Judgment

FAZAL ALI, J.

( 1 ) IN this appeal by special leave, three of the appellants, namely, Nirpal Singh, Gurdev Singh and Jagmohan Singh have been convicted under Section 302, Indian Penal Code and sentenced to death. Appellants Devinder Singh and Maha Singh have also been convicted under Section 302, Indian Penal Code but they have been sentenced to imprisonment for life. The Sessions Judge who tried the case made a reference to the High Court which was heard along with the appeal filed by the appellants, and the High Court after considering the judgment of the Sessions Judge and hearing the parties upheld the convictions as also the sentences passed on the appellants and dismissed the appeal. The High Court thereafter refused to grant leave to appeal to Supreme Court against its decision and the appellants have, therefore, come up to this Court after obtaining special leave from this Court.

( 2 ) THIS is a most unfortunate case where the appellants are alleged to have run amuck and started killing as many as five persons, some of them with their guns. They did not leave the spot until the five deceased had been killed. There was of course some background of enmity but the prosecution case as presented reveals five brutal and ghastly murders. What is even more unfortunate is that the occurrence is said to have started on a very trivial provocation which is said to have been given by Amrik Singh who trespassed into the field of Devinder Singh appellant while taking tea for his father in the field. Devinder Singh turned out the little boy on which Nath Singh and Partap Singh deceased who were working in the field protested. The protest of these persons brought a chain of threats by Devinder Singh that he would teach them a lession. This incident had happened on 2/05/1973 at about 6 P. M. It was soon followed up by the brutal and armed attack by the appellants on the deceased who were chased and shot dead one after the other. Smt. Inder Kaur widow of deceased Tulsa Singh also happened to be in the field and she also received injuries at the hands of Maha Singh who is said to have given two gandasa blows by the blunt end of the axe. Thereafter, according to the prosecution, not content with the brutal murders, the appellants dragged the corpses of Nath Singh and Pratap Singh to a place near the field of the accused. The evidence shows that some of the deceased actually begged for mercy and entreated the accused persons to spare their lives, but the accused appear to have turned deaf ears to the human appeals made by the deceased. The deceased persons in the instant case are Pratap Singh, Nath Singh. Thulsa Singh, Jit Singh and Sewa Singh. According to the version put forward by the eye-witnesses, after Devinder Singh had administered threats to Nath Singh and others he returned along with all the other accused variously armed with axes and guns. Maha Singh, Sher Singh and Devinder Singh were armed with gandasas, whereas appellant Gurdev Singh and Jagmohan Singh with double barrel guns and Nirpal Singh was armed with a single barrel gun. As soon as the party of the accused reached near the kotha of the Harjians they raised a lalkara and shouted that Sewa Singh should be finished. As a result of this incitement, the appellants Gurdev Singh, Jagmohan Singh and Nirpal Singh fired their guns on Sewa Singh and shot him dead. Sewa Singh fell dead on the kacha road on the side of Girdharpur. The appellants, however, continued their mission and went towards the other deceased persons, namely, Nath Singh, Tulsa Singh, Jit Singh and Partap Singh. When the appellants noticed the presence of these four deceased persons, they again made a lalkara as a result of which the deceased strated running towards Girdharpur side being hotly pursued by the appellants. Hardly had the four deceased gone about 1 1/2 Kilas (about 280 feet) they entered the field. The accused also entered the field and ultimately Nirpal Singh and Jagmohan Singh fired at Pa