JUDGMENT

Dr. Arijit Pasayat, J. —

1.Challenge in this appeal is to the judgment of a Division bench of the Punjab & Haryana High Court dismissing the appeal filed by the appellants. By a common judgment two appeals and one criminal Revision were disposed of. Four persons faced trial for alleged commission of offence punishable under Section 302 read with Section 34 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 (in short the ‘IPC’). One of them i.e. Gurcharan Singh was acquitted by the learned Sessions Judge, Sirsa. State questioned his acquittal. Similarly the complainant, PW7 also filed the revision petition seeking enhancement of the sentence of convicted accused persons to death sentence, apart from questioning of acquittal of Gurcharan Singh. By the common judgment the High Court dismissed the Criminal Appeal filed by the State and the Criminal Revision filed by the complainant while dismissing the appeal filed by the appellants also.

2.Background facts in a nutshell are as follows :

Sukhdev Singh (PW-7) lodged FIR at 5.30 PM on 3.11.1994 that on 3.11.1994 at about 4.30 PM, he was going with his mother Pritam Kaur to visit the house of his father’s sister on the eve of Diwali festival. At tha