REPORTABLE

                  IN THE SUPREME COURT OF  INDIA             CRIMINAL APPELLATE JURISDICTION   

             CRIMINAL APPEAL NO. 1464   OF 2003

JABAR SINGH ..  APPELLANT(S)

vs.

STATE OF M.P. ..  RESPONDENT(S)

O  R D E R

This is a statutory appeal challenging the order of  

the High Court whereby the appellant has been convicted and  

sentenced  to  imprisonment  for  life  for  the  offence  

punishable under Section 302 of the IPC.

As  per  the  prosecution  story  one  Badan  Singh,  a  

cousin of Sarnam Singh (deceased in the present case) had  

been murdered about 25 years ago whereafter Inder Singh and

Ramjit Singh, sons of Badan Singh had sold their land to  

the deceased and had left the village. The house of Badan  

Singh  was  also  being  occupied  by  Sarnam  Singh.   The  

relatives of Badan Singh suspected that one Kedar Singh was  

responsible for his death.  On 11th November, 1984, the dead  

body of Kedar Singh was seen floating in the canal and the  

accused in the present matter suspected that Sarnam Singh  

and some others connected with him were responsible for his  

death. On 13th November, 1984 at about 8 or 9 P.M. the  

accused, all armed with fire arms, entered the house of  

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Sarnam Singh whereafter Jabar Singh, the appellant herein,

fired a shot at him which hit him on the navel and exited  

from  the right buttock.  Sarnam Singh, grievously injured,  

managed to  run away towards his fields where he fell down.  

The other accused remained standing on the Chabutra and  

continued firing at Sarnam Singh though no shot hit him.  

Sarnam  Singh  was  removed  on  a   Bullock  cart  to  police  

station  Mehgaon  by  Sultan  (PW.2),  Umed  Singh  (PW.5),  

Munnalal  (PW.1),  shiv  Narayan  (PW.8)  and  Chhote  Singh  

(PW.10) where Sarnam Singh himself lodged the FIR at 0.45  

hours  on 14th November, 1984.  Dr. F.C.Bansal (PW.4) also  

examined Sarnam Singh and  noted several injuries on his  

person. He also arranged for the recording  of his dying  

declaration  on  which   Amrish  Shrivastava  (PW.15)  an  

Executive Magistrate, was deputed and he recorded the dying  

declaration (Ex.P.12).  Sarnam Singh was also referred to  

the Gwalior Hospital where Dr. C.S.Jaiswal (PW.16) recorded

another  dying  declaration  (Ex.P.13).   Sarnam  Singh  

succumbed to his injuries on 28th November, 1984 where after  

his dead body was subjected to a post-mortem by Dr. R.C.  

Upadhyaya (PW.14).

The Trial Court on a perusal of the evidence as also  

the four dying declarations referred to above held that the  

accused  had  not  been  properly  identified  and  as  there  

appeared  to  be  long  enmity  between  the  parties,  the  

possibility of false implication could not be ruled out.  

The accused were accordingly acquitted.   

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The  State  of  Madhya  Pradesh  thereafter  filed  an  

appeal in the High Court.  The High Court maintained the  

acquittal of four of the accused but reversed the judgment

of  the  Trial  Court  with  respect  to  Jabar  Singh  and  

convicted him under Section 302 IPC and sentenced him to  

imprisonment for life.

This appeal has been filed by Jabar Singh impugning  

the judgment of the High Court.

We have heard the learned counsel for the parties  

very carefully and gone through the record.  We are of the  

opinion that no fault could be found with the conviction of  

the appellant. In the light of  the eye witnesses' account  

of several persons including the wife of the deceased and  

the four dying declarations recorded at the instance of the  

deceased before several independent persons including  an  

Executive Magistrate, we have no hesitation in upholding  

the conviction of the appellant.   

Mr. Lakhan Singh Chauhan, the learned counsel for  

the appellant, has however argued that in the light of the

medical evidence it was apparent that a case of murder was  

not spelt out.  He has highlighted that the incident had  

happened on   13th November, 1984  and the  injured Sarnam  

Singh had died after 14 days thereafter and it was clear  

from  the  medical  evidence  of  Dr.  Bansal  (PW.4)  and  Dr.  

Upadhayay (PW.14) that the gun shot injuries were not  

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the immediate cause of his death and he had died due to  

peritonitis which could not be attributed to the gun shot  

injury as it had set in  on account of improper care and

handling by the attendants and  the hospital staff. Dr.  

Bansal who examined Sarnam Singh on 14th November, 1984,  

specifically  stated  that  the  injury  suffered  by  Sarnam  

Singh was not fatal to life.  Dr. Upadhayay was equally  

categoric when he said that the death would ordinarily not  

have been caused as the deceased had died due to lack of  

care by the attendants of the deceased and as he had not  

been properly treated in the hospital. He also admitted  

that in the postmortem report he had no where  observed  

that the gun shot injuries suffered by the deceased would  

have cause his  death  in the normal course of nature.  In  

this view of the matter we are of the opinion that a case  

under Section 302 cannot be spelt out against the appellant  

and he would at the most be liable for conviction under  

Sec.326 of the IPC.  We accordingly modify his conviction  

from Section 302 of the IPC to one under Section 326 of the

IPC and impose a sentence of R.I. of five years and a fine  

of Rs.5,000/- and in default of payment of fine, to six  

months R.I.

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The appeal is allowed to the above extent.

The appellant is on bail in view of the orders of  

this Court.  His bail bonds are revoked.  He shall to be

taken into custody forthwith, to serve out his sentence.

                     .................J.          (HARJIT SINGH BEDI)  

     .................J.

                                    (C.K. PRASAD) New Delhi,

    August 12, 2010.