Judgment

VENKATACHALIAH, J. :- This appeal, by Special Leave, preferred against the judgment dt. April 26,1976 of the High Court of Punjab and Haryana affirming the judgment dt. 26-4-1976 of the Sessions Judge in S. C. No. 5 of 1976 convicting appellant for offences under Ss. 302 and 120-B, Penal Code, and sentencing her to imprisonment for life, raises certain questions as to the nature and extent of corroboration of an accomplices evidence; and as to the procedure for the trial of offences by a "child" under the East Punjab Children Act, 1949.

Appellant - Balwant Kaur was said to be 151/2 years of age at the time of the commission of the offences alleged against her.

2. From 14-11-1973 the whereabouts of appellants husband Pritam Singh, a police-constable, were not known. His mother Mukhtiar Kaur (P.W. 19) reported this fact and expressed her apprehensions in the matter in her complaint to the Superintendent of Police. Appellant was arrested on 8-5-1975. Nand Singh and Ram Sarup were also arrested on 8-5-1975. Ram Sarup became an approver. Appellants defence was one of total denial.

3. The judgment of the High Court under appeal is common to Criminal Appeal No. 676 of 1976 preferred by Nand Singh who was convicted under Ss. 302, 364, 201 and 120-B, I.P.C. and also sentenced to imprisonment for life.

4. Appellants husband, Pritam Singh for whose murder appellant and the said Nand Singh had been arraigned was, at the relevant time, a police-constable at the Police Station West, Sector-11 Chandigarh. Nand Singh was another constable at the same Police Station. Nand Singhs brother Bhag Singh and Pritain Singh were neighbours, residing in adjacent Government quarters in Sector 20-A, Chandigarh. Ram Sarup, who later turned approver, was another police constable on guard duty at the Punjab Raj Bhavan, Chandigarh.

5. The married life of appellant and Pritarn Singh, according to the prosecution, lacked connubial felicity and was marked by constant bickerings and quarrels, the cause for this discord being the addiction of Pritam Singh to liquor. It is the prosecution case that Pritarn Singh was a dipsomaniac and was constantly subjecting appellant to corporeal intransigence. It was further alleged that appellant had developed illicit intimacy with Nand Singh. Ram Sarup, in the course of his visits to Bhag Singhs house met, and became friendly with Nand Singh and the two became accustomed to take liquor together. Ram Sarup also knew deceased Pritarn Singh. It is alleged that on occasions Nand Singh, when he lost self-control under the influence of liquor, used to confide in Ram Sarup of his illicit sexual exploits with appellant. This appears to have tempted Ram Sarup to ask Nand Singh to introduce Ram Sarup also to appellant for a similar intrigue.

6. On Nov. 13, 1973, in the afternoon when Ram Sarup was off-duty, Nand Singh took Ram Sarup to his own quarters in Sector 20A said to be at a short distance from the appellants residence and the two had liquor together. Thereafter, Nand Singh is stated to have taken Ram Sarup to the residence of, and introduce him to the, appellant and persuaded her to gratify the desire of Ram Sarup also. Appellant and Ram Sarup are stated to have indulged in acts of illegal intimacy.

Later, the same afternoon, the three met again at appellants home when, it would appear, appellant while narrating the privations and hardships endured by her at the hands of her husband broke down and implored Nand Singh and Ram Sarup to do away with Pritam Singh. She appears to have also offered that after Pritarn Singhs death she would marry and live with Nand Singh, who was then unmarried. According to the prosecution, it was agreed amongst the three that the appellant should persuade her husband to reach Chandigarh bus stand the following day i.e. Nov. 14, 1973 and that Nand Singh and Ram Sarup, who would be present there, would entice him away to Pinjore with the inducement of liquor and do away with him there.

7. Pursuant to