bargain protect the real culprit.”……………….

It is trite law that the evidence of injured witness, being a stamped witness, is accorded a special status in law. This is as a consequence of the fact that injury to the witness is an inbuilt guarantee of his presence at the scene of the crime and because the witness would not want to let actual assailant go unpunished.

21. In the result the appeal preferred by the appellant Satbir Singh in Special Leave Petition (Criminal) no.6674 of 2012 is allowed and the conviction and sentences imposed on him is set aside and he is acquitted of the charges. The other two appeals in Special Leave Petition (Criminal) no.6673 of 2012 and Special Leave Petition (Criminal) no.6384 of 2012, are dismissed.

August 26, 2014.