judgment

Dr. Arijit Pasayat, J. —

1.Leave granted.

2.Challenge in this appeal is to the order passed by a Division Bench of the Himachal Pradesh High Court upholding the conviction of the appellant for offence punishable under Section 302 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 (in short ‘IPC’). Learned Additional Sessions, Judge-I, Kangra had convicted the appellant and sentenced to undergo imprisonment for life and a fine of Rs.5,000/- with default stipulation.

3.Background facts which led to the trial of the accused are essentially as follows :

Brij Lal (PW-1) is a resident of village Nadd, Tehsil Baroh, District Kangra. Sarwan Kumar (PW-3) also belongs to the same village. On 27.02.2001 marriage of Sanjay Kumar son of PW-3 was solemnized. At about 6.30 p.m. baraat of Sanjay Kumar started on foot from village Nadd to Danoa. PW-1 and his son Sanjeev Kumar (hereinafter referred to as ‘deceased’) also participated in the said marriage party. At about 7.30 p.m. the marriage party reached at a place known as “Thanda Panni”. One more marriage party from village Lahar also reached at “Thanda Pani”. Most of the boys participating in both the marriage parties were singing and dancing. There was some