RANJIT SINGH AND CO. versus STATE OF PUNJAB

Citation: [2006] SUPP. 8 S.C.R. 802 · Decided: 09-11-2006 · Supreme Court of India · Bench: S.B. SINHA, MARKANDEY KATJU · Disposal: Disposed off
Open in Lexace · Ask the AI about this case
Judgment (excerpt)

A 
RANJIT SINGH AND CO. 
v. 
STA TE OF PUNJAB 
NOVEMBER 9, 2006 
B 
[S.B. SINHA AND MARKANDEY KA TJU, JJ.] 
Penal Code, 1860: 
S. 302-Death of married women by burn injuries-Jn two dying 
C declarations victim implicating her in-laws and their relatives-
lnconsistencies in two dying declarations-Conviction of in-laws and their 
relatives by courts below-Husband acquitted on benefit of doubt-Held, in 
a case of inconsistencies in two dying declarations, in relation to the active 
role played by one or the other accused persons, Court shall lean more 
D towards the first dying declaration than the second one-Role of mother-in-
/aw, in lighting the match stick is consistent-Her appeal dismissed-
!nconsistency in the role ascribed to brothers-in-.laws and sister-in-law of the 
deceased is, evident-In a case of this nature, the rule of caution should be 
applied and, therefore, giving benefit of doubt they are acquitted-Evidence-
Dying declarations-Inconsistencies in two dying declarations-Effect of 
E 
F 
CRIMINAL APPELLATE JURISDICTION : Criminal Appeal No. 142 of 
2005. 
From the Final Judgment and Order dated 2.3.2004 of the High Court of 
Punjab and Haryana at Chandigarh in Crl. A. No. 282-DB/2000. 
Vineet Bhagat, K.G. Bhagat, Manohar Singh Bakshi and Debasis Misra 
for the Appellants. 
Avneet Toor and Arun K. Sinha for the Respondent. 
G 
The Order of the Court was delivered by 
ORDER 
Five appellants, namely, Rajit Singh, Santokh Singh, Roshan kaur, Vir 
Kaur and Bimla Kaur are before us, aggrieved by and dissatisfied with the 
I-I 
802 
... 
RANJITSINGHv. STATEOFPUNJAB 
803 
judgment and order dated 2.3.2004 passed by the Division Bench of the A 
Punjab and Haryana High Court in Criminal Appeal No. 282/2000, whereby 
and whereunder the judgment of conviction and sentence passed by the 
Additional Sessions Judge, Jallandhar On 23.5.2000 in Sessions Case No. 44/ 
1999 was affirmed: 
Appellants before us, together with Dalip Singh, elder brother-in-law of B 
the deceased as also her husband Hari Singh, were tried for commission of 
an offence of murdering Harbhajan Kaur on 21.8.1997 at about 7.30 a.m. Before 
we advert. to the factual matrix involved in this appeal, we may notice that 
whereas the aforementioned Ranjit Singh and Dilip Singh have since expired, 
Hari Singh husband of the deceased has been acquitted by the High Court C 
upon grant of benefit of doubt. 
The prosecution case rests on the dying declarations made by the 
deceased, the first of which was recorded by Onkar Singh, Investigating 
Officer on 21.8.1997 at about 11.30 a.m. the said dying declaration was treated 
to be the first information report and on the basis thereof investigation D 
commenced. As we would have to consider the aforesaid dying declaration 
for the purpose of appreciation of evidence in this case, we would do better 
to take not of the same: 
"I am resident of Mithu Basti and am doing domestic work. My 
husband is working in a factory. I have two sons named Mohinder Pal E 
and Amar Pal and a daughter named Rupinder Kaur. Today in the 
morning I had sent my children to school after preparing meals. It was 
about 7-1/2 O'Clock in the morning. I was setting my clothes in the 
room then my father-in-law sprinkled kerosene oil from a stove on me 
and my mother-in-law Rooshan Kaur and my sister-in-law Vir Kaur 
W/o Dilip Singh, Bilma Kaur W/o Santokh Singh and brother of my F 
husband namely Dalip Singh and Santokh Singh caught hold of me 
and mother-in-law Roshan Kaur set me ablaze with a match stick. My 
husband at the time had gone to the toilet. All of them with intention 
to kill me have set me ablaze after pouring kerosene oil on me. My 
body was badly· charred. My husband and his aunt (sister of mother G 
-in-law) namely Pathani brought me to the hospital and got me admitted 
there. All the above said persons keeping quarrel with me and they 
used to pick up quarrel with me on every lame excuse. I was married 
in 1984 and since then they had been harassing me but my husband 
never harassed me." 
H 
804 
SUPREME COURT REPORTS [2006] SUPP. 8 S.C.K 
A 
It is not in dispute that the dying declaration was also made before Smt. 
B 
c 
D 
E 
F 
Preeti Sahni, Judicial Magistrate, lst Class, Patiala. The said dying declaration 
was recorded on 22.8.1997 at about 8.30 a.m. which reads as under: 
"Yesterday, about 8 A.M. There was a quarrel in our family. Prior 
to this also there remained of and tension in our house. Our family 
is resi
Excerpt shown. Read the full judgment & AI analysis in Lexace.