Criminal Appeal No. – 975-DB of 2009
PUNJAB-HARYANA HIGH COURT
Date of Judgement: 5th October 2013
Bench: Hon’ble Mr. Hemant Gupta J., Hon’ble Mr. Fateh Deep Singh J.
Relevant Acts/Sections:
- Section 302 IPC (Punishment for Murder)
- Section 34 IPC (Acts done by several persons in furtherance of common intention)
- Section 120B IPC (Punishment of Criminal Conspiracy)
- Section 27 IEA (How much of information received from accused may be proved)
- Section 313 Cr.P.C. (Power to examine the accused)
Branch: Forensic Physics
Backstory
On 16th September 2006 at about 03:00 A.M., Simranjit Kaur aged 11 years suddenly woke upon hearing some sound, and she saw that her mother Baljit Kaur aged about 35 years (deceased-1) and parental grandfather Sarja Singh aged about 65 years (deceased-2) lay with multiple injuries, bodies were splattered with blood. Simranjit Kaur saw two persons in white kurta pajama rushing out of the house, in a scooter with the registration no. PB-10-AA-2204. Simranjit Kaur rushed to Pal Singh’s house and informed the incident. Pal Singh was reported the same to Kaka Singh Sarpanch. They rushed to the crime scene and informed telephonically to the Inspector SHO Sohan Lal of the Police Station. The police officials reached the crime scene and recorded the statement of Sarpanch Kaka Singh. The statement after being read over and admitted was signed by Kaka Singh and IO made his endorsement and sent ruqa to the registration of the FIR by SI Gurbax Singh.
During the investigation, IO came to know that Sarja Singh purchased a plot of land and handed it to his daughter Paramjit Kaur w/o Sukhwinder Singh. The relation of Sarja Singh with his sons Ravinder Singh @ Laddi and Jatinder Singh became difficult. Sarja Singh transferred his house in the name of Baljit Kaur through a sale deed and took away the plot from Paramjit Kaur.
The IO SI Gurcharan Singh on 17th September 2006 arrested accused Darshan Singh, Jatinder Singh, Gurmukh Singh, and on 19th September 2006 arrested Sukhwinder Singh (accused).
Inquest report of Sarja Singh and Baljit Kaur was prepared by IO. Photographs of the site were taken along with negatives. They prepared the Rough site plan of the crime scene. On interrogation, accused Darshan Singh disclosed a statement that he had concealed a weapon of offence Kirch and one right foot of chappal in the veranda of his house. Accused Gurmukh Singh disclosed a statement that he had concealed a weapon of offense, Kirch. From Darshan Singh recovered a scooter bearing reg no. PB-10-AA-2204. SI Subhcharanjit Kaur Fingerprint Expert lifted molds of tire impressions of the scooter. The dead bodies were handed over to HC Amarjit Singh. Lifted samples of blood-stained earth and plain earth, chappal stained with blood forwarded to the Forensic Science Laboratory.
Postmortem Report
Dr. Jagdip Singh conducted the post-mortem of the dead bodies and gave his report as Sarja Singh and Baljit Kaur with pictorial diagrams. He opined that the cause of death was because of antemortem multiple injuries.
Forensic Report
According to the Forensic reports, opined that Kirch, Salwar kameez, and chappal from a crime scene along with soil samples stained with human blood, and another pair of chappal recovered from Darshan Singh tallied. The moulds of tyre impression lifted from the crime scene tallied with the moulds of tyre impression of a scooter recovered from Darshan Singh bearing reg no. PB-10-AA-2204.
Judgement
Accused Darshan Singh, Gurmukh Sing, Jatinder Singh, and Sukhwinder Singh sentenced under Section 302 read with Section 34 IPC, and Section 302 read with Section 120B IPC, rigorous imprisonment for life with fine Rs. 5,000/-.