J. B. Garg, J.
1. Puran Singh, son of Kartar Singh of village Joga, has been convicted by Shri R. L. Anand, Sessions Judge, Bhatinda under Section 302 of the Indian Penal Code and sentenced to rigorous imprisonment for life and also required to pay a fine of Rs. 1,000/ and in default of payment of fine, he shall further undergo rigorous imprisonment for a period of one year. Aggrieved against it the present appeal has been attempted.
2. Briefly the story of the prosecution is that at about 9.00 p.m., Puran Singh was in a drunken condition in front of the house of the complainant Gurdial Singh. Gurjant Singh and Nant Singh, the two brothers, were standing outside their house, prevented Puran Singh to keep himself under control and not to make a noise. Puran Singh grappled with Gurjant Singh and took away the turban of aforesaid Gurjant Singh. A little later, Gurjant Singh along with his two brothers Gurdial Singh and Bant Singh proceeded to the house of Puran Singh for making remonstrance and for collecting his turban back. Puran Singh came out of his house and gave a lathi blow on the head of Gurjant Singh and as a consequence of this injury, Gurjant Singh fell on the ground and became unconscious. Gurdial Singh and Bant Singh witnesses raised an alarm ''Marta Marta'' upon which, the accused ran away and thereafter, the (Gurdial Singh and Bant Singh) carried their brother Gurjant Singh to Civil Hospital, Joga where he was found unconscious by Dr. R. K. Garg (PW5), who was the In charge of the Primary Health Centre, Joga. He sent an intimation to the Station House Officer of Police Station, Joga at 9.30 p.m. and after giving first aid, he advised that the injured be taken to the Civil Hospital, Mansa. The injured was then brought to the Civil Hospital, Mansa. Shri Surjit Singh, Assistant SubInspector of Police Station, Joga, reached the Civil Dispensary, Joga and recorded the statement of Gurdial Singhbrother as well as the eye witness at 10.45 p.m. on 3.2.1991 and on the aforesaid statement, the case was originally registered under Section 308 of the Indian Penal Code and thereafter, it was converted into one under Section 302 of the Indian Penal Code because Gurjant Singh died at 8.15 a.m. on 4.2.1991. The postmortem was conducted by Dr. H. S. Sandhu (PW4). Puran Singhaccused was arrested on 8.2.1991 and as a consequence of his disclosure statement, the turban Exhibit P1 of the deceased was recovered vide memo Exhibit PK and the lathi Exhibit P2 was also recovered at his instance the same day vide memo Exhibit PL.
3. PW4 Dr. H. S. Sandhu of Civil Hospital, Mansa conducted the postmortem examination on the dead body of Gurjant Singh, son of Bagga Singh, aged 25 and the injury found on the person of the deceased is as under :
"Lacerated wound 4 x 1 cms. on top of the head, 2 cms. right to the mid line. Wound was obliquely placed. It was bone deep. Clotted blood was present. Haematoma was present in the sub cutaneous tissues. On dissection was underlying bone was fractured. Brain matter was contused. Blood clots and liquid blood was present in the cranial cavity. The pericardeum was contained small amount of blood."
He has also opined that the injury could be caused by lathi Exhibit P2.
4. PW1 is Gurdial Singh, the complainant as well as the eye witness, whose statement was recorded by Surjit Singh, Assistant Sub Inspector at Civil Hospital, Joga.
5. PW2 is Bant Singh, another brother of the deceased, who had also accompanied Gurjant Singh and was an eye witness.
6. PW3 is Surjit Singh, Assistant SubInspector who reached the Primary Health Centre, Joga on receipt of ruqa Exhibit PE which was delivered to him at 9.50 p.m. on 3.2.1991 and recorded the statement of the complainant and proceeded with further investigation of the case and its completion.
