Case: Hardip Singh Vs. State of Punjab

On September 9, 1979 at about 4 p.m., an occurrence took place atVijay Nagar, Amritsar during the course of which one Jamail Singh was attacked by some assailants. He was shot at by a firearm by some of the assailants and others are alleged to have inflicted injuries with some cutting weapons. Karnail Singh, PW 2, the brother of the deceased, Jamail Singh gave a report before the Assistantpolice post Verka at ab out 5 p.m. on the same day. In that version it was mentioned that Santokh Singh, accused armed with a rifle, Hardip Singh (appellant herein) and Balkar Singh, accused armed with gandasis and Jagdish Singh, another accused were coming in a bus of Janta Transport Company from Batala and the bus stopped at theThe deceased, his brother Karnail Singh, PW 2 and their nephew Chhinda, PW 3 were standing there waiting for the bus. When the deceased was trying to board the bus , Jagdish Singh accused raised a lalkara. Thereupon the deceased tried to run but Santokh Singh, accused fired the first shot which hit on the shoulder of the deceased who fell on the ground. Then Hardip Singh, the appellant and Balkar Singh are alleged to have given gandasi blows and Jagdish Singh after snatching the rifle from Santokh Singh, fired a second shot hitting in the abdomen of the deceased, who died.2.It appears that Jagdish Singh and Santokh Singh, accused appeared before the S uperintendent of Police in the morning of September 10, 1979 and pleaded that they were falsely implicated. The Superintendent of Police directed a police officer, Puran Singh to go to Batala and verify the version given by those accused. The investigation was carried on and ultimately Santokh Singh, Jagdish Singh and Balkar Singh were not arrested and challaned. Instead Balraj Singh, Khajan Singh and Ranjit Singh were challaned as accused along with Hardip Singh, the appellant. The driver of the bus Ram Lubhaya and the conductor Lakhwinder Singh were examined and according to them the occurrence took place in thebut it was Hardip Singh, the appellant + From the Judgment and Order dated December 23, 1981 of the Punjab and Haryana High Court in Crl. Appeal No. 475 D.B. of 1981 armed with a rifle, Balraj Singh and Khajan Singh armed with gandasis and Ranjit Singh armed with a dang, who caused the death of the deceased Jarnail Singh.3. Dissatisfied with this police investigation, Kamail Singh filed a complaint in which he repeated the allegations made in the FIR. Therefore there were two cases and the learned Magistrate committed both the cases to the Court of Session and they were numbered as Sessions Case No. 51 of 1980 arising out of police challan and Sessions Case No. 56 of 1980 arising out of the complaint. The learned trial Judge consolidated the complainants case with the challan case and with the consent of the parties recorded the evidence in the latter case and the witnesses were examined. Practically there appeared to be two sets of eyewitnesses. Accordingly Karnail Singh, PW 2 and Chhinda, PW 3 appeared as witnesses and gave their own ocular account in accordance with the FIR and the complaint given by PW 2. Ram Lubhaya, the driver and Lakhwinder Singh, the conductor, PWs 6 and 7 also figured as witnesses. They gave their own version of the occurrence as found in the police challan. According to PWs 2 and 3, Santokh Singh fired a shot at the deceased and Hardip Singh and Balkar Singh inflicted gandasi blows and thereafter Jagdish Singh took over the rifle from Santokh Singh and fired again at the stomach of the deceased. But according to PWs 6 an d 7, Hardip Singh, the appellant was the first person who fired a shot with the rifle and thereafter the deceased was attacked by Balraj Singh, Khajan Singh and Ranjit Singh, It is also their version that Hardip Singh fired another shot in the abdomen of Jarnail Singh.

Court's reasoning:
It appears that they were not even examined during the inquest but on the other hand PWs 2 and 3 were examined during the inquest. We have gone through the evidence of PWs 2 and 3 as well as PWs 6 and 7 and the two versions given by them are completely at variance with each other. Likewise both the trial court and the High Court have taken two conflicting views. As a matter of fact, the State did not prefer any appeal to the High Court against the judgment of the Sessions Court acquitting the accused in the challan case which was prosecuted by the State. The two convicted accused in the sessions case that arose out of the private complaint only preferred an appeal to the High Court and the High Court did not accept the evidence in t he complainants case which was accepted by the trial court and reversed the order of the trial court and as a matter of fact acquitted Santokh Singh but in the same breath, accepted the evidence in the challan case and applied the same against the appellant. Thus there are many incongruities in this case. At any rate the two sets of eyewitnesses contradicted each other. Therefore the benefit of the same should go to the appellant.