Punjab-Haryana High Court
Hoshiar Singh And Others vs State Of Haryana on 11 February, 2009
Author: K.S.Garewal
Bench: K.S. Garewal
Crl. Appeal No. 140 DB of 2000 1
IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA AT
CHANDIGARH
Crl. Appeal No. 140 DB of 2000
Date of decision: February 11, 2009
Hoshiar Singh and others ...Appellants
Versus
State of Haryana ...Respondent
CORAM:- HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE K.S. GAREWAL
HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE SHAM SUNDER
Present: Mr. Vinod Ghai, Advocate,
for the appellants.
Mr. H.S. Sran, Additional Advocate General, Haryana.
Mr. K.K. Aggarwal, Senior Advocate with
Mr. Kapil Aggarwal, Advocate, for the complainant.
K.S.GAREWAL, J.
The appellants are Hoshiar Singh, his son Balwant Singh and nephew Kulwant Singh of Nagla, Kurukshetra. The appellants were tried for the murder of Iqbal Singh of their village who died on June 7, 1997 on account of head injury. The three appellants were found guilty of murder, convicted under Section 302 read with Section 34 IPC and sentenced to rigorous imprisonment for life. They were also sentenced to pay fine of Rs. 200/- each, in default of payment of fine, they were directed to further undergo rigorous imprisonment for one month.
The brief facts of the case are that Iqbal Singh deceased Crl. Appeal No. 140 DB of 2000 2 alongwith his brother owned 7 killas of land in Sehzadpur Patti, Shahabad with a common boundary with Hoshiar Singh's land. On June 6, 1997, Hoshiar Singh had removed the common ridge and pushed the earth away towards Iqbal Singh's land. On the next day Iqbal Singh and his son Sukhwinder Singh (PW-10) went to irrigate their field, Iqbal Singh's wife Pritam Kaur also reached there with tea. At that moment Balwant Singh and Kulwant Singh were irrigating their field with the water drawn from their tubewell.
At 9 a.m. Iqbal Singh started putting earth back on the common ridge, to stop water from flowing to his side. Hoshiar Singh armed with a kulhari alongwith Balwant Singh and Kulwant, who were empty handed, arrived at the spot. Hoshiar Singh abused Iqbal Singh and asked him why he was putting earth back on the ridge. Iqbal Singh replied that he was doing so to stop the flow of water. Thereafter, Hoshiar Singh asked his son and nephew to catch hold Iqbal Singh and teach him a lesson. Kulwant Singh and Balwant Singh caught hold of Iqbal Singh, whereupon he received a kulhari blow from the reverse side on his head and he fell down. An alarm was raised by Sukhwinder Singh (PW-10) and his mother Pritam Kaur. This attracted Iqbal Singh's brother Joginder Singh at the spot who also witnessed the occurrence, while the appellants escaped.
Iqbal Singh was evacuated in a tractor-trolley to CHC Shahabad by Sukhwinder Singh and Joginder Singh, where Dr. Ravinder Nath Sharma (PW-2) declared him dead. Report was sent to the police station, whereupon SI Devi Chand (PW-12) reached the hospital and recorded Sukhwinder Singh's statement at 12.35 p.m. On the basis of this statement, FIR under Section 302/34 IPC was registered at 12.50 p.m. at Crl. Appeal No. 140 DB of 2000 3 Police Station Shahabad. Special report was delivered to the Magistrate at Kurukshetra at 3.30 p.m. Post-mortem of the deceased was conducted by Dr. Jagmal Singh, (PW-1) Medical Officer, LNJP Hospital, Kurukshetra. The Medical Officer found the following injuries.
"1. There was diffused swelling left front to temporal region, on dissection, there was haematoma present in the scalp layers. Underlying bone was fractured. Extra dural and sub-dural collection of blood was present underneath.
2. There was abrasion 1 cm x ¼ cm over the nose bridge.
There was diffused swelling. On dissection, nasal bones were found fractured."
In the opinion of the Medical Officer, death was due to head injury which was ante-mortem in nature and was sufficient to cause death in ordinary course of nature. The deceased had died within few minutes of receipt of the injuries.
