Gopal Singh vs State of Uttarakhand

Judicial Analysis Court Copy Headnote Facts Arguments Court observation

2025 Supreme(SC) 393

ABHAY S. OKA, UJJAL BHUYAN
Gopal Singh – Appellant
Versus
State of Uttarakhand – Respondent

Advocates appeared:
For the Appellant(s) : Ms. H. L. Chumber, Adv. Ms. Roopa Paul, Adv. Mr. Parveen Paul, Adv. Mr. Satyendra Kumar, AOR Mr. Roshan Singh Thakur, Adv. Mr. Shivam Birt, Adv. Mr. Vishal Rathee, Adv.
For the Respondent(s): Mr. Akshat Kumar, AOR Ms. Anubha Dhulia, Adv.

JUDGMENT

ABHAY S OKA,J Initially, this appeal was preferred by the three accused. Appellant no.1-Hari Singh (accused no.1) is no more. The appeal survives insofar as the appellant no.2-Gopal Singh (accused no.4) and appellant no.3-Avtar Singh (accused no.5)are concerned. PW-1- Soban Singh is the complainant, and the deceased, Gaje Singh, was his brother-in-law. A total of five accused were charge-sheeted for the offences punishable under Sections 302 and 323 read with Section 34 of the Indian Penal Code (for short, ‘the IPC’). The appellants were convicted by the Sessions Court and were sentenced to undergo life imprisonment. The High Court brought down the conviction to Section 304 Part II of the IPC by the impugned judgment.

2. The case of the prosecution is that PW-1, the deceased and the accused were residents of the same village, and there was a prior enmity between them. On 21st November 1997, at around 10:30 p.m., PW-1 was going to the latrine accompanied by the deceased, and when they reached the stand post near the village, stones were thrown at them by the accused, who had sticks and stones in their hands. All of them assaulted PW-1 and the deceased Gaje Singh. One Raghuvi

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