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2024 (2) TMI 1412

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....5 and 02.07.2015 respectively. The High Court has, through the impugned judgment, acquitted all the four Respondents of the charges under Section 302 read with Section 34 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 (hereinafter, 'IPC'). FACTS: 4. At this juncture, it is imperative to delve into the factual matrix to set out the context of the present proceedings. 5. FIR No. 100 dated 18.07.2012, was registered at Police Station City Jagraon, District Ludhiana Rural, under Sections 302 and 34 of IPC and Sections 25, 27, 54, and 59 of the Arms Act, 1959. The subject FIR was lodged on the statement of Gursewak Singh (P.W.2), the Complainant, who stated that his elder daughter, Kirandeep Kaur, was married to Gurpreet Singh (main accused) in the year 2009 and they got divorced in the year 2011. On 18.07.2012, at about 1.30 p.m., the Complainant was taking rest in his bedroom while his wife, Amarjit Kaur, and their son and younger daughter were on the first floor. At the exact time of the incident, the Complainant received information from Amarjit Kaur, who was standing on the stairs, that someone was calling for him. The Complainant opened the drawing-room door to check the main gate, where....

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....rs. (iii) It is doubtful that Harmandeep Kaur (P.W.3) would be attending her classes from her parental house rather than from her in-laws' house since she got married only a few months ago. (iv) No Test Identification Parade was conducted. (v) There is a great mystery about the nomination of Jagdeep Singh, Harpreet Singh S/o Veer Singh and Kashmira Singh because, as per the testimony of the eyewitnesses, they were never named before the police, and even the Investigating Officer has also not disclosed as to how these persons have been nominated as accused. (vi) These discrepancies, inconsistencies and unexplained circumstances go to the root of the case and severely dent the credibility of Gursewak Singh (P.W.2) and his daughter. 9. The High Court, thus, viewed that once the defence is able to cast a reasonable doubt on the story of the prosecution, the necessary consequence will be the acquittal of the accused. 10. Discontented with the acquittal of the accused persons, the State of Punjab is in appeal before us. CONTENTIONS OF PARTIES 11. Mr. Gaurav Dhama, learned Additional Advocate General for the State of Punjab, argued that the High Court erred in acquitting the accu....

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.... 136 of the Constitution, should interfere in a well-reasoned order of acquittal passed by the High Court. 15. There is no gainsaying that once the appellate court acquits the accused, the presumption of innocence as it existed before conviction by the Trial Court, stands restored, and this Court, while scrutinizing the evidence, will proceed with great circumspect and will not routinely interfere with an order of acquittal, save when the impeccable prosecution evidence nails the accused beyond any doubt. In other words, where on consideration of the material on record, even if two views are possible, yet this Court, while exercising powers under Article 136 of the Constitution, will not tinker with an order of acquittal. 16. State of Karnataka v. J. Jayalalitha [(2017) 6 SCC 263] does acknowledge that a judgment of acquittal strengthens the presumption of innocence in favour of the accused. Nevertheless, the caveat is that the court must not shy away from its responsibility to prevent a miscarriage of justice and must intervene when necessary. If the acquittal is based on irrelevant grounds, if the High Court allows itself to be misled by distractions, if the High Court dismisse....

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....use. While P.W.2 was standing at the drawing-room door, Gurpreet Singh aimed the pistol at Amarjit Kaur, shot her under the right ear causing her to fall. P.W.2 raised the alarm, and upon reaching the main gate, he saw Gurpreet Singh, along with Harpreet Singh, Kashmira Singh, and Jagdeep Singh, making their escape in an Innova car. P.W.2 asserted that the motive behind the murder was related to his elder daughter, Kirandeep Kaur, who was earlier married to Gurpreet Singh and had relocated to Australia. Due to the divorce from Kirandeep, Gurpreet Singh's plans to settle in Australia were thwarted, and he held the deceased Amarjit Kaur responsible for the divorce. 22. P.W.3, Harmandeep Kaur, the younger daughter of the deceased, recounted that she, along with her brother and mother, was on the terrace of the house. Amarjit Kaur, hence deceased, while descending the stairs, informed Gursewak Singh P.W.2 of the call. P.W.2 opened the drawing room door to check the main gate. In the meantime, Gurpreet Singh, armed with a pistol, and Jagdeep Singh, wielding a hockey stick, entered the premises by scaling the boundary wall. Gurpreet Singh aimed the pistol at Amarjit Kaur, who was st....

