Judgment :

GANGULY, J.

1. Delay condoned.

2. Leave is granted in both the special leave petitions. They are heard together as common questions of facts and law are involved.

3. One Kiranjit Kaur, daughter of a handicapped school master, was abducted when she was returning from school on 29.07.1997, and then gang-raped and murdered by Gurprit Singh, Jagraj Singh, Desh Raj and Partap Singh. The Hon'ble Additional Sessions Judge, Barnala, after holding the trial convicted and sentenced them to undergo life imprisonment. In the area an Action Committee was formed to ensure that accused persons, involved in the gang-rape and murder of that girl, were brought to book. That committee consisted, inter-alia, of Manjit Singh, Prem Kumar and Narayan Dutt, accused in the present case, as its members. Ultimately, the accused persons in the case of gang-rape and murder of Kiranjit Kaur were punished, as aforesaid.

4. On 3.03.2001, Beant Singh (father of Jagraj Singh), Dalip Singh (grandfather of Jagraj Singh), Gurnam Singh and Rajinder Pal Singh (nephew of Dalip Singh), while coming out of Court, after hearing a criminal case, were attacked by a mob consisting of 7 persons, namely- Sukhwinder Singh, Labh Singh and Avtar Singh (all armed with kirpans), Bakhtaur Singh (armed with a ghop), Manjit Singh (armed with a kirch), along with Prem Kumar and Narayan Dutt (both without any weapon in their hands). Apparently, Bakhtaur Singh gave a blow to the head of Dalip Singh, who was being allegedly held by Prem Kumar and Narayan Dutt, which resulted in his death.

5. Beant Singh lodged an FIR on the same day under Sections 307, 148, 149 and 120B of IPC and investigation commenced in the matter. During the course of investigation Dalip Singh had passed away, and thus, the charge under Section 302 IPC was added. After investigation, the police, in its report under Section 173 Cr.P.C, found that Manjit Singh, Prem Kumar and Narayan Dutt were innocent. Thus, charge sheet was filed by the police only against the remaining four accused under Sections 302/34, 326, 325, 324 and 323 IPC and the case was committed to the Court of Sessions for trial. At the stage of trial, Beant Singh moved an application on 11.9.2001 under Section 319 Cr.P.C., whereupon the Sessions Judge by an order dated 19.9.2001 summoned Manjit Singh, Prem Kumar and Narayan Dutt. The Sessions Judge found a prima-facie case against them and framed charges against all accused, including those three, under Sections 302, 148, 326, 325, 324 and 323 of IPC on 6.2.2002.

6. However, the prosecution then filed an application dated 29.10.2002 under section 321 Cr.P.C., seeking to withdraw the case against Manjit Singh, Prem Kumar and Narayan Dutt and that was disallowed by the Trial Court vide order dated 7.11.2002.

7. Aggrieved, the accused filed criminal revision petitions (No. 2248/2002 and 2413/2002), which were dismissed by the High Court of Punjab and Haryana vide common order dated 14.10.2003. A Special leave petition filed by the State of Punjab against the order of the High Court dated 14.10.2003 was also dismissed by this Court.

8. Accordingly, the trial commenced against all the 7 accused.

9. The Additional Sessions Judge, Barnala, convicted all the accused by judgment and order dated 28.03.2005 and convicted them under Sections 148 IPC and Sections 302, 302/149, 323, 149, 324, 325 and 326 on various counts and passed an order of life sentence on 30.03.2005.

10. All the accused appealed before the High Court of Punjab and Haryana. During the pendency of the appeals, Narayan Dutt, Manjit Singh and Prem Kumar also filed petitions under Article 161 of the Constitution of India before the Governor of Punjab.

11. The Governor of Punjab, vide order dated 24.07.2007, in exercise of his powers under Article 161, granted pardon to Narayan Dutt, Prem Kumar and Manjit Singh and they were directed to be released immediately.

12. Challenging that order Rajinder Pal Singh filed a writ petition