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3. On 9-6-93, Punam @ Bimla and her husband Raj Kumar came to village Shahpur Turk from village Basoli to meet her parents. They reached village Shahpur Turk at about 6 p.m. After having taken their meals, they went upstairs and slept on the roof of their house while Tale, Krishna, Neelam, Tinu and Parveen slept in the courtyard of the house. Electric bulb was on, on one corner of that house. At about 3.30 a.m., Smt. Punam and Raj Kumar heard alarm "Maar diye - maar diye". Smt. Punam and Raj Kumar got up on hearing that alarm and they saw Dharampal armed with Kulhari and Nirmal armed with Barchhi dealing blows to Tinu, Parveen Neelam. Smt. Krishna got up and ran towards the village street for safety. Dharampal-accused chased Smt. Krishna and in the process he dealt Kulhari blow on the neck of Smt. Krishna while she was running. Smt. Krishna sustained that blow on the right side of her neck. Smt. Krishna fell on the ground. Dharampal dealt 2-3 more blows on Smt. Krishna. Thereafter, Dharampal came back to their house. Both the accused give injuries to Tale with their respective weapons i.e. Kulhari and Barchhi. Tale, Smt. Krishna, Neelam, Tinu and Parveen died at the spot on account of the injuries dealt brutally to them by Dharampal and Nirmal. Thereafter, Dharampal and Nirmal dragged the dead bodies and placed the dead bodies in one line in the street. Thereafter, Dharampal and Nirmal while leaving the spot with their respective weapons declared in fear inducing tone that if anybody dared appear against them and gave evidence, he would also meet the same fate. They further declared that two daughters of Tale were still alive and they would also kill them. Smt. Punam and Raj Kumar became terribly frightened. They did not dare come down. They were fearful that the accused would also kill them. Smt. Punam and Raj Kumar became terrified and remained terrified for quite sometime and they came down after the accused had left the spot and saw that Tale, Krishna. Neelam, Tinu and Parveen were dead or account of the injuries on their face, head, neck etc. Dharampal had come to the village on bail a few days earlier in that rape case. Dharampal joined his brother to settle scores with Tale, Krishna, Neelam, Tinu and Parveen on account of their inability to reconcile with 10 years' sentence inflicted on Dharampal in the rape case by the Court 10 years' sentence awarded to Dharampal by the Court generated venom in Dharampal and Nirmal to an extent that they brought about the elimination of the five members of the family of Smt. Punam's parents, rather the total effacement of that family. Smt. Punam went to many people of village Shahpur Turk and requested them to accompany her for reporting the matter to the police but none came forward to accompany her. Thereafter, she became unconscious as result of shock and the sight of ghastly tragedy. At about 10 a.m. she regained consciousness. Thereafter, she along with Karambir, Sarpanch went to Police Station Sadar, Sonepat and lodged FIR Ex. PR. Shri Chaman Lal, SHO, PS Sadar Sonepat accompanied Smt. Punam and Karambir to the spot and reached there. He took ASI Pirthi Singh and other police officials with him. He inspected the spot. He held inquest on the dead bodies of Tale, Krishna, Neelam, Tinu and Parveen and the inquest reports are Ex. PF/1, PG/1, PH/1, PJ/1 and PK/1 respectively. He despatched the dead bodies to Civil Hospital Sonepat for post-mortem examination together with applications Ex. PF/2, PG/2, PH/2, PJ/2 and PK/2 respectively which are requests for post-mortem examination on the dead bodies. He took into possession blood-stained earth from underneath the dead bodies of each of the deceased lying in the thoroughfare street. Thereafter, he took into possession the blood-stained earth from the place where Krishna had fallen after the receipt of injuries at the hands of the accused. SHO, PS Sadar, Sonepat, SI Chaman Lal took into possession blood-stained dari and blood-stained bed sheet from near the main gate after entering into the house of Tale which were lying on the ground. SI Chaman Lal saw 4 cots lying in the courtyard of the house. He took into possession blood-stained quilt having corresponding cuts lying on those cots, he took into possession blood-stained ban of the costs, a pair of leather shoes (Jutti) and also blood-stained earth from underneath the cot. Blood-stained dari, bed sheet, quilt and pair of juttis are P 43 to P 48 made into sealed packet. He took into possession blood-stained bichhona, two pillows, ban of the cot and also the blood-stained earth from underneath the second cot. These articles are P 49, P 50, and P 52, made into sealed packets. From the third cot, he took into possession, blood-stained bichhona, a butidar pillow, ban of the cot and also the blood-stained earth from underneath the third cot. Bichhona and pillow are P 52 to P 53 made into sealed packet. Thereafter, he inspected the fourth cot and took into possession the blood-stained ban, bath room chappal. Hawai Chappal is P 54. SI Chaman Lal got the spot photographed, he prepared rough site plan Ex. PT of place of occurrence. He took into possession the sealed packets containing the cloth of the deceased vide memo Ex. PU. These sealed packets were produced by UGC Krishan Kumar co. 308 before SI Chaman Lal.