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....for the simple reason that the occurrence took place at 1.30 p.m. and he made a call to the Police Control Room at 1.40 p.m. The fact that in the very first version, Gursewak Singh disclosed the name of the Gurpreet Singh, as being the killer of his wife, leaves no room to doubt that he was physically present in the house and witnessed the occurrence. 27. Similarly, the reason assigned by the High Court to discard the version of Harmandeep Kaur (P.W.3) (daughter of the deceased) is wholly untenable. We cannot at all countenance that a daughter, after her marriage, would permanently stay at her in-laws' house and would not visit her parents after her marriage. Such a sweeping conclusion is neither traceable to Punjab's social culture nor it appeals to our common sense. It is on record that Harmandeep Kaur (P.W.3) was a student before and after her marriage. It is natural that even after her marriage, Harmandeep Kaur (P.W.3) wanted to continue her studies, and therefore was staying with her parents. We see no unnatural or unexpected circumstances in she being present in her paternal home on the fateful day. 28. There is no suggestion to Gursewak Singh, P.W.2 (Complainant), and ....

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....minds within a few minutes after the occurence, so as to create a false narrative only to implicate Gurpreet Singh. The unfiltered version of the Complainant, in our considered opinion, conclusively establishes the veracity of his subsequent deposition. This Court, in Nand Lal v. State of Chhattisgarh [(2023) 10 SCC 470] , has categorically held that the prompt lodging of an FIR helps dispel suspicions related to the potential exaggeration of the involvement of individuals and adds credibility to the prosecution's argument. A promptly lodged FIR reflects the first-hand account of what happened and who was responsible for the offence in question. (See also: Thulia Kali v. State Of Tamil Nadu (1972) 3 SCC 393, State of Punjab v. Surja Ram 1995 Supp (3) SCC 419, Girish Yadav v. State of M.P (1996) 8 SCC 186 and Takdir Samsuddin Sheikh v. State of Gujarat (2011) 10 SCC 158). 31. It is pertinent to refer to the endorsement of FIR No. 100, dated 18.07.2012, where it is clearly mentioned that as soon as the information was received through Police Control Room, a police party headed by Sub-Inspector Hari Mittar along with ASI Baldev Singh and four Head Constables reached the hous....

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....and as a result of misreading of the evidence on record. In this view of the matter, sustaining the acquittal of Gurpreet Singh, would amount to a travesty of justice and it, thus, warrants interference by this Court in the exercise of its jurisdiction, which we invoke sparingly. Consequently, the order of acquittal passed by the High Court qua Gurpreet Singh cannot be sustained and is set aside. ACQUITTAL ORDER QUA THE CO-ACCUSED 34. Adverting to the prosecution case against Kashmira Singh and Jagdeep Singh (Respondent Nos. 2 and 3 herein) in the appeal arising out of CRA-D-1606- DB-2015 (O&M) and Harpreet Singh, who was the appellant before the High Court in CRR-2942-2015(O&M), we are satisfied that the reasons assigned by the High Court in support of their acquittal are possible and plausible. We say so in light of the fact that (i) Gursewak Singh (P.W.2 - Complainant) did not mention their names when he called the Police Control Room at 1.40 p.m. immediately after the occurrence. (ii) Gursewak Singh (P.W.2 - Complainant) merely stated that there were some unknown persons accompanying Gurpreet Singh (iii) In fact, P.W.2 and 3 both did not know the above-named three perso....