IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB & HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH

239 CRR-3832-2018 (O&M)

Date of decision: 17.02.2026.

MANJIT SINGH AND OTHERS ...Petitioner(s)

VERSUS STATE OF PUNJAB ...Respondent(s)

CORAM : HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE VINOD S. BHARDWAJ Present :- Mr. Manpreet Singh, Advocate, for Mr. Arnav Sood, Advocate, for the petitioners.

Mr. Mohit Kapoor, Sr. DAG, Punjab. VINOD S. BHARDWAJ, J. (Oral)

Challenge in the present petition is to the judgment of conviction and order of sentence dated 07.09.2017 passed by the Judicial Magistrate First Class, Dasuya, whereby the petitioners have been ordered to be released on probation on their furnishing probation bonds in the sum of Rs. 10,000/- with one surety of the like amount as well as to the judgment dated 22.05.2018 passed by the Additional Sessions Judge, Hoshiarpur, in Criminal Appeal No.CIS No.338 of 06.10.2017, whereby the appeal preferred by the petitioners has been dismissed and order of releasing them on probation has been upheld.

2 Tersely, facts of the case are that on 19.06.2013, three medico- legal reports pertaining to injured namely Davinder Singh, Manjit Singh and Sukhbir Kaur, all residents of Village Kandhala Jatta, were received at Police Station Tanda and entrusted for inquiry. The police party reached Community Health Centre, Tanda, however, the injured were declared unfit to make statements at that time. Subsequently, on 21.06.2013, injured Davinder Singh was declared fit and his statement was recorded. In his statement, Davinder Singh alleged that on the evening of 19.06.2013, upon hearing noise from his house, he found the accused persons, namely Manjit Singh, Sukhvir Kaur, Rajdeep Kaur and one unknown person, armed with various weapons, abusing his wife and pelting stones from the roof of their adjoining house. When he confronted them, the accused allegedly raised a lalkara and trespassed onto his roof, whereafter Manjit Singh inflicted a kirpan blow on his chest and back, the unknown person caused injury with a sharp-edged weapon on his knee and Rajdeep Kaur gave a danda blow on his head, as a result of which he fell down. It was further alleged that the accused dragged him towards their house and caused further injuries, until he was rescued by his family members and taken to the hospital. On the basis of the aforesaid statement, FIR No.152 dated 21.06.2013 was registered under Sections 323, 324 and 34 IPC. During investigation, statements of witnesses under Section 161 Cr.P.C. were recorded. A cross- version was also registered on the basis of the statement of Sukhvir Kaur vide DDR No.32 dated 21.06.2013 under Sections 323, 354, 452 and 34 IPC. During inquiry, accused Rajdeep Kaur was found innocent. Upon completion of investigation, the accused were arrested and the final report under Section 173 Cr.P.C. was presented before the trial Court.

On presentation of challan and on appearance of accused before the court, all relevant copies of documents, as relied upon by prosecution were supplied to the accused free of costs.

3 Finding prima-facie case for the offence punishable under section 323, 324,342,448,34 IPC, accused were charge-sheeted accordingly to which they pleaded not guilty and claimed trial.

4 To prove its case, prosecution examined Davinder Singh as PW1, Kulwant Kaur as PW-2, Dr. Preet Mohinder Singh as PW-3, ASI Dilbagh Sigh as PW-4 and Rajesh Rani as PW-5 (wrongly written as PW-4)

5 After closing evidence of prosecution, statement of accused was recorded under section 313 Cr.PC in which all the incriminating evidence against the accused was put forth, to which they pleaded their innocence and stated that they have been falsely implicated in the present case. They also stated that on 19.6.2013 at about 08:15 p.m., Davinder Singh came from his house and scaled the wall of the house of Manjit Singh and torn the clothes of Sukhvir Kaur. Further, Davinder Singh rubbed her breast and abdomen, Kulwinder Kaur slapped her, gave bricks and bat blows and a cross case was reg