S.S. BYAS, J.—By his judgment dated January 7, 1985 the learned Sessions Judge, Sri Ganganagar convicted accused Shersingh Gurjantsingh, Darshan Singh and Mahendra Singh under section 302/34, I.P.C. and sentenced each of them to imprisonment for life and a fine of Rs. 200/, in default of the payment of fine to further undergo six months rigorous imprisonment. By the same judgment, accused Shersingh was further convicted under section 302, I.P.C. and under section 27 of the Arms Act and was sentenced to imprisonment for life with a fine of Rs. 200/- and one years rigorous imprisonment respectively on these two counts.

2. The incident is alleged to have taken place at about 9.00 p.m. on September 20, 1983 in village Sunderpura P.S. Sadulsahar district Sri Ganganagar, in which two persons Gendasingh (aged about 65 years) and his son Kashmirsingh (aged about 35 years) were put to death by the accused with gun and the Gandasies. Kashmirsingh was the Sarpanch of the Gram Panchayat.

3. The accused arc also residents of village Sunderpura. Accused Gurjant Singh is the son of accused Shersingh while the remaining two Darshansingh and Mahendrasingh are said to be their close associates. There was close relationship between the deceased-victims and the accused Shersingh and Gurjantsingh. The father of accused Shersingh was the real brother of the father of the deceased-victim Gendasingh. Shersingh and Gendasingh were, thus, the first cousins. PW 3 Sukhjeet Kaur is the widow of the deceased Kashmirsingh while pw 4 Kala-singh is the domestic servant of their family. Their houses are situate in the same street of the village as shown in site plan Ex. P. 4. There is only one house in between the houses of the deceased-victims and the accused Shersingh. There are two gates in the house of accused Shersingh, one facing the East and the other facing the South. The Southern gate, shown by mark C in site plan Ex. P 4, is smaller than the Eastern gate. There is no dispute between the parties as regards these facts.

4. Stated in succinct, the prosecution case is that at about 8.00 p. m. on September 19, 1983,, the deceased Kashmirsingh told his wife Mst. Sukhjeet Kaur (PW 3) that a scuffle and an exchange of abuses had taken place between him and accused Gurjantsingh on that day. His father Gendasingh was not there in the village. He had gone to village Bahama Tehsil Muktsar in Punjab. It is alleged that due to this scuffle, Kashmirsingh became apprehensive and he sent PW 6 Jeetsingh to Bahama to bring his father Gendasingh to Sunderpura. Jeetsingh went to village Bahama and brought Gendasingh with him to village Sunderpura. Kashmirsingh apprised his father Gendasingh of his scuffle with accused Gurjant Singh. Gendasingh told him that he would go to Gurjant Singhs father Shersingh to lodge protest and reprimand him. Gendasingh thereafter had a bath, took his meals and left his house to go to accused Shersingh. It was 8. 40 p. m. by then. A little while later, Sukhjeet Kaur, her husband Kashmirsingh and their servant Kalasingh heard some noise in the side of the small gate of accused Shersinghs house. These three persons rushed to that side and found Gendasingh standing in the mid of the street running out-side the Southern gate of the house of accused Shersingh. The four accused Shersingh, Gurjantsingh, Mahendra Singh and Darshansingh were also standing there. Accused Shersingh had a gun with him while the remaining three had Gandasies with them. Gendasingh told accused Shersingh to treat his son Kashmirsingh as his own son. Accused Shersingh there upon told Gendasingh to come near (Ude Aao). Gendasingh and Kashmirsingh went towards the accused. Accused Shersingh fired his gun at Kashmirsingh, which hit him on the back in the left scapular region. Kashmirsingh fell down. Accused Gurjantsingh and Mahendrasingh started landing blows to Gendasingh with their Gandasies. Gendasingh also fell down. Accused Darshansingh struck blows to Kashmirsingh with his

Click Here to Read the rest of this document