FACTS:
On the night of 15.5.1993, Gurnam Singh was sleeping in the threshing floor of his wheat field for guarding the wheat. According to the prosecution, the accused persons came there at about 10 p.m. in a drunken condition and took Gurnam Singh with them on the pretext of serving him liquor. This was allegedly seen by Santa Singh. Next day i.e. on 16.5.1993, in the morning at 6 a.m., Desa Singh, brother of deceased Gurnam Singh reached in the field to serve him tea. He did not find Gurnam Singh there. On enquiry, he was told by Santa Singh of the adjoining field that the accused persons had taken him away. The prosecution further alleged that on being told by Santa Singh that the accused persons had taken him away, Desa Singh along with Santa Singh went to the residence of accused, Nishan Singh where they came to know that the accused persons had killed Gurnam Singh and their sister, Paramjit Kaur by strangulation because Paramjit Kaur had sexual relations with Gurnam Singh. Thereafter, Desa Singh along with Santa Singh went for lodging the report of murder of Gurnam Singh and Parmajit Kaur. SI Talwinderjit Singh met them on bus stand to whom they reported the matter. It is significant to note that a copy of this FIR reached the area Magistrate only on 16.3.1993 at 10.30 p.m. Upon lodging of FIR, SI Talwinderjit Singh went to the house of accused and found the dead bodies of Gurnam Singh and Paramjit Kaur lying in the courtyard.
The trial court proceeded to convict the accused for the offence under Section 302/34 IPC and sentenced each of them to undergo imprisonment for life and to pay a fine of Rs. 1000/- each, in default to further undergo rigorous imprisonment for one year.
DECISION OF THE HIGH COURT:
In appeal, the High Court found the evidence of Santa Singh unreliable and rejected the same. However, the High Court, on the basis of the post-mortem report that semen was found in the vaginal swabs of deceased Paramjit Kaur which were sent for chemical examination, came to the conclusion that it was deceased Gurnam Singh who himself sneaked into the house of the accused persons and must have had sexual intercourse with Paramjit Kaur and on seeing them in a compromising position, the accused persons must have killed them. On this basis, the High Court came to the conclusion that even if this was proved, it was a case of grave and sudden provocation and as such it could not be a case of murder and would come under Section 304 Part-I read with Section 34 IPC on the basis of first exception to Section 300 IPC. Therefore, the High Court converted the sentence of the accused from imprisonment for life to rigorous imprisonment for five years with fine of Rs. 1000/- each. Hence, this appeal lay before the Apex Court.
ARGUMENTS BY THE APPELLANT:
The learned counsel appearing for the State argued that it was a case of murder as there was no explanation offered by the accused having found two bodies in the courtyard of their house. It was further pointed out that the High Court has erred in disbelieving the version of Santa Singh. According to him, it was natural version of Santa Singh, as on the date of occurrence, he was guarding his threshed wheat crop in his threshing floor which was situated near the threshing floor of Gurnam Singh. He had all the opportunity of watching the happenings in the field of deceased Gurnam Singh.
HELD:
In the view of the Apex Court, Santa Singh in his evidence did not even mention that when he accompanied Desa Singh to the house of Nishan Singh on the next morning, he saw the two bodies in the courtyard of the house of accused persons. And thus the evidence of Santa Singh cannot be accepted.
The Hon’ble Court did not find any reason to differ with the conclusion arrived at by the High Court and thus the appeal was dismissed.