7. The relevant part of the statement of the accused recorded under Section 313 of the Code of Criminal Procedure in the trial Court is reproduced as under :
"On 3.2.91 at about, 7 p.m. he came to my house armed with gandasa and started abusing in the name of my sister. Myself, my uncle Avtar Singh, my sister Rani and my brother Gurjant Singh were present in the house. I asked him not to abuse me as my unmarried sister was there in the house. His turban fell down on account of his intoxication and he came forward towards me and attacked me with gandasa towards my head. I stopped the gandasa blow on my lathi which I had picked up from the house. He again tried to wield gandasa towards my head and I in self defence caused injury which hit on his head. My uncle Avtar Singh went to the house of the injured and informed about the occurrence to Gurdial Singh and I along with my uncle Avtar Singh and Gurdial Singh took the injured to P.H.C. Joga where he was got admitted. I then returned back."
8. We have heard the learned counsel for the parties and perused the record.
9. The relevant part from the statement of PW1 Gurdial Singhcomplainant is reproduced as under :
"When we three reached near the house of the accused Puran Singh, he came out from the house with a dang and gave a dang blow on the head of my brother Gurjant Singh, who became unconscious, on receipt of the injury and fell down on the ground. Then myself and Bant Singh raised raula mardita mardita. Upon which Puran Singh ran away from the spot with the dang, do now know in which direction Puran Singh ran away after causing the injury to my brother Gurjant Singh. Thereafter I along with my brother Bant Singh removed the injured to our house. We tried to pour water in the mouth of the injured, but he could not take it. As the condition of my brother was serious, first of all we removed him to village hospital Joga for treatment. The doctor of village hospital declared the condition of my brother as serious and he advised us to take the injured to Civil Hospital, Mansa. We were still arranging for a vehicle in order to remove the injured to Mansa, but in the meantime the police of PS Joga came in the village hospital, where I made my statement Ex. P.A. which was read over and explained to me and I signed the same in token of its correctness.
The doctor at Civil Hospital, Mansa after examining the injured declared that the condition of Gurjant Singh was too serious and he advised us to remove the injured to Ludhiana as he required an operation of his head. On the advice of the doctor we proceeded to Ludhiana along with the injured, but on the way near V. Wajidke my brother Gurjant Singh succumbed to the injury."
This evidence of the complainanteye witness is supported by PW2 Bant Singh, another eyewitness.
10. The story put forward by Gurdial Singhcomplainant is convincing that they had simply gone to make a remonstrance that the turban of Gurjant Singh was taken away by Puran Singh. It is not plausible that Gurjant Singh was armed with a lathi and he attacked Puran Singh at the residential house of the latter or that it was in a kind of self defence that Puran Singh caused head injury to Gurjant Singh which proved fatal, especially when the accused had not suffered any injury.
11. The learned counsel for the appellant has argued that the accused carried the injured to Civil Hospital, Joga. This does not find corroboration. On the contrary, PW5 Dr. R. K. Garg of Primary Health Centre, Joga has specifically deposed that the injured was brought by Gurdial Singh. This Gurdial Singh is the complainant and brother of the deceased. The evidence of PW3 Surjit Singh, Assistant SubInspector shows that he was able to arrest Puran Singh on 8.2.1991.
12. The learned counsel for the appellant has also put forward a contention that there was no electricity fitted in the premises of Puran Singh and the occurrence took place after 9.00 p.m. when it was quite dark. The parties are interrelated and are collaterals and there was no room of doubt regarding the identity of the appellant.
13. It is apparent that Puran Singh caused a single injury with a lathi as he had disliked the visit of Gurjant Singhdeceased and his brothers to his house. The possibility of verbal altercation between the parties and of the blow having landed on the head of deceased by chance cannot be ruled out. In the circumstances of the case, the offence falls in the ambit of Section 304 Part II of the Indian Penal Code and substantive sentence of imprisonment is reduced to five years rigorous imprisonment only and the fine imposed by the trial Court is also set aside. With these modifications, the appeal is dismissed.
