Criminal Appeal No.77 DB of 1999

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IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNAJB AND HARYANA AT

CHANDIGARH

Date of decision: Feb 11, 2008

Criminal Appeal No.77 DB of 1999

Manjit Singh

.....Appellant

vs.

The State of Punjab

......Respondent

CORAM: Hon'ble Mr. Justice Adarsh Kumar Goel

Hon'ble Mr. Justice S.D.Anand

Present:

Ms. Nirmaljeet Kaur, Advocate for the appellant.

Mr. Rajesh Bhardwaj, DAG, Punjab for the State.

JUDGMENT:

The appellant is aggrieved by his conviction under

section 302 IPC for which he has been sentenced to undergo life

imprisonment and to pay fine of Rs.1000/-, in default, to undergo

further RI for six months.

Maninder Kaur PW2, sister of the deceased Jasbir

Singh, visited the house of her aunt (mother's sister as well as wife

of father's brother) Davinder Kaur on 23.12.1996 at 5.30 PM. She

had been brought up by the said Davinder Kaur DW3 as her

parents had died. Her younger brother Jasbir Singh, aged 18 years,

Criminal Appeal No.77 DB of 1999

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was living with Davinder Kaur, who was treating him as her son

after death of his parents. The accused is husband of her sister

Nita. Maninder Kaur was accompanied by Sukhdev Singh (brother

of her husband). Since the call given at the door did not respond,

she opened the door after giving 2-3 kicks and found that accused

Manjit Singh was strangulating the deceased with the aid of a

black coloured Chunni (long cloth). She raised alarm, on which the

accused left the spot. Jasbir Singh had died. She proceeded to

inform the police and met Inspector Charan Dass PW3 on the way,

who recorded her statement Ex.PF at 6.40 PM at Chowk

Chatiwind, Amritsar. According to her, Jasbir Singh was the only

heir of his parents and of Davinder Kaur. A sum of Rs.70,000/-

was deposited in his name, which he could withdraw within few

days of becoming major. The accused wanted to usurp the

property.

Inspector Charan Dass PW3 prepared inquest report

Ex.PC and sent the dead body for post mortem. In the inquest

report, he made a note against Column No.15 that the deceased

was holding hair in his hands. He had mark of strangulation.

Dr. Gurmanjit Singh PW1 conducted post mortem

examination and found a bunch of white and black colour hair in

the fingers of right hand of the deceased. He found the following

injuries:-

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“1. Ligature mark

A reddish brown ligature mark 32 x 3 cms was

present at the level of thyroid cartilage, completely

encircling the neck. An area of 5 cms in the ligature

mark on right side of back of neck was pale in

colour and spared of mark.

2)Multiple reddish brown abrasions (11 in number)

present below the mark on front of neck. Size

varies from 1 x 0.3 cms to 0.2 cm x 0.1 cms.

3)Reddish brown abrasion 1 x 0.5 cms present on

right side of face 1 cm lateral to outer angle of

eye.

4)Reddish brown abrasion 0.5 x 0.2 cms on front of

left leg in its lower 1/3^rd.”

In his opinion, death was on account of legature strangulation

which was sufficient to cause death in the ordinary course of

nature. He handed over, inter-alia, plastic jar containing bunch of

hair removed from the right hand of the deceased. The said hair

was sent to the FSL and as per report Ex.PX, hair contained in

parcel 'A' recovered from the right hand grip of the deceased had

similar character with the hair contained in parcel 'B' alleged to be

of the scalp of the accused. After completing investigation, the

accused was challaned.

The accused denied the prosecution allegations and

stated that his wife was daughter of Davinder Kaur, who had

brought up PW2 Maninder Kaur and the deceased Jasbir Singh

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who were both daughter and son of her sister. Davinder Kaur had

arranged the marriage of Maninder Kaur as well as his wife Nita.

Maninder Kaur was inimical to him and his wife and had not even

attended their marriage. He examined DW1 Navjot Sandhu,

Journalist, DW