JUDGMENT

B.R. GAVAI, J.

1. These appeals challenge the judgment and order of the High Court of Punjab and Haryana, dated 4th February 2010, in Criminal Appeal No. 430-DB of 2001, upholding the conviction and sentence imposed upon the accused – appellants herein by the Additional Sessions Judge, Bathinda (hereinafter referred to as “Trial Court”), for the offence punishable under Section 302 read with Section 34 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 (hereinafter referred to as “IPC”).

2. The case of the prosecution in brief is as follows:-

2.1 One Harbhajan Singh, a resident of Naga Mahantanwala Dera, had solemnized two marriages, the first with one Sukhwinder Kaur and the second with the accused Manjit Kaur. His first wife bore him four children, complainant Tapinder Singh, deceased Ravinder Singh, and two daughters, both of whom are married. His second wife also bore him two children, namely Navdeep Kaur and Jaswinder Kaur.

2.2 Harbhajan Singh, according to the complainant, had a strained relationship with his first wife. The complainant Tapinder Singh had migrated to the United States of America in the year 1990, and his mother Sukhwinder Kaur had also followed him in the year 1994. It is pe