Charan Singh vs State of Punjab

Harphul Singh Brar, J.

This is an appeal against the judgment/order dated 4.2.1994 of the learned Sessions Judge, Jalandhar vide which the appellant Charan Singh was convicted under section 302 IPC and was sentenced to undergo Rigorous Imprisonment for life and to pay fine of Rs. 5,000/ or in default of payment of fine he was further directed to undergo Rigorous Imprisonment for one year.

The facts of the case briefly stated are as under:

On 23.10.1992, at about 7 AM, Sodhi Singh PW 2 and his father Mohinder Singh deceased were present at their tubewell in the area of village Jadla. Charan Singh son of elder brother of Mohinder Singh went to their tubewell and on reaching there he told Mohinder Singh that on the previous day, Sodhi Singh had damaged his ridge with the tillers of the tractor and when Charan Singh and Mohinder Singh were talking with each other, Sodhi Singh proceeded to divert the flow of water. He had hardly covered a distance of about 20 karams when Charan Singh abused his father and in turn Mohinder Singh also abused him and stepped forward to give him fisticuffs. At this, Sodhi Singh threw away his kashi there and ran towards tubewell to disengage his father Mohinder Singh and Charan Singh. In the meanwhile, Charan Singh picked up a kassi lying nearby and gave two kassi blows to Mohinder Singh hitting him on his forehead and neck resulting in deep incised wounds and on receipt of these injuries Mohinder Singh fell down on the ground and was writhing with pain in a pool of blood. Sodhi Singh and his mother Bhajan Kaur who had gone to the fields with tea and was at some distance raised alarm of "hat jao, hat jao". At this, Charan Singh went towards the village hurling abuses and carrying kassi with him. Sodhi Singh and his mother Bhajan Kaur witnessed the entire occurrence.

Motive behind the occurrence is stated to be that ancestral land had been partitioned temporarily between Balwant Singh father of Charan Singh accused and Mohinder Singh deceased and others. Prior to the present occurrence also there had been some dispute between the parties on two occasions regarding damage caused to ridge between their lands.

Mohinder Singh in injured condition was removed to Christian Medical College, Ludhiana on the day of occurrence itself. Ever since his admission in the said hospital Sodhi Singh and his relatives remained busy in getting treatment of Mohinder Singh and, thus, they could not inform the police about the occurrence. Since the date of his admission to C.M.C. Hospital, Ludhiana, Mohinder Singh was not in a position to speak and ultimately he succumbed to his injuries on 26.11.92 at 1.15 AM. Sodhi Singh proceeded to lodge the report with the police on 4.11.92. Sodhi Singh at about 12 noon on the same day met Swaran Singh, ASI alongwith other police officials who were present in bus adda Jadla. Sodhi Singh made his statement Ex. PD before the ASI. His statement was read over by the ASI to him and he signed the same in token of its correctness. ASI, Swaran Singh made his endorsement Ex.PD/2 and sent the same to the police station Nawanshahr, on the basis of which, formal FIR Ex.PD/1 was recorded by S.I. Mohinder Singh. Thereafter, Swaran Singh, ASI visited the place of occurrence, inspected the spot, lifted the blood stained earth and blood stained parna from there. The blood stained earth and blood stained parna were turned into two separate parcels sealed with the seal ''SS'' and were taken into possession vide memo. Ex.PK attested by Sodhi Singh and H.C. Jaswant Singh. He also prepared rough site plan Ex.PN of the place of occurrence with the correct marginal notes. He then recorded the statements of the witnesses, searched for the accused but he could not find the accused. On return to the police station, case property with seals intact was deposited with the M.H.C. Swaran Singh, ASI continued his efforts to arrest Charan Singh accused but he was not available. Ultimately he was arrested on 11.11.92. On 13.11.92, Charan Singh was interrogated in the presence of Sodhi Singh and H.C. Jaswant Singh, as a result of which he suffered a disclosure statement to the effect that he had kept concealed a kassi in a corner of a room of his residential house and he could get the same recovered. That statement Ex. PS was reduced into writing and was attested by the same set of witnesses. Thereafter, in pursuance of that disclosure statement accused got recovered kassi Ex. P.2 from the disclosed place which was taken into police possession vide memo. Ex.PS/1. He also prepared a rough site plan Ex. PS/3 of the place of recovery of kassi Ex.P2. On 26.11.92, at 10.55 PM, ASI Swaran Singh received information Ex. PG from the Medical College Hospital, Ludhiana regarding death of Mohinder Singh. On receipt of that information ASI Swaran Singh reached the hospital and found that the dead body of Mohinder Singh was lying in the dead house which was identified by Mohan Singh and Prem Singh. He prepared inquest report Ex.PB in respect of the dead body of Mohinder Singh which was attested by Mohan Singh and Prem Singh. Thereafter, dead body of Mohinder Singh was despatched to Civil Hospital, Nawanshahr through Constable Pawan Jeet Singh with the request Ex.PC for post mortem examination. On the same day i.e. 26.11.92, Constable Pawan Jeet Singh produced wearing apparels of Mohinder Singh before ASI, Swaran Singh, who turned the same into sealed parcel and took into police possession vide memo. Ex.PT attested by Constable Pawan Jeet Singh. Applications Ex.PL, PM and PO were made to obtain the information of the doctor regarding fitness of Mohinder Singh to make statements, who vide their opinions Ex.PL/1, Ex.PM/1 and Ex./PO/1 declared him unfit to make statement. As such statement of Mohinder Singh could not be recorded till his death. ASI Swaran Singh recorded the statement of the witnesses. On completion of the investigation, charge under section 302 IPC was framed against Charan Singh to which he pleaded not guilty and claimed to be tried.

