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ITEM NO.104 COURT NO.2 SECTION IIB

S U P R E M E C O U R T O F I N D I A

RECORD OF PROCEEDINGS

Criminal Appeal No(s). 151/2010

JASWANT SINGH Appellant(s)

VERSUS

STATE OF HARYANA Respondent(s)

(with office report)

Date : 15/04/2015 This appeal was called on for hearing today.

CORAM :

HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE T.S. THAKUR

HON'BLE MRS. JUSTICE R. BANUMATHI

For Appellant(s)

Dr. Kailash Chand,Adv.

For Respondent(s)

MR.Dinesh Chander Yadav, AAG,

Mr. A.S.Rishi, Adv.

MR. Amit Tripathy, Adv.

MR. Sanjay Kumar Visen, Adv.

Mr. Kamal Mohan Gupta,Adv.

UPON hearing the counsel the Court made the following

O R D E R

The appeal is dismissed in terms of the signed order.

(Shashi Sareen)

(Veena Khera)

Court Master

Court Master

(Signed order is placed on the file)

Digitally signed by

Shashi Sareen

Date: 2015.04.20

10:06:52 IST

Reason:

Signature Not Verified

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IN THE SUPREME COURT OF INDIA

CRIMINAL APPELLATE JURISDICTION

CRIMINAL APPEAL No. 151 OF 2010

JASWANT SINGH

... Appellant(s)

Versus

STATE OF HARYANA

... Respondent(s)

O R D E R

This appeal arises out of a judgment and order dated 21^st

January, 2007 passed by the High Court of Punjab and Haryana at

Chandigarh whereby Criminal Appeal No. 254-DB of 1998 filed by the

appellant has been dismissed and his conviction and sentence of

rigorous imprisonment for life under Section 302, Indian Penal

Code affirmed.

Deceased Jarnailo Devi was married to the appellant just

four months prior to the date of occurrence. The prosecution case

is that the appellant disliked her and used to quarrel with her

asking her to leave his house in which appellant lived jointly

with his elder brother Ajmer Singh. On 08.12.1996 at 6.15 AM the

deceased appears to have got up and come out of her room for

attending to usual domestic chores. She was however asked by her

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sister-in-law (husband's elder brother's wife) to go into her room

as it was too early in the day for her to engage herself in

domestic work. The deceased is said to have followed the

instructions and gone inside the room where her husband-appellant

picked up a plastic can full of kerosene oil sprinkled the same

over her and set her on fire. The deceased raised an alarm

whereupon Phulo Devi and Ajmer Singh the other members of the

family rushed to the spot and extinguished the fire. They removed

the burnt clothes of the deceased and made her wear other cloths

to take her to the hospital.

On receipt of an intimation from the hospital about the

arrival of the deceased in an injured condition S.I. Satbir Singh

PW9 appears to have reached the hospital and after obtaining the

opinion of the attending doctor as to her condition recorded her

statement marked EX.PK. In the statement made by the deceased

before before S.I. Satbir Singh in the presence of Dr. Paramjit

Singh PW8 the deceased accused her husband-appellant herein of

having poured kerosene oil over her and lit her on fire. The

deceased eventually died three days later on 11.12.1996 in the

hospital whereupon the police converted the case into one of

murder punishable under Section 302, Indian Penal Code. With the

completion of the investigation by the police a charge sheet was

filed against the appellant who pleaded not guilty and claimed a

trial.

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At the trial the prosecution examined as many as 9

witnesses including S.I. Satbir Singh, the Investigating Officer.

The witnesses examined at the trial included Dr. Paramjit Singh

PW8 who proved the post mortum report certifying that the burn

injuries found on the body of the deceased w