JUDGMENT

Sema, J.-A bizarre tale of gruesome murder in which eight members of two families - Sukhwant Singh, wife Piar Kaur, daughters Gurjit Kaur (12 years) and Gogi (9 years) and Bhupinder Singh, wife Joginder Kaur, sons Harjinder Singh (6 years) & Bhupinder Singh (13 years), were climinated by the appellants due to greed to grab the land of the deceased - Sukhwant Singh. The murder was engineered by the accused Bachittar Singh, the younger brother of the deceased. The story of Pahom in Shakespere s play. "How much land does a man need?" is being repeated in these proceedings. Ultimately, the land required is a place for funeral pyre and burial .

2. Recapitulation of brief facts is necessary. Accused-Bachittar Singh had two brothers - deceased Sukhwant Singh and Bhupinder Singh, who were elder to him. All the three brothers were residents of the Village Dholewala. Sukhwant Singh and Bhupinder Singh were residing in the Haveli, whereas accused Bachittar Singh was residing separately in the Village. On 19-4-1994, at about 6.30 A.M., daily diary report No. 35 was got recorded by Bachittar Singh, stating therein that during the night time he had gone to irrigate his land and when he