IMPORTANT POINT
Appeal against acquittal stands on different footing compared to ordinary appeal. Principles for deciding appeal against acquittal discussed.

JUDGMENT :

Dipak Misra, J.

The present appeal under Section 379 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (for short “CrPC”) is directed against the judgment of conviction and order of sentence dated 9.5.2007 passed by the High Court of Punjab and Haryana at Chandigarh in Criminal Appeal No. 702- DBA of 1997 whereby the High Court has partly reversed the judgment of acquittal dated 9.6.1997 recorded by the learned Additional Sessions Judge, Kaithal in Sessions Trial No. 15 of 1993 instituted for offences punishable under Sections 302 and 307 read with Section 34 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and under Sections 25 and 27 of the Arms Act against the appellant and two others and convicted the appellant alone under Section 302 IPC and sentenced him to undergo rigorous imprisonment for life.

2. Filtering the unnecessary details the broad essential facts, as put forth by the prosecution, are that there was a dispute about the vacant plot of shamlat land where the complainant and his family members used to store their respective kurris (heap of rubbish). The said land was given to Guru Ravidass Mandir by the Gram Panchayat vide resolution dated 22.03.1989. Accused Joginder Singh and Mohinder Singh, both real brothers kept on asserting their ownership over the said land and were not prepared to surrender it. Both the accused were booked twice under sections 107 and 151 of CrPC relating to the said land. On 15.11.1991 about 4:00 pm., Joginder Singh parked his combine harvester on the disputed land which was objected to by deceased Kamla wife of Chander, Murti, wife of Dharambir, Bala, daughter of Sita Ram and other ladies present at that time. But Joginder Singh did not pay any heed to the objection raised by the women, and abused them. In the meantime Chander, Dharambir, PW-3, and Mithan Singh, PW-2, came outside and asked accused Joginder Singh not to park his combine harvester on the disputed land. At that juncture, Mohinder Singh and Anokh Singh, nephew of the accused, arrived at the scene and all of them started abusing the complainant and other women. The initial altercation took a violent turn and both the parties grappled with each other. During the fight accused persons ran away to their houses and returned with weapons. Joginder Singh came armed with a DBBL .12 bore gun while the other two accused did not bring any weapon. As the prosecution story proceeds, both of them raised a ‘lalkara’ in filthy language to kill the members of other side. Accused Joginder Singh fired two shots from his gun pellets of which hit in the chest of Kamla and Bala and also in the chest and mouth of Mithan Singh, PW-2. Accused Mohinder Singh snatched the gun from Joginder Singh and fired two shots that hit the back of Bimla and the stomach region and thigh of Murti. The injured persons fell down on the ground on receipt of gunshot injuries. After hearing the gunshot number of villagers came to the place of occurrence whereafter the accused persons took to their heels. Kamla succumbed to her injuries on the spot and her husband was asked to stay back to guard the dead body of his wife. Pritam Singh, PW-1, Karambir, Mamu Ram and others took the other injured persons in a vehicle to Civil Hospital, Kaithal. Pritam Singh went to Police Station to lodge the FIR and his statement was recorded by the Inspector of Police, Prem Chand, PW-16, and an FIR was registered at 8:30 pm.

3. After the criminal law was set in motion, the investigating agency commenced the investigation and in course of investigation, Prem Chand, PW-16, prepared the inquest report, got the site plan done, collected the blood-stained earth and the pellets lying at the spot, sent the dead body for the post mortem and forwarded the articles to the Forensic Science Laboratory for examination, arrested the accused persons, recovered DBBL .12 bore gun and live cartridges, recorded the statements of other witnesses and after completing all other formalities laid the charge sheet for the offences