IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB & HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH Date of Decision:-01.05.2025 Avtar Singh ......Petitioner.

Vs.

State of Punjab ......Respondent.

CORAM:- HON’BLE MR. JUSTICE JASJIT SINGH BEDI Present:- Mr. Mohit Garg, Advocate for the Petitioner.

Mr. Harkanwar Jeet Singh, Assistant Advocate General, Punjab.

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JASJIT SINGH BEDI, J.(ORAL)

The present revision petition has been filed impugning the judgment dated 11.07.2009 passed by Additional Sessions Judge, Patiala whereby the appeal filed against the judgment of conviction and order of sentence dated 26.09.2008 passed by Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate, Patiala has been dismissed.

2. The FIR in the present case came to be registered on 21.07.2004. The judgment of conviction was passed on 26.09.2008 by the Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate, Patiala. The Appeal filed against the order of conviction was dismissed on 11.07.2009 by the Additional Sessions Judge, Patiala. The instant revision petition was filed on 31.08.2009 and has come up for final hearing now i.e. after a period of more than 20 years from the date of registration of the FIR.

3. Briefly stated, the case of the prosecution is that on 21.7.2004, complainant Kuldeep Singh son of Uttam Singh, Jat by caste, resident of village Hassanpur, PS Sadar, Patiala, aged 50 years, got recorded his statement Ex. PC with HC Pawlinder Singh of PP Bhadurgarh. In the statement the complainant stated that he was an agriculturist. On that day, he along-with his nephew Harwinder Singh son of Sukhwant Singh were going on their separate bicycles towards Gurudwara Sahib Naumi Patshahi, Bahdurgarh in order to pay obeisance. When they reached on the Patiala Rajpura road near the water tank, the nephew of the complainant was at a distance of about 30/35 karams. Meanwhile, a bus being driven in a rash and negligent manner, without blowing horn came from their back side and struck against the bicycle of his nephew. Due to said accident, his nephew fell towards his left hand side and the bus ran over him and stopped a little ahead. The driver of the bus and passengers alighted from it. The complainant enquired the whereabouts of the driver, who disclosed his name as Avtar Singh s/o Harpal Singh r/o village Hadowate, PS Machiwara. Then the complainant took care of his nephew, who was unconscious. He had received multiple injuries on his head, face and blood was also oozing from the injuries. The complainant read the number of the bus as PB-12-E-9265 and it belonged to Punjab Roadways Chandigarh. In the meantime co villager s/o Gurdial Singh arrived there. The accident took place at about 4:15 PM. A number of persons gathered at the spot. Taking advantage of the public gathered at the spot, the accused made good his escape. Gurmeet Singh made arrangement for a vehicle and Harwinder Singh was shifted to Rajindera Hospital, Patiala, where he was declared dead. After depositing the dead body of Harwinder Singh in Mortuary, when the complainant was going to lodge complaint, the police party met him at the place of occurrence where he got recorded his statement. The accident has taken place due to the rash and negligent driving of the bus. After recording the statement of the complainant, the investigating officer made his endorsement, EX. PC/1 on it and sent it to the police station through PHG Harnek Singh, on the basis of which formal FIR against the accused Ex. PC/2 was recorded.

The investigating officer arranged photographers, who took photographs of the place of occurrence. Rough site plan Ex. PW6/A was prepared by the investigating officer. The bus bearing registration number PB-12-E-9265 and bicycle of deceased were taken into police possession vide memos Ex. PD and Ex. PE respectively On 22.7.2004, the investigating officer prepared the inquest report Ex. PW6/C of the deceased Harwinder Singh and got conducted post mortem examination vide report Ex.PF. The application moved by the investigating officer in this regard is Ex PW6/B. The dea