Ujjagar Singh vs State Of Punjab

2. At about 2.00 p.m. on 10th November 2002 a boy whose identity is not forthcoming, informed Satnam Singh PW2 that an incident of firing had taken place in the house of Ujjagar Singh situated in the fields on the outskirts of the village. Satnam Singh conveyed this information to Sarpanch Jora Singh PW1 who was attending a marriage at that time. Jora Singh accompanied by Gurdeep Singh PW3 thereupon rushed to Ujjagar Singhs house and found Mukhtiar Kaur lying dead with a gun shot injury and the appellant also with a gun shot injury lying unconscious on the ground in the adjoining room. Jora Singh and Gurdeep Singh immediately removed Ujjagar Singh to the Civil Hospital, Dhuri in the jeep belonging to Kulwant Singh PW4. Jora Singh also met Inspector Harjinder Pal Singh PW14 at 4.40 p.m. near the hospital, who recorded his statement at that place and with his endorsement Ex.P.A. sent it to Police Station, Dhuri where the formal FIR was registered at about 4.45 p.m. with the special report being delivered to the Illaka Magistrate at Dhuri itself at 6.20 p.m. the same evening. The facts as narrated were that Arjan Singh of village Bangawali had three sons Puran Singh, Ujjagar Singh (appellant) and Ajmer Singh. Puran Singh had died about 20 years earlier leaving behind his wife, two sons and a daughter Mukhtiar Kaur. The two sons and the wife also died long before the incident and Mukhtiar Kaur the sole surviving member of this branch of the family had been married to Balwinder Singh PW9 about 9 or 10 years earlier. Puran Singh had however transferred 30 or 35 bighas of agricultural land falling to his share after the death of his father in the name of the appellants sons by a collusive decree in the year 1994 and the suggestion was that this transaction had been objected to by Mukhtiar Kaur who was demanding that the land be returned to her. It appears that Mukhtiar Kaurs relations with her in-laws had got strained and she had left her matrimonial home and come to live with Ujjagar Singh, her uncle, 7 or 8 months earlier and the suggestion was that Mukhtiar Kaur had been killed by the appellant with his licensed gun and he had thereafter attempted to commit suicide.

3. Having recorded the aforesaid facts in the FIR, PW14 Inspector Harjinder Pal Singh reached the place of incident and lifted one spent 12 bore cartridge case (Shaktiman make) from near Mukhtiar Kaurs dead body and one DBBL gun from the place where Ujjagar Singh appeared to have been shot and another spent cartridge case was recovered from the right barrel of the gun. After completion of the investigation at the spot, Mukhtiar Kaurs dead body was sent for its post-mortem examination. The post-mortem examination was also conducted by PW5 Dr. Ishwar Singh, Medical Officer, Civil Hospital along with Dr. Harwinder Kaur PW17 and it was found that Mukhtiar Kaur had two gunshot injuries on her dead body, a wound of entry on the back of right side of chest 2 cm x 1 cm with margining (sic) and blackening and a corresponding exit wound of 5 cm x 3.5 cm to the front of the right side of the chest. Dr. Harwinder Kaur aforesaid also took swabs from the vagina of the deceased and as per the chemical examiners report dated 2.1.2003 semen was found on the swab taken from the vagina and from the underwear that Mukhtiar Kaur had been wearing at the time of her death. The weapon and the recovered cartridge cases had also been sent to the Forensic Science Laboratory which in its report dated 4.8.2004 opined that the crime cartridge case CI could have been fired by the right barrel of the weapon whereas the crime cartridge case C2 had been fired from the right barrel.

4. On the completion of the investigation, a charge-sheet under sections 302, 376 and 309 of the IPC was filed against the accused and as he pleaded not guilty he was brought to trial. During the trial Jora Singh PW1, Satnam Singh PW2, Gurdeep Singh PW3 and Kulwant Singh PW4 resiled from their statements given to the police and were declared hostile. Balwinder Singh PW9, however, supported the prosecution case deposing that the land had in fact been got transferred from Gurmail Kaur, mother of Mukhtiar Kaur to Ujjagar Singh by fraud and Mukhtiar Kaur was therefore entitled to its return. He also deposed that Mukhtiar Kaur had told him some time earlier that the accused had been beating her and had also committed sexual intercourse with her and that at about 11 p.m. on 10.11.2002 Karam Singh PW10 had informed him as to what had transpired on which he along with his father Hamir Singh PW12 and several others had rushed to Bangawali. PW10 Karam Singh aforesaid confirmed the story given by Balwinder Singh. The prosecution also relied on the statements of Dr. Vijay Kumar PW6 of the Civil Hospial, Dhuri who testified that the appellant had been brought to the hospital at about 2.45 p.m. on 10.11.2002 with a serious gun shot injury, Dr. Ripan Miglani PW15 of the Dayanand Medical College & Hospital, Ludhiana who deposed that he had been admitted to the department of Neuro surgery with a serious gun shot injury and Dr. Sanjay Uppal PW16, a plastic surgeon who disclosed that the appellant had been under his treatment for almost 5 weeks and the burnt area around the firearm injury had been removed by him. The prosecution also placed reliance on the statement of ASI Jasbir Singh PW11 who had accompanied Inspector Harjinder Pal Singh PW14 to the place of incident and supported the recoveries made from the spot.

13. A few facts stand out from the prosecution story. First, the place of incident being adjoining rooms in the residential house of the appellant and the fact that the alleged murder weapon is his licensed DBBL gun is proved on record. The evidence also reveals that the appellant was living in the premises along with his wife, mother and son, and two daughters, who were studying outside the village, were frequent visitors, but it is the admitted position that nobody but the appellant and the deceased were present at the time of incident. It is also clear from the evidence that the two spent cartridge cases recovered, one from near Mukhtiar Kaurs dead body, and the second from the right barrel of the gun lying near the appellant had been sent to the Forensic Science Laboratory which opined that one of the cartridges had been fired from the gun and the other could have been fired therefrom.

21. It is, therefore, clear to us that the story of unknown assailants entering the house and causing Mukhtiar Kaurs murder etcetera has to be ruled out and that the prosecution story that it was the appellant who had first shot Mukhtiar Kaur and then attempted to commit suicide, stands proved. We also find that no part of the evidence of the hostile witnesses comes to the aid of the appellant.

22. The question now arises as to the sentence that should be imposed on the appellant. It would be seen that both the Sessions Court and the High Court were appalled by the allegations and findings of incestuous rape and murder. We are however of the opinion, as already noted above, that a case of rape has not been made out. In this background the death sentence is not called for. We accordingly acquit the appellant of the charge under section 376 of the IPC but maintain his conviction for the other offences but commute his death sentence to life.

23. With this modification, the appeal is dismissed.