LexHAZARA SINGH & ORS versus STATE OF PUNJAB
Open in Lexace · Ask the AI about this caseJudgment (excerpt)
674
HAZARA SINGH & ORS .
...
STATE OF PUNJAB
February 4, 1971
[K. S. HEGDE AND A. N. GROVER, JJ.]
!..dian Penal Code, ss. 307, 146, 148 and 349-Miscreants firing shots
<>n p:Jlice party in darkness-No evidence that shots ,were fired in direction
of members of police party--Offence of attempt to' murder could not be
said to be· made out-Firing of such shots is not use of force as defined in
.s. 349--0ffenders even though more than five do not commit "riot within
meaning of s. 146-Cannot be held guilty of offence under s. 148.
Evidence-Excessive similarity between evidence of two witnesses-.-
lnference of tutoring can be drawn specially when the witnesses are clearly
not independent.
The six appellants we're challenged by a police party when they were
proceeding towards Pakistan territory with contraband goods.
Two of
them, H and B, had fire-arms with which they fired shots. No member
of the police party was injured. There was darkness except for: a tempo-
'rary illumination created by the firing of two shots from a light pistol.
The police claimed to have recognised H and B, in this light even though
they lied away from the scene. The remaining f•ur persons were arrested
on the spot. H and B, were arrested later and on their pointing out, two
unlicensed arms were >ecovered. The Sessions Judge held"H and 11,_ to
be guilty under s. 307 of the Indian Penal Code as well as s. 2S of the.
Arms Act. The remaining four appellants were convicted under s. 307
read with s. 149 I.P.C. All the appellants were convicted under s. · 148.
The High Court maintained the convictions of the appellants though in the
case of those without fire arms it reduced the sentences. With special leave
the appellants filed appeals in this Court,
·
HELD : ( 1) From the evidence it wa·s quite clear that the shots which
were fired by H and B, were not fired during the few seconds there was
light as a result of the light pis!()! shcts. In other words the shots were
fired in complete darkness when it was not possible for any membe'r of
police party to see the direction in which they were fired or the aim which
was taken by H and B. It was not possible to say from this evidence that
H and B fired the shots in the direction of the police party or at them and
the possibility that the shots were fired in the air could not be excluded.
Thus the conviction under s. 307 of H and B and of the other appellants
under s. 307 read with s. 149 coulo not be maintained.[678 B-D]
(2) Rioting is defined by s. 146 which i>rovides that whenever force
or violence is used by an unlawful assembly or any memJ>er thereof in
prosecution of the common object of sucli assembly every member of such
assembly is guilty of the offence of rioting. Section 349 gives the meaning
-0f the word 'force'. Jn the present incident no force or violence was
proved to have been used by the appellants in prosecution of the common
object of the unlawful assembly of. whic~ th~y wer~ members. With the .
exception of the firing of the shots in a d1rectton which could not be deter-
mined, no attempt was made by any of the appellants to use any force or
A
B
c
D
E
F
G
H
HAZARA SINGH v. PUNJAB (Grover, J,)
675
A
violence on any member of the police party. Accordingly, the conviction
of the appellants under s. 148 must also be set aside. [678 F·GJ
B
( 3) The discloure statements made by H and B in respect of fire arms
recovered at their instance could not be acted upon because the two wit·
ne'8cs produced in this connection gave statement which by their similarity
appeared to be tutored and unconvincing. These witnesses were associated
with the police raids over a Jong period. The other witness was proved
to be inimical to H and B. The _High Court erred in ignoring these facts.
The conviction of H and B under s. 25 of the Arms Acf could not be
sustained; -{679 B-DJ
CRIMINAL APPELLATE JURISDICTION : Criminal Appeal Nos.
139 to 141of1968.
e .
Appeals by special leave from the judgments and orders dated
January 31, 1968 of the Punjab and Haryana High Court in Cri-
minal Appeals Nos. 653, 655 and 654 of 1967 respectively.
D
E
F
G
H
R. L. Kohli, for the appellants (in all the appeals).
Harbans Singh, for the resondent (in all the appeals).
The Judgment of the Court was delivered by
Grover, J.-Hazara Singh, his brothers Bachan Singh and
Jarnail Singh and three others Bhajan Singh, Baj Singh and
Balwant Singh were tried under s. 14Excerpt shown. Read the full judgment & AI analysis in Lexace.