Case: Tara Singh and Others Vs. State of Punjab

The material facts of the case are as follows2. The two appellants and the three other accused who were also tried along with them are residents of Village Lopon in Ludhiana District. Accused Nos. 1 to 4 are brothers and the 5th accused is the relation. The deceased one Hazura Singh aged about 80 years was the Sarpanch of the Village. In the year 1971 he lodged a report stating that some cement pipes in his fields were removed by the four brothers Accused Nos. 1 to 4 along with other members of the family. A case was registered and the trial was pending. There were security proceedings also between P.W. 2 son of the deceased and the two appellants and their brothers. On 15th August, 1975 at about 5 p.m. P.W. 2 Bant Singh along with his sisters son P.W. 4 Harbhajan Singh and his sister were hoeing the maize crop in their field. Hazura Singh the deceased came on the spot and after going around the field was going towards the path, at a distance of about 40 Karams from where the prosecution witnesses were working P.W. 3 was also working in a neighbouring field which he had taken on lease. The five accused emerged from the field. Tara Singh and Dial Singh, the two appellants herein were armed with Kirpans while their other two brothers were armed with gandasas and the 5th accused was armed with a takwa. The first appellant shouted that the deceased should not be spared. The deceased hearing this tried to run away. When he reached the field of one Chandan Singh all the accused overtook him. The first appellant (A1) inflicted a kirpan blow on his neck while the second appellant also inflicted another blow on the neck and they inflicted further blows on the deceased on receipt of which he fell down. The other accused thereafter are said to have given him some blows. P.Ws. 2 to 4 who had seen the crime raised an alarm. The accused thereupon ran away. P.W. 2 who is witness of the occurrence went to the village which is half a mile away and informed the Lambardar, P.W. 5 P.W. 2 then went in the company of the Lambardar to the Police Station at Samrala which is at a distance of 6 1/2 miles and lodged a report at about 8.45 p.m. on the same evening. TheP.W. 9 registered the crime and issued an FIR which reached the Magistrate at about 2.45 a.m. P.W. 9 took up the investigation, reached the place of occurrence at about 9.45 p.m., held an inquest and completed the same by 11.55 p.m. Then the body was set forThe next day at about 9.30 a.m. Dr. Bimla Kalra, P.W. 1 conducted theand she found as many as 12 incised wounds and one contusion. Some of them were on the head and injuries Nos. 7, 8 and 11 were either on the next or near about. The doctor opined that the death was due to shock and hemorrhage. She also opined that injuries Nos. 1 to 5 which were on the head were also individually sufficient to cause death. The accused were absconding. Then later they were arrested and at their instance the weapons were recovered. The trial Court relying on the evidence of the threewhich is corroborated by the medical evidence and the circumstantial evidence convicted all the five accused and sentenced them to suffer imprisonment for life and also to pay a fine of Rs. 1, 500/each. The Division Bench of the High Court, however, felt that it is not safe to convict all the five accused since no specific acts are attributed to accused Nos. 3 to 5. The learned Judges after consideration of the evidence were of the view that because of the interested nature of the evidence of the mainand to avoid any innocent being convicted. It would not be safe to rely on any omnibus allegation. In that view of the matter the learned Judge convicted the two appellants only to whom specific overt acts are attributed and acquitted accused Nos. 3 to 5

Court's reasoning:
But the facts in the instant case are altogether different. The names of the accused are consistently mentioned throughout. There is absolutely no ground to hold that the FIR was brought into existence subsequently during the investigation and the mere delay in lodging the report by itself cannot give scope for an adverse inference leading to rejection of the prosecution case outright4. It is well settled that the delay in giving the FIR by itself cannot be a ground to doubt the prosecution case. Knowing the Indian conditions as they are we cannot expect these villagers to rush to the police station immediately after the occurrence. Human nature as it is, the kith and kin who have witnessed the occurrence cannot be expected to act mechanically with all the promptitude in giving the report to the police. At times beingbecause of the capacity it may not immediately occur to them that they should give a report. After all it is but natural in these circumstances for them to take some time to go to the police station for giving the report. Of course the Supreme Court as well as the High Courts have pointed out that in cases arising out of acute factions there is a tendency to implicate persons belonging to the opposite faction falsely. In order to avert the danger of convicting such innocent persons the courts are cautioned to scrutinise the evidence of such interested witnesses with greater care and caution and separate grain from the chaff after subjecting the evidence to a closer scrutiny and in doing so the contents of the FIR also will have to be scrutinised carefully. However, unless there are indications of fabrication, the Court cannot reject the prosecution version as given in the FIR and later substantiated by the evidence merely on the ground of delay. These are all matters for appreciation and much depends on the facts and circumstances of each case. In the instant case there are threeThey have consistently deposed that the two appellants inflicted injuries on the neck with kirpans. The medical evidence amply supports the same. In these circumstances we are unable to agree with the learned counsel that the entire case should be thrown out on the mere ground that there was some delay in the FIR reaching the local Magistrate. In the report given by P.W. 2 to the police all the necessary details are mentioned. It is particularly mentioned that these two appellants inflicted injuries with kirpans on the neck of the deceased. This report according to the prosecution, was given at about 8.45 p.m. and on the basis of the report the Investigating Officer prepared copies of the FIR and despatched the same to all the concerned officers including the local Magistrate who received the same at about 2.45 a.m. Therefore we are unable to say that there was inordinate and unexplained delay. There is no ground to doubt the presence of theat the scene of occurrence. We have perused their evidence and they have withstood theare no material contradictions or omissions which in any manner throw a doubt on their veracity. The High Court by way of an abundant caution gave the benefit of doubt to the other three accused since the allegation against them is an omnibus one.