TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
1981 (1) TMI 249
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....ding the appeal the High Court enlarged Wasson Singh accused on bail. The occurrence now in question in the instant case took place when Wasson Singh was on bail. The lands of Avtar Singh, Mukhtar Singh and Harbhajan Singh accused (respondents) adjoin the lands of Hazara Singh deceased. Three or four days prior to the incident in question, the cattle of these accused persons trespassed on the land of Hazara Singh and damaged his cotton crop. Thereupon, a sharp altercation took place between Hazara Singh and Resham Singh on one side and Harbhajan Singh and Mukhthar Singh on the other. Gajjan Singh son of Gopal Singh resident of the village interceded and pacified the parties. Joginder Singh accused respondent is the brother of Mukhtar Singh accused respondent while Harbhajan Singh Respondent is their first cousin. Mukhtar Singh and Harbhajan Singh accused are alleged to be partyman of Wasson Singh. On August 4, 1973 at about 3.30 p.m., Resham Singh (P.W.2). Resham Singh (deceased) son of another Hazara Singh and Hazara Singh deceased were proceeding by the foot-path from the Bus Stand Amarkot to their hamlet. On the way Bachan Singh, brother of Hazara Singh, met them and proceede....
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.... some live cartridges. The rifle and the empty cartridges earlier found at the scene of crime were sent to the ballistic expert for examination and opinion. After examination, the ballistic expert of the Forensic Science Laboratory, Chandigarh, reported (vide Ex. P. 9) that the 303 fired cartridge, marked C, had been fired through the 303 rifle marked `A' by him. But no definite opinion could be given regarding the linkage of the fired cartridge marked C, with the 303 rifle marked `A' due to lack of sufficient individual characteristic marks on C2. Joginder Singh accused was arrested on August 24, 1973 and Baj Singh accused on December 18, 1973. The post mortem examination of the dead-body of Resham Singh was performed by Dr. Gursharan Kaur on August 5, 1973 at 8 a.m. The Doctor found five gun-shot injuries on his body. Two of these were wounds of entry, with everted margins on the back of the left chest. No charring was present on any of these gun-shot wounds. The death in the opinion of the Doctor was due to shock and haemorrhage resulting from gun-shot injuries on the chest which were sufficient to cause death in the ordinary course of nature. On the same day, Dr. Gursharan Kau....
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....tness against Wasson Singh in Ajit Singh's murder case. The trial Judge further accepted the prosecution evidence in regard to the fact that a few days before this occurrence in question, there was a: quarrel between Hazara Singh deceased and Resham Singh (P.W. 2) on one side and Mukhtar Singh, and Harbhajan Singh accused on the other, when the cattle of the accused had trespassed on the land of the deceased and damaged his cotton crop; and that on account of this ill- will, Joginder Singh, Mukhtar Singh and Harbhajan Singh accused had a sufficient motive to join hands with Wasson Singh accused to murder Hazara Singh deceased. The trial Judge further found that the prosecution had failed to establish the exact nature of the motive which might have actuated Meja Singh and Baj Singh to murder Resham Singh deceased. The trial Judge further held that the F.I.R. which had been lodged by Resham Singh with great promptitude at Police Station Valtoha, which was about three miles from the place of occurrence, furnished valuable corroboration of the evidence of Resham Singh (P.W. 2). He accepted the evidence of Resham Singh and Bachan Singh. He further found that Sub-Inspector Bishambar Lal....
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...., who was the principal target of the accused. (ii) (a) Excepting in the case of Wasson Singh who had undoubtedly a grudge against Hazara Singh deceased, it has not been satisfactory established by the prosecution that the other five accused had any motive to commit the murders in question. (b) Gajjan Singh, who is said to have interceded and pacified both the parties at the time of the alleged quarrel over cattle trespass, three or four days prior to the occurrence, between Mukhtar Singh and Harbhajan Singh on one hand and Hazara Singh deceased and Resham Singh (P.W. 2) on the other, has not been examined by the prosecution. (c) There was no mention about this earlier incident in the statement of Bachan Singh (P.W. 3) before the police during investigation. (iii) Both Resham Singh and Bachan Singh, P.Ws. had earlier been involved in cases of serious crime, and Bachan Singh was admittedly registered as a bad character with the Police. On account of their antecedents, Resham Singh and Bachan Singh do not appear to be reliable people. (iv) The prosecution story is highly unnatural. The presence of these two eye-witnesses along with the deceased persons was unlikely. Had these wi....
