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2003 DIGILAW 1646 (SC)

Jagdish v. State of Haryana

2003-12-17

B.P.SINGH, N.SANTOSH HEGDE

body2003
ORDER : 1. The two appellants in this appeal and one Karambir were charged for the offences punishable under Section 302 read with 34 Indian Penal Code and Section 325 read with 34 Indian Penal Code before the Court of Sessions Judge, Faridabad for having committed the murder of one Jabar Khan and for having caused grievous injuries to one Prem Chand, PW.9. Learned Sessions Judge after trial came to the conclusion that the prosecution has established its case against the said accused persons accordingly it sentenced the three accused including two appellants herein to imprisonment for life for an offence punishable under Section 302 read with 34 Indian Penal Code and a further sentenced them to rigorous imprisonment for three years and a fine of Rs. 1,000/- each for an offence punishable under Section 325 read with 34. He directed that the said sentences shall run concurrently and further directed that in the event of fine being recovered a sum of Rs. 2,000/- should be paid to the complainant PW.9, Prem Chand. 2. In an appeal filed against the said judgment the High Court of Punjab and Haryana at Chandigarh allowed the appeal so far as it concerned Karambir, A3 giving him the benefit of doubt since according to the High Court he had no motive to commit the murder, while it confirmed the conviction and sentence imposed on the appellants herein by the trial court. In this appeal against the said judgment of the High Court the said accused/appellants are now before us. 3. Brief facts necessary for the disposal of this appeal are as follows: 4. There was dispute between Udham Singh and Jagdish on the one side and the complainant, PW.9 Prem Chand the injured witness on the other in regard to certain land. In view of the said enmity on 14th September, 1990 at about 10 a.m. when the said Prem Chand (PW.9) and his son, Dev Dutt(PW.8) were harvesting jawar crops standing in their land three accused persons armed with farsa and axe came to their land and attacked Prem Chand, PW.9 with the reverse side of the farsa when PW.8, Dev Dutt started shouting. Hearing his shout PW.10, Puran who was grazing buffalos in the nearby their land came there and when he saw accused persons running away after attacking PW.9. Hearing his shout PW.10, Puran who was grazing buffalos in the nearby their land came there and when he saw accused persons running away after attacking PW.9. He also saw the accused on their way attacked Jabar Khan their own servant thereby causing his death. This as per prosecution was done by the accused to implicate Prem Chand and his son in the murder of Jabar Khan. A complaint in this regard was lodged by PW.8, Dev Dutt in Hassanpur Police Station. After investigation a charge sheet was filed and as stated above and the two courts below have convicted the appellants. 5. Both the courts below have placed reliance on the evidence of PW.9, Prem Chand who is an injured witness as well as PW.8, Dev Dutt and PW.10, Puran who according to the prosecution had witnessed the incident and based a conviction on their evidence. We have heard learned counsel and perused the record. From the perusal of the evidence of Pws.8, 9 and 10, we have no reason to conclude either of the courts below committed error in coming to the conclusion that the appellants before us are not guilty of the offences charged against them. 6. Shri Kuldip Sinch, learned counsel appearing for the appellants, however, submitted that according to the prosecution that the incident in question occurred in the land of the appellants themselves but from the prosecution evidence there was no blood stain found in the said land. The courts below had noticed this fact and had relied upon the evidence of PW.12, the Investigating Officer who had stated that he had found blood stains from the place of incident in which the deceased was done to death hence rejected the said argument. 7. It was thus argued by the learned counsel that special report in regard to the FIR lodged was sent to the Ilaka Magistrate only at 10 p.m. which indicates, according to the learned counsel that the FIR/complaint was lodged after due deliberation. In this regard from the judgment of the two courts below it is seen that the courts have accepted the explanation given by the prosecution in regard to the delay in sending the special report to the Ilaka Magistrate and we find no fault with the same. 8. For the reasons stated above, the appeal fails and the same is dismissed.