7. With a view to bring home to the accused the charge of each of these murders namely the murder of Tale, krishna, Neelam, Tinu and Parveen, i.e. five members of one family, the prosecution examined Ranbir Singh PW 1, Shri Shiv Kumar, COC in the office of Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate, Sonepat PW 2; Shri Kewal Krishan, Copyist in the Court of Mrs. Vivek Bharti Sharma PW 3; Anil Kumar Draftsman, Railway Road, Sonepat PW 6; Smt. Punam PW 8, Shri Raj Kumar PW 9, Shri Chaman Lal, SI, SHO PS Sadar Sonepat PW 10; ASI Pirthi Singh PW 11. Affidavits Ex. PA, PB and PC respectively of UGC Krishan Chander No. 308, constable Jagminder Singh and constable Balbir Singh respectively were tendered in evidence. PWs Karambir and Sarup Singh were given up as won over by the accused. Affidavit Ex. PO of HC Satpal Singh No. 451 was tendered in evidence. Report of the Forensic Science Laboratory. Madhuban Ex. PN was tendered in evidence. Kalu Ram PW was given up as unnecessary. Affidavit Ex. PQ of constable Randhir Singh PW 7 was also tendered into evidence. Dr. Labh Singh, Medical Officer, General Hospital, Sonepat PW 4, Dr. Subhash Mathur, Medical Officer, General Hospital, Sonepat PW 5 were examined with a view to proving the conduct of the post-mortem examination on the dead bodies.

9. On the conclusion of the trial, learned Sessions Judge, Sonepat found the charge of murder of Tale, Krishna, Neelam, Tinu and Parveen proved against both Dharampal and Nirmal. He accordingly convicted them separately under section 302/34, Indian Penal Code for every murder i.e. the murder of Tale, the murder of Krishna, the murder of Neelam, the murder of Tinu and the murder of Parveen vide order dated 3-5-97. Vide order dated 5-5-97, he sentenced them to death on five counts for each murder separately. He sentenced each of them to pay fine of Rs. 50,000/- each on each count. He ordered that they will be hanged by the neck till they be dead. He ordered that death sentence passed upon them shall be executed but only after confirmation by this Court. It was ordered that in default of payment of fine, they would undergo RI for 2 years each. Learned Sessions Judge, Sonepat has forwarded the records of this case with a view to this Court confirming the death sentence passed upon Dharampal Nirmal on 5-5-97 in Sessions Case No. 65 of 1993/Sessions trial No. 4 of 1994 decided on 3/5-5-97 namely State v. Nirmal Singh and Dharampal sons of Chander Singh of village Shahpur Turk (case FIR No. 186 dated 10-6-93 under section 302/34, Indian Penal Code of PS Sadar Sonepat). It was registered as Murder Reference No. 4 of 1997.