The accused were arrested and sent up for trial. At the trial Hoshiar Singh's defence was as under:-
"I was present in my fields and was busy in agricultural work. I saw that the water of the tubewell of deceased Iqbal Singh was entering my jawar field from under the daul and thereby the jawar seed may not have sprouted. I objected to it to Iqbal Singh. He was present near the daul of my field. He started abusing me and stated that he would irrigate his fields in that very manner. He attacked me with his kassi in my field. He caught hold me from my long hair and grappled with me as he Crl. Appeal No. 140 DB of 2000 4 could not cause any injury with the kassi. His kassi fell down while grappling. During the grappling I lifted him and threw him on the ground and he sustained injury."
Kulwant Singh and Balwant Singh denied their presence at the spot and pleaded false implication. The defence pleaded by the appellants was disbelieved and all the three were convicted for the murder punishable under Section 302/34 IPC.
We have carefully examined the eye witnesses account and find that it does not appear to be corroborated by the medical evidence. According to Sukhwinder Singh (PW-10), "Hoshiar Singh gave a kulhari blow on the head of my father from its reverse side which hit my father on the left side of the head. After receiving the kulhari blow my father fell down and became unconscious. Blood started oozing out of his nose and mouth."
We have seen the medical evidence and find that injury 1 was a diffused swelling on the left fronto-temporal region. There was haematoma in the scalp and underlying bone was fractured. Extra dural and sub-dural collection of blood was present underneath. Iqbal Singh had also an abrasion on the nose bridge. There was diffused swelling. Nasal bones were fractured. Dr. Jagmal Singh was cross-examined and he stated that there was no mark of contusion, bruise or laceration at the site of injury 1. He also testified if a person is picked up and thrown on the ground i.e. hard surface with force, injury no.1 could be caused.
It is quite obvious that a hard blow on the head, which led to haemotoma and fracture of scalp of a 36 years old robust man, would show some injury on the surface of the head. The injury could be an incised or a Crl. Appeal No. 140 DB of 2000 5 lacerated wound but in the present case there was not even a contusion at the site of the injury.
It was argued by the learned Additional Advocate General on behalf of the State that the deceased was wearing a turban and for this reason there was no injury on the head though he did suffer internal injury which proved fatal. We have gone through the evidence of Sub Inspector Devi Chand (PW-12) and find that during investigation no turban was collected from the spot. There is no evidence of the deceased wearing a turban. There is likelihood that he was bare headed when he received the injury. Even if he sported a turban, it may have come off in the fight. We are unconvinced that the deceased was given a hard blow on the head with a kulhari.
The defence version is that Hoshiar Singh and Iqbal Singh had a scuffle. Hoshiar Singh was attacked by Iqbal Singh with a spade. Iqbal Singh caught hold of Hoshiar Singh from his hair and lost the grip of his spade. In this process, Hoshiar Singh managed to pick him up and thrown him on the ground which led to the injuries to the deceased. Iqbal Singh must have fallen with considerable force because he had extensive internal injuries as described above but we are clear that he was not given a direct injury on the head with a kulhari or with any other weapon.
Hoshiar Singh had no intention to commit Iqbal Singh's murder, therefore, the offence committed by him was of manslaughter punishable under Section 304 Part-II IPC. As regards Kulwant Singh and Balwant Singh, the part played by them was that they had caught hold of Iqbal Singh to enable Hoshiar Singh to hit Iqbal Singh on the head with the kulhari. As we find that Iqbal Singh was not injured with a kulhari we Crl. Appeal No. 140 DB of 2000 6 cannot believe the prosecution case qua Kulwant Singh and Balwant Singh that they caught hold of Iqbal Singh. Therefore, we conclude that Hoshiar Singh was guilty of manslaughter punishable under Section 304 Part-II IPC. He is acquitted of offence under Section 302 read with Section 34 IPC. Hoshiar Singh has spent nearly 6-1/2 years in custody from June 10, 1997 till December 19, 2003. His sentence is reduced to the period already undergone by him. However, Hoshiar Singh is also sentenced to pay fine of Rs. 2 lacs which shall be paid by him within two months from today. In default of payment of fine, he shall further undergo rigorous imprisonment for one year.
The learned counsel for the appellants has submitted that Iqbal Singh had already paid some compensation to the heirs of the deceased. If this is true then this amount shall be adjusted towards the fine imposed on him by this judgment. Fine, if recovered, shall be paid to the heirs of the deceased. Kulwant Singh and Balwant Singh are acquitted of the charge.
(K.S. GAREWAL)
JUDGE
February 11, 2009 (SHAM SUNDER)
prem JUDGE
Note:- Whether refer to reporter No