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....ridges recovered from the spot were sent to the ballistic expert earlier, they were returned to the Police Station on the plea that the test cartridges had not been sent along with those empties. "Even if it was so, there was no need of sending the crime cartridges to the Police Station, as the test cartridges could be sent for through a separate letter. In this situation, the suggestion that the crime cartridge had been later on fired through rifle (Ex. P7) when it was recovered cannot be considered improbable". (ix) "On arrival at the scene of the incident, P.W. 13 found Joginder Singh accused at a distance of about 100 yards irrigating his field. According to Bishamber Lal, he interrogated Joginder Singh there and then, but did not arrest him. If Joginder Singh accused had been found near the scene of the crime within a short time, engaged in his normal activities, his participation in the crime would be highly improbable". Learned counsel for the appellant vehemently contends that the reasoning of the High Court is manifestly unsound, if not wholly perverse. Great emphasis has been laid on the fact that the First Information Report, in this case was lodged by Resham Singh (PW....
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....W. 2) had succeeded in escaping unhurt, or that there are discrepancies in the statements of Resham Singh (P.W. 2) and Bachan Singh (P.W. 3), as to whether they had gone to Amarkot with Hazara Singh deceased on the very day of occurrence or a day earlier, was no ground for jumping to the conclusion that P.W. 2 was not in the company of the deceased or nearabout the scene of occurrence when Hazara Singh and Resham Singh were shot dead. The occurrence took place on August 4, 1973, While Resham Singh (P.W. 2) and Bachan Singh (P.W. 3) were examined at the trial on December 27, 1974, that is to say, 17 months after the incident. Such discrepancies in regard to collateral or subsidiary facts or matters of detail occur even in the statements of truthful witnesses, particularly when they are examined to depose to events which happened long before their examination. Such discrepancies are hardly a ground to reject the evidence of the witnesses when there is general agreement and consistency in regard to the substratum of the prosecution case. As rightly observed by the trial court, Resham Singh (P.W.2) was never cross- examined by the defence regarding his whereabouts and that of Hazara S....
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....0 p.m. Police Station Valtoha is three miles from Bus Stand Amarkot. According to Resham Singh, the occurrence took place at about 3.30 p.m. On seeing the occurrence and after eluding the pursuit, Resham Singh, as he says, ran to Adda Amarkot through the fields covering a distance of about one kilometre. According to P.W. 2, his motor-cycle was lying at a shop in Amarkot. He picked up his motor-cycle from there and drove to the Police Station, Valtoha and without loss of time lodged the first information, there. The endorsement on Ex. PE, bears out that the copy of the First Information was in the hands of Shri K. K. Garg, Judicial Magistrate, First Class, Patti, at 6.30 p.m. This circumstance assures the truth of the prosecution evidence on the point that the First Information Report was made by Resham Singh (P.W. 2) at the Police Station at 4.30 p.m., that is within two hours of the occurrence without undue delay. The learned Judges of the High Court have not at all dealt with the F.I.R. or the promptitude with which it was made. They doubted Resham Singh's version that from Amarkot he went on his own motor- cycle to Valtoha Police Station. The argument employed by the High Court....
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.... the F.I.R. at the spot after deliberation with Resham Singh and others. This contention was rightly rejected by the trial court. As observed earlier, since it had rained a day prior to the occurrence, the kacha path from Amarkot to the scene of occurrence and to the hamlet of the deceased must have been muddy and slippery. Therefore, the very suggestion that from village Ban to Amarkot and thereafter to Valtoha, Resham Singh went on his motor-cycle, was improbable. Moreover, from the conduct of the Investigating Officer, Bishamber Lal, it appears that he was not favourably disposed towards the deceased and the informant. Indeed, a suggestion was put to Bishamber Lal (P.W. 13) by the Public Prosecutor, that he has been unfair in the investigation of the case and tried to favour Joginder Singh and Meja Singh accused. The learned trial Judge found that the investigation conducted by Sub-Inspector Bishamber Lal was biased in favour of Joginder Singh and Meja Singh accused persons, and that the Sub-Inspector fraudently interpolated a note in his zimini to help Joginder Singh accused. The High Court has, also, found that this note in the zimini was a fraudulent insertion. This being th....
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....on the evidence of P.W.2 and P.W.3, against each of the accused. Excepting the immaterial discrepancies considered earlier, the evidence of P.W. 2 and P.W. 3 was consistent, and their presence as already mentioned, at the time and place of murders was probable. Even so, as a matter of abundant caution, it will be safe to act on their interested evidence to the extent to which some assurance is coming forth from surrounding circumstances or other evidence. The story narrated by the eye-witnesses, Resham Singh and Bachan Singh is that Wasson Singh, Mukhtar Singh and Joginder Singh first fired a volley of rifle shots at Hazara Singh deceased as a result of which he dropped dead at the spot. The evidence of the Doctor who performed the autopsy on the dead-body of Hazara Singh is to the effect that there were two bullet wounds of entry on the left side of the head. These wounds were located at a distance of 2-1/2 cms. from each other. There were two corresponding wounds of exit. There was no blackening or charring around these wounds of entry. This indicates that these injuries were caused by bullets fired almost simultaneously from two separate rifles from a distance beyond 6 feet. Th....
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....d get the same discovered. P. W. 13 recorded that statement (Ex. P 1). Thereafter, the accused was taken to village Thathiwala where he led the Sub-Inspector in the presence of Sardul Singh and Ajit Singh Constables, to that bundle and got discovered the rifle (Ex. P7) and the cartridges (Ex. P8 to 12) therefrom. The Sub-Inspector prepared the sketch of the rifle and the memo (Ex. PM) which was attested by the aforesaid Constables. The rifle and the cartridges were sealed into parcels and were thereafter sent through Constable Ajit Singh, with seals intact, to the Police Station where they were received by the Moharrir Head Constable Natha Singh (P.W. 10). P.W. 13 has also, stated that he had on August 4, 1973 on inspecting the scene of murders, found two empty cartridges (Ex.P3 and Ex. P4) from near the dead-body of Hazara Singh. The witness took them into possession and sealed them into a parcel in the presence of Anokh Singh and Gajjan Singh witnesses, and prepared the memo (Ex. PG). The parcel containing the empties was later deposited by the Sub-Inspector, with seals in tact, in the Malkhana of the Police Station. The evidence of Sub-Inspector Bishamber Lal, with regard to t....
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.... the live cartridges recovered from Mukhtar Singh accused. In the Report (Ex. PQ) of the Ballistic Expert (L. A. Kumar) which was tendered in evidence and admitted without objection, it is opined that the empty (crime) cartridge, marked C1, had been fired through the rifle (Ex. P7). In cross-examination, the defence suggested to P.W. 13, that he had purposely recalled the parcel containing the empty cartridges from the Forensic Science Laboratory for creating evidence against the accused and he did so by firing one cartridge through the rifle (Ex. P7). The oblique suggestion was that the cartridge, marked C1 which in the opinion of the Ballistic Expert had been fired through the rifle (Ex. P7) was substituted for the original empty cartridge that had been found at the scene of murder. The Sub-Inspector emphatically denied the suggestion. It was further suggested to P.W. 13 that the rifle (Ex. P7) had, in fact, been handed over to the Police by the relations of the deceased after procuring it from some source. This was also stoutly denied by P.W. 13. The learned trial Judge discarded this evidence relating to the discovery of the rifle (Ex. P7) at the instance of the accused, Mukh....
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....ty to witness the recovery devalues that evidence but does not render it inadmissible. Although a suggestion of "planting" the rifle, and fabricating the evidence of the empty cartridge (C1) was put to Sub-Inspector Bishamber Lal in cross-examination, no such allegation was made, nor any such plea was set up by Mukhtar Singh accused when the evidence relating to the recovery of the two empties from the spot, the discovery of the rifle (Ex. P7) at his instance and the opinion (Ex. PQ) of the Ballistic Expert was put to this accused in his examination under Section 342, Cr. P.C. The circumstance of the recovery of the rifle (Ex. P7) and the opinion of the Ballistic Expert that the empty cartridge (marked C1) (found on August 4, at the scene of murder) had been fired through the rifle (Ex. P7),- though feeble it might be-was relevant and furnished a further pointer to the participation of Mukhtar Singh in the commission of Hazara Singh's murder by rifle-fire. In sum, sufficient assurance of the testimony of P.W. 2 and P.W. 3, was available from the circumstantial evidence discussed above, regarding the participation of Wasson Singh and Mukhtar Singh accused in the murder of Hazara Sin....