G.N. Ray JUDGMENT
K. Jayachandra Reddy, J.
1. Appellant No. 1, Joginder Singh is a father of Appellant No. 2 Jit Singh and Appellant No. 3, Mela Singh. These Appellants alongwith five others were tried for offences punishable under Sections 148 and 302/149 I.P.C. The trial court convicted six of them under Sections 302/149 I.P.C. and sentenced each of them to undergo imprisonment for life. They were also convicted under Section 148 I.P.C. and sentenced to undergo six months' R.I. The rest two persons, were acquitted by the trial court. The six convicted accused preferred an appeal to the High Court. The High Court acquitted three of them and confirmed the convictions and sentenced passed against the present Appellants. Hence the present appeal.
2. The prosecution case is as follows.
3. The accused, the deceased and the material witnesses belong to Village Bugra, District Sangrur. About 4/5 months prior to the present occurrence, Jit Singh, one of the Appellants herein had cut indecent jokes with the daughter of Kartar Singh, P.W. 3., who was in the fields. She complained to her father, P.W. 3, who alongwith Babu Singh, the deceased, went to the house of Joginder Singh (Appellant No. 1) to lodge a pro-test They found Mohinder Singh, an acquitted accused, also there and complained to him. There was an altercation and Mohinder Singh received some injuries and thereafter the Panchayat got a compromise effected. On the day of occurrence i.e. 16th August, 1979 at about 6 A.M. the deceased had gone to his fields to answer the call of nature. About four or five minutes thereafter P.W. 3 also went to the fields. The deceased sat in the field of Gulzar Singh for the purpose of easing himself. Thereupon Jit Singh and Mela Singh, Appellant Nos. 2 and 3 respectively, armed with gandasas emerged out of the chari field and challenged the deceased who got up and ran up in the direction of his house. Then it is alleged that some of the acquitted accused appeared from behind. Ultimately all the accused encircled the deceased. P.W. 3 ran in that direction and raised cries. Pritam Singh, one of the acquitted accused is alleged to have given a gandasa blow on the deceased on receipt of which he fell down. Then Avtar Singh, another acquitted accused gave a gandasa blow from its blunt side on P.W. 3. There upon the Appellants and the other acquitted accused started giving blows to the deceased and P.W. 3. After causing injuries they left. P.W. 4 helped P.W. 3 in getting up and they found that Babu Singh was dead. P.W. 5 also reached the place of occurrence. P.W. 3 was examined medically and he gave a report to the police. The case was registered and the investigation was commenced. The inquest was held on the dead body of the deceased and the same was sent for post-mortem. The Doctor, P.W. 2 found one incised wound and 11 blunt weapon injuries. On internal examination, he found that there was a fracture of the right parietal bone under injury No. 1 and that proved to be fatal. The acquitted accused Mohinder Singh was also examined by P.W. 1, another Doctor and there were five injuries on him.
4. The accused denied the offence and stated that they were falsely implicated. The prosecution case rested on the evidence of P.W. 3, the father of the deceased and P.W. 4 who claimed to be an eye-witness. The trial court convicted six of the accused persons........