Sukhvinder Singh vs State Of Punjab

2. The appellant is original accused no. 4. He was tried along with Gurdev Singh, Surjit Kaur and Jaswinder Singh, original accused nos. 1, 2 and 3 respectively, by the Additional Sessions Judge, Ludhiana in Sessions Trial No. 16 of 1994 for offence punishable under Section 304B of the IPC. Learned Sessions Judge by judgment dated 31/08/1995 acquitted all the accused. The State of Punjab carried an appeal from the said order to the High Court of Punjab and Haryana. By the impugned judgment and order dated 16/17-05-2007 the High Court set aside the order of acquittal so far as the appellant is concerned. He was convicted under Section 304B of the IPC and sentenced to undergo RI for seven years. He was directed to pay compensation of Rs.20,000/- to the father of the deceased. In default he was directed to suffer RI for one year. The High Court noted that accused no. 1 Gurdev Singh was dead. So far as accused no. 2 Surjit Kaur and accused no. 3 Jaswinder Singh are concerned, the High Court gave them benefit of doubt and confirmed their acquittal. Being aggrieved by his conviction and sentence the appellant has approached this Court.

3. The appellant was married to deceased Karnail Kaur (“the deceased” or “Karnail Kaur”) in May, 1989. Accused no. 1 Gurdev Singh was his father. Accused no. 2 Surjit Kaur is his mother and accused no. 3 Jaswinder Singh is his brother. The prosecution story is unfolded by PW-2 Labh Singh, father of the deceased. He stated that on 25/06/1991 he went to meet the deceased to the house of the appellant along with PW-3 Surjit Singh. The appellant who was employed in the Army had come home on leave. The deceased was in tears. She told PW-2 Labh Singh that the appellant and the other accused were demanding a scooter and a refrigerator and that her life was in danger. PW-2 Labh Singh told her that he would meet the demand after the Sauni Crop. On 01/07/1991 he was told by Pritam Singh, a resident of Dehlon, that Karnail Kaur had died on 30/06/1991. On 01/07/1991 when he was proceeding to the police station to lodge FIR, he met PW-4 ASI Mohinder Singh, who recorded his statement. PW-4 ASI Mohinder Singh forwarded it to the police station and a formal FIR was registered at P.S. Samrala under Section 304B of the IPC against the accused. The accused were arrested. After completion of investigation they were sent up for trial.

4. The prosecution examined PW-1 Dr. Gurmit Singh, who had conducted the post-mortem, PW-2 Labh Singh, PW-3 Surjit Singh and police witnesses PW-4 ASI Mohinder Singh, PW-5 HC Kalmit Singh, PW-6 SI Manminder Singh and PW-7 Constable Angrej Singh. The appellant and the other accused denied the prosecution case.

12. We also do not find that time taken to send special report to the Magistrate has any adverse impact on the prosecution case. The FIR was lodged promptly on 01/07/1991 at 2.10 p.m. after PW-2 Labh Singh got to know about his daughter’s death. It reached the Magistrate at 7.00 p.m. on 02/07/1991. We do not think that in the facts of this case this time lag could be termed as delay. In any case, requirement of sending special report to the Magistrate is an external check on the working of police agency but not in all cases that delay will make the prosecution case doubtful. We do not find any indication in this case from any evidence on record that the prosecution case is untrue or fabricated. We reject this submission.

13. The mother and brother of the appellant have been acquitted by giving them benefit of doubt. So far as the appellant is concerned, the prosecution has established it’s case beyond reasonable doubt. The trial court fell into a grave error in acquitting him. The trial court’s order is indeed perverse. The High Court rightly interfered with it. The view taken by the High Court, which is confirmed by us, is the only possible and correct view in the facts of this case. The appeal is, therefore, dismissed. The appellant is on bail. His bail bonds stand cancelled. He shall surrender before the concerned court.

November 12, 2013.