REPORTABLE

IN THE SUPREME COURT OF INDIA

CRIMINAL APPELLATE JURISDICITION

CRIMINAL APPEAL NO. 1878  OF 2011 (Arising out of SLP (Crl.) No.2626 of 2011)

Baljinder Singh @ Bittu …Appellant

Versus

State of Punjab …Respondent