30. It was submitted by the learned counsel for the appellants that according to Smt. Punam and Raj kumar, occurrence took place at about 3.30 a.m. FIR was lodged by them at 10 a.m., SI Chaman Lal stated that he completed the recording of the FIR at about 10.30 a.m. Special reports were handed over to constable Randhir singh at 11 a.m. It is strange that the special report reached the hands of the Magistrate at 1 p.m. It was submitted that in fact the FIR came into being shortly before 1 p.m. and that was why it was delivered to the Magistrate at 1 p.m. If it had been really recorded at 10-10.30 a.m., it would reach the Magistrate in no time. There is a distance of 6 1/2 kilometers from village Shahpur Turk to PS sadar, Sonepat. There is distance of 4 kilometers from PS sadar, Sonepat to the Court of the Magistrate. It was submitted that there is 8-9 hours' delay in the loading of the FIR and the lodging of the FIR became delayed because Smt. Punam and Raj Kumar had to be brought from village Basoli and enshrined as eye-witnesses. Suffice it to say, constable Randhir has stated that Ilaqa Magistrate was on leave. His effort was to deliver the special report to the Ilaqa Magistrate and it was when he came to know that Ilaqa Magistrate on leave that he delivered the special report to the other Magistrate. He stated that Smt. Anita Chaudhary, Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate, was Sonepat was the Ilaqa Magistrate of PS Sadar Sonepat. In those days, she was on leave. He further stated that it was not in the knowledge of the police officials posted as PS Sadar, Sonepat that Smt. Anita Chaudhary was on long leave on account of illness in the month of June 1993. A observed earlier, supposing Smt. Punam and Raj Kumar were brought from village Basoli, U.P., they could not have reached before 12 noon. After the receipt of the news of the ghastly carnage which had taken heavy toll viz. the entire family of her parents, she would not have been able to maintain her calm and cool. She would have gone in grave shock and she would not have recovered from that shock so soon. In village Shahpur Turk, no one was left alive so far as her father's family was concerned. There is a distance of 40-50 kilometers between village Basoli and Shahpur Turk. It appears that village Basoli was not connected with direct bus service to village Shahpur Turk. Buses had to be changed on the way. 2 1/2-3 hours had to be spent in the journey. There is no evidence that some taxi was engaged for sending someone to village Basoli for bringing Smt. Punam and Raj Kumar. There is no evidence that the police gave some official conveyance to the one who is supposed to have been sent to village Basoli for bringing Smt. Punam and Raj Kumar. Argument raised by the learned counsel for the appellants is all conjectural and does not stand even a moments scrutiny. It was submitted that in fact the occurrence took place about 12 night and if the occurrence took place at about 12 night, Smt. Punam and Raj Kumar PWs are discrepant as to the time of occurrence vis-a-vis the medical evidence. Dr. Labh Singh who performed post-mortem examination found semi-digested food on the post-mortem examination of Tale, Krishna and Neelam Similarly, Dr. Subhash Mathur who performed post-mortem examination on the dead body of Parveen found semi-digested food in the stomach. He found semi-digested food particles in the stomach of Tinu. It was submitted that food assumes the shape of being semi-digested within 3-4 hours of its ingestion. In support of this submission, he drew our attention to page 175 of Dr. Parikh's Medical Jurisprudence and Toxicology where Dr. Parikh has observed that "in general, milk leaves the stomach rapidly but the large vegetable meals consumed in India do not usually leave the stomach under 4 hours. Chapattis digest to a pulp fairly quickly, within about 2 hours, but do not leave the stomach quickly when other foods are present with them. Dals of all kinds retain their form for 2 to 3 hours, and rice grains retain their form up to 3 to 4 hours. If meat has been eaten along with vegetable foods, it is seldom distinguishable as such after 3 hours, and after 4 hours both green vegetables and roots are also indistinguishable. In general, if at autopsy, one finds that the stomach is full it would suggest that the victim died within 2 hours of taking the last meal if food was distinguishable and 4 hours if food was indistinguishable."