In order to bring the charge home to Charan Singh accused, prosecution examined PW.1 Dr. Harbans Lal Mann. On 26.11.1992 at 3.30 PM, he conducted post mortem examination on the dead body of Mohinder Singh which was identified by Mohan Singh and Prem Singh and noted down the following injuries:

"(i) A stitched wound measuring 6 cm in length on the anterior part of the neck. On dissection underlying trachea was cut alongwith oesophagus.

(ii) A stitched wound measuring 7 cm starting from left ear on the frontotemporal region. On dissection underlying frontal bone was fractured.

(iii) A wound on the right wrist joint on the lateral aspect measuring 3 x 1.5 cm.

Dr. Mann also found that there was fracture of right clavicle. All the other organs were found normal. All the injuries were found to be ante mortem in natural and in the opinion of the doctor the cause of death was due to cardiorespiratory arrest as a result of injury to the trachea and oesophagus which was sufficient to cause death in the ordinary course of nature. He proved copy of the post mortem report Ex.PA and the pictoral diagram Ex.PA/1 showing of injuries. PW.2 Sodhi Singh is the eye witness and first informant. He proved his first information report Ex.PD. PW.3 Bhajan Kaur is widow of Mohinder Singh and is another eyewitness to the occurrence. PW.4 Dr. Sunil Sadiq was examined to prove the admission of Mohinder Singh, injured, in C.M.C. Hospital, Ludhiana, and regarding the treatment given to him and also the steps taken to save life of Mohinder Singh. He also proved Bed Head Ticket, Ex.PQ. of Mohinder Singh. PW.5 ASI Swaran Singh is the Investigating Officer. He deposed to the manner in which the investigation of this case was conducted by him. Affidavits Ex.PO and Ex. PV of H.C. Paramjit Singh and Constable Swaran Chand, respectively and report Ex.PX of the Director, Forensic Science Laboratory were tendered into evidence and the prosecution evidence was closed.

When examined u/s 313 Cr.P.C. the accused denied all the incriminating circumstances appearing against him and pleaded his innocence and false implication. Despite opportunity given to the accused the accused did not opt to lead any evidence in his defence.

Ultimately, the appellant was tried by the learned Sessions Judge and was convicted and sentenced as stated above.

We have heard the learned counsel for the parties and have gone through the record of the case with their help.

The learned counsel for the appellant contends that there is an un explained delay of 12 days in lodging the First Information Report. The appellant, according to the learned counsel, is liable to be acquitted on the ground of laches alone.

Occurrence took place in this case on 23.10.1992 at about 7.00 A.M. at the tubewell of Mohinder Singh deceased while the First Information Report was lodged with the police by Sodhi Singh (PW2) son of the deceased on 4.11.1992 at 1.00 P.M. The learned Sessions Judge has explained the delay in lodging the First Information Report on the basis of the factual position that the deceased had to be taken to the hospital immediately due to his injuries and his son Sodhi Singh and other relations were, thus, engaged in saving his life rather than to lodge the First Information Report. In any case, mere delay in lodging the First Information Report shall not be sufficient for us to disbelieve the prosecution story in toto, particularly, when we have got the eye witness account before us. PW2 Sodhi Singh, who is an eye witness of the occurrence, has deposed at the trial that on 23.10.1992 at about 67 A.M. he was irrigating his field while his father Mohinder Singh, since deceased, was at that tubewell. Charan Singh accused and his father indulged in some verbal altercation. When accused and his father Mohinder Singh were altercating with each other, he left his kassi there at the nakka and went towards the tubewell. During the altercation, Charan Singh had picked up a kassi lying in the tubewell and gave two kassi blows to his father from its sharp side whereupon his father fell down on the ground. Similar is the statement of Bhajan Kaur, the mother of PW2 Sodhi Singh and the wife of the deceased. The sworn testimony of PW2 Sodhi Singh is, thus, corroborated by her mother Bhajan Kaur (PW3). The place of occurrence is also established from the testimony of Swaran Singh (PW5) who visited the place of occurrence on 4.11.1992 and lifted bloodstained earth and blood stained parna from the spot. He prepared two separate sealed parcels of the earth and that of parna with his seal SS and took the same in police possession vide memo Ex.PK, attested by Sodhi Singh and Head Constable Jaswant Singh. The Director, Forensic Science Laboratory, Chandigarh, vide his report Ex.PX, found that the earth and parna were stained with human blood. It is, thus, proved that the occurrence had taken place at the tubewell of Mohinder Singh deceased.

The medical evidence also corroborates the ocular account of the PWs Sodhi Singh and Bhajan Kaur. Dr. Sunil Sadiq (PW.4) who had admitted Mohinder Singh deceased to the Christian Medical College/Hospital, Ludhiana also found two injuries on the person of the deceased; one on the anterior part of the neck measuring 6 cms in length involving the trachea and oesophagus and the other a laceration in the left temporofrontal region measuring about 7 cm in length.

The next argument of the learned counsel that recovery of kassi P2, is also not proved by the prosecution, does not affect the prosecution story, in view of the oral version of the eye witnesses available on the record.

The last submission made by the learned counsel is that it was a sudden quarrel without any premediation and there was no cogent evidence on record showing the previous enmity or strained relations between the parties. Moreover, according to the learned counsel, the deceased was the real uncle of the accused and he had no intention to kill the deceased. He prays that the offence at the most falls under Section 304 PartII of Indian Penal Code and not under Section 302 of the Indian Penal Code.

We find force in this contention of the learned counsel. It was a case of a sudden quarrel between the two close relations i.e. the real nephew and his uncle. The accused was not armed with any weapon. Verbal altercation took place between the two. During the verbal altercation, Mohinder Singh deceased stepped forward to give the accused a fist blow. The accused pickedup a kassi lying there and gave blows with the kassi on the head of the deceased. Quarrel was sudden and momentary. There seemed to be no intention on the part of the accused to kill the deceased and the occurrence took place in the heat of the moment. It may further be noticed that the occurrence took place on 23.10.1992 and Mohinder Singh deceased remained admitted in the CMC Hospital, Ludhiana for more than a month when he died in the hospital on 26.11.1992.

After taking all these cumulative facts into consideration, it cannot be said that the appellant intended to cause death of the deceased by the blows which he suddenly gave by pickingup a Kassi from the spot. It cannot be said that he intended to cause the injuries on the person of the deceased which unfortunately resulted in his death after more than a month in the hospital. Therefore, the offence committed by him would be one amounting to culpable homicide punishable under section 304 Part II IPC. We accordingly, set aside the conviction of the appellant under Section 302 IPC and sentence of imprisonment for life awarded thereunder. Instead, we convict the appellant under Section 304 Part II IPC and sentence him to undergo R.I. for five years. The appeal is partly allowed to the extent indicated above.