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TMI Blog1992 (9) TMI 371X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... near the place of occurrence while they had been going to make payment due to one Hari Singh on account of purchase of some trees from the said Hari Singh by Jagir Singh. After the said witnesses had seen the murderous assault committed on Gurcharan Singh, Achhar Singh kept guarding the dead body and Jagir Singh went to the village and informed the father and brothers of the deceased about the details of the murder and thereafter he tried to contact Sarpanch and Chowkidar in the village but none of them was available. Thereafter he went to the house of Sajjan Singh, Member Panchayat, but he was also not available in house and on being informed that the said Sajjan Singh was present in a garden at a distance of one mile from the village, Jagir Singh went to the said garden and informed Sajjan Singh and thereafter he went to the Police Station which was about 10 miles from the village and lodged the First Information Report at about 3.00 A.M. in the morning. After that the inquest of the dead body was made and the accused persons, namely, Lakhwinder Singh and Baldev Singh were arrested. It is the case of the prosecution that on being interrogated, the accused, Lakhwinder Singh disclo ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... acquitted Baldev Singh but the learned Sessions Judge inter alia came to the finding that the appellant, Lakhwinder Singh, had committed the murder of Gurcharan Singh and his complicity was clearly established from the evidences of the eye-witnesses of P.W. 1 and P.W. 2 and there was no inconsistency in that regard. The learned Sessions Judge also held that the recovery of the blood stained gandasi at the instance of Lakhwinder Singh and blood stain found on the turban of Lakhwinder Singh also corroborated the testimony of eye-witnesses. In that view of the matter, the learned Sessions Judge convicted the appellant, Lakhwinder Singh, under Section 302, Indian Penal Code, and sentenced him to undergo imprisonment for life. 3. No appeal was preferred by the State against acquittal of Baldev Singh. The appellant, Lakhwinder Singh, however, preferred an appeal against his conviction and sentence in the High Court of Punjab and Haryana in Criminal Appeal No. 174 of 1978. The High Court inter alia came to the finding that in the facts of the case there was no inordinate delay in lodging the F.I.R. in the Police Station which was at a distance of 10 miles and admittedly, the copy ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... sed was related to the eye-witnesses and they were inimical to the accused persons in view of previous disputes which had been amply demonstrated by the documents exhibited on behalf of the accused Lakhwinder Singh and there had been inordinate delay in making the F.I.R. in the Police Station, the veracity of depositions of the said eye-witnesses raises considerable doubt and the same should not be accepted for establishing a grave charge of murder. Mr. Kohli has submitted that admittedly, after about eight hours, the F.I.R. was lodged in the Police Station. Such time is ordinarily sufficient to cook up stories so that evidence proposed to be adduced on behalf of the prosecution fit in with the injuries inflicted on the deceased. Mr. Kohli has also contended that admittedly there are discrepancies in the evidences of the two eye-witnesses and the learned Sessions Judge, therefore, did not accept the prosecution case so far as the co-accused, Baldev Singh is concerned. Both the eye-witnesses had categorically stated that it was Baldev Singh who first inflicted injury with kirpan and thereafter the said Baldev Singh also inflicted multiple injuries when the deceased fell down after b ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... good reasons. The distance of the Police Station was about 10 miles. If the F.I.R. had been lodged by 3.00 A.M. namely within eight hours by covering the distance of 10 miles at night, it cannot be contended that there had been any considerable delay. Moreover, even assuming that there was some delay in lodging F.I.R., such delay certainly does not become fatal for the prosecution case in view of preponderance of evidences adduced in the case. In the instance case, there are two eye-witnesses whose evidences about the complicity of the appellant in causing the murderous assault on the deceased have been consistent and such evidences have been accepted both by the learned Sessions Judge and by the High Court. The benefit of doubt has been given to the co-accused because of certain discrepancies about the complicity of the said co-accused but so far as the appellant is concerned, the evidences of both the eye-witnesses are quite consistent. He has submitted that the gandasi which was recovered at the instance of the accused contained blood stain and on the turban of the accused some blood stain was also found. The presence of blood stain on the gandasi and on the turban of the accus ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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