Ganpat vs State Of Haryana & Ors

2) The case of the prosecution is as under:

(b) On 25.10.1992, at about 9.00 p.m., when Mohinder Singh, after having meals, was going to his Garhi (outer house), he found eight persons, namely, Sat Pal, Pala Ram, Madan Lal, Jai Kumar, Ram Prakash, Rajesh, Ram Bhaj and Jai Singh standing there and they were armed with gandasis and lathis. Sat Pal raised a lalkara that Mohinder Singh should be taught a lesson for making less payment for crackers and he gave a gandasi blow on his right leg. Mohinder Singh shouted for help and on hearing the same, Ishwar - his brother came there. Pala Ram gave gandasi blows repeatedly from its reverse side on Ishwar's chin and jaw and Madan Lal gave two lathi blows on his face and Jai 2 Kumar gave lathi blows on his hands and chest. On hearing the calls for help, Shambhu-the deceased came to the spot. Rajesh and Ram Bhaj, who were standing in front of the house of Chandan came there with lathis and Ram Bhaj gave a lathi blow on the head of Shambhu and Rajesh gave a lathi blow on his legs. In the meantime, Ishwar's wife - Murti Devi also came there and Naresh and Jai Singh gave lathi blow on Murti Devi.

(c) Ganpat (PW-12)-the complainant (appellant herein), who was standing at a distance of 10 yards from the place of occurrence, shouted "Naa Maro Naa Maro". Thereafter, Ganpat brought a tractor from his house with the help of his son Shri Pal for taking the injured to the hospital. When they were lifting the injured persons, Mohan Lal gave one gandasi blow on his right arm and Rajesh gave a lathi blow on the back of his right hand palm and Ram Prakash gave a lathi blow on his left shoulder. Thereafter, Shri Pal, Chappa and Satta and other persons came there and rescued them and all the injured persons were taken to Primary Health Centre, Nissing. Dr. Sanjiv Grover, PW-3 examined the injured 3 persons. Ishwar and Shambhu were referred to General Hospital, Karnal. Thereafter, Mohinder Singh and Murti Devi were also referred to the same hospital. Dr. Sanjiv Grover sent the ruqa to the in-charge, Police Station, Nissing on 26.10.1992 at 00:10 a.m. but due to inadvertence he mentioned the time as 12:10 a.m. On receipt of ruqa, ASI Ram Karan - PW-14 went to Primary Health Centre to inquire about the condition of the injured and came to know that the injured persons have been referred to General Hospital, Karnal. Then, on 26.10.1992, at 01:15 p.m., the ASI recorded the statement of Ganpat-the appellant herein in General Hospital, Karnal and a case was registered and a formal FIR was recorded at 2:30 p.m. under Sections 148, 149, 323, 324, 325 Indian Penal Code (hereinafter referred to as `IPC'). He could not record the statement of Shambhu as he was not fit for making statement. After taking the clothes of the injured persons into possession, he went to the scene of occurrence and prepared rough site plan and lifted blood stained earth. Thereafter, the accused were arrested and the weapons were also recovered.

(d) On 09.11.1992, Shambhu died and the case was converted to that under Sections 148, 302, 323, 324, 325 read with Section 34 Indian Penal Code (hereinafter referred to as "IPC"). On 12.03.1993, challan was filed by the police in the Court, mentioning only the names of four accused out of the 11 accused, whose names were mentioned in the FIR. On 09.04.1993, Ganpat (PW-12), the appellant herein filed an application under Section 319 of the Criminal Procedure Code (hereinafter referred to as "Cr.P.C.") for summoning the other seven accused. The trial Court, vide order dated 12.05.1993, allowed the application and summoned the other seven accused persons to face trial along with the four accused. Vide order dated 22.03.1994, the trial Court ordered for framing of charges against all the 11 accused persons for offences under Sections 148, 302, 325, 324, 323 read with Section 149 IPC.

(f) Against the abovesaid order, Jai Singh, Ramesh, Naresh and Mohan Lal filed Criminal Appeal No. 647 of 2000 and Pala Ram, Sat Pal, Madan Lal, Ram Prakash, Rajesh, Ram Bhaj and Jai Kumar filed Criminal Appeal No. 657 of 2000 and Ganpat- the complainant and the appellant herein filed Criminal Revision Petition No. 475 of 2001 before the High Court of Punjab & Haryana for not holding guilty four of the eleven accused, namely, Jai Singh, Ramesh, Naresh and Mohan Lal under Sections 302/149 IPC. Vide judgment dated 01.05.2001, the High Court allowed the appeals and acquitted all the eleven accused persons and dismissed the criminal revision petition filed by the appellant herein. Challenging the judgment of the High Court, the appellant/complainant has preferred these appeals by way of special leave petitions.

13) In the light of the above discussion, we find no merit in the appeals. On the other hand, we are in entire agreement with the conclusion arrived at by the High Court. Consequently, all the appeals are dismissed.

SEPTEMBER 27, 2010.