Judgment

Banerjee, J.-This appeal by special leave is directed against an order of acquittal passed by the Punjab & Haryana High Court at Chand­igarh, reversing the order of conviction and sentence of life impris­onment passed by the learned Sessions Judge under Section 302 IPC and Section 27 of the Arms Act.

2. The occurrence dates back to 16th July, 1983 at about 12.00 noon in a village called Alipur Barota. The prosecution case as made out, depicts that the accused wanted to dig a khal forcibly through the filed of one Maman Ram, which was objected to and the local Sarpanch was also informed accordingly. At a meeting, called by the Sarpanch, it was decided that the matter ought to be resolved amicably and by reason therefor the Penchayat consisting of Kurra Ram (PW 2), Leela Ram (PW 1), Ram Kumar Pamch and Bhim Sen (PW 4) alongwith deceased Maman Ran and a few other persons proceeded towards the filed of the accused. The Maman Ram, the deceased, was few paces ahead of the other members. When however the deceased Maman Ram, was near the field of Kundan Singh, the accused came out of the field with a double barrel gun and on seeing Maman Ram, raised a Lalkara to the effect “pani na