Judgment

BEG, J.:- This is an appeal by special leave filed by Kesar Singh, aged 23 years, who was convicted under Section 302 Indian Penal Code on three counts and sentenced to life imprisonment by an Additional Sessions Judge of Patiala for having committed the murders of three persons, namely, Gurbachan Singh, Karnail Singh and Dewan Singh, one after another, during the night between 20th and 21st June, 1970, in village Dhablan. On appeal against the conviction and a revision application by the State against the lesser penalty for murder, the High Court of Punjab and Haryana dismissed the appeal of Kesar Singh, but it allowed the revisions application of the State of Punjab enhancing the sentence of Kesar Singh to one of death.

2. The grounds given by the High Court for enhancing the sentence were: the motive was to avenge the murder of the appellant s brother-in-law Gurnam Singh committed about 7 or 8 years prior to the occurrence so that there could be no immediate provocation; the three murders were committed "in a very cold blooded and brutal manner when the deceased were sleeping on their cots", two shots from a 12 bore gun had been fired at each of three murdered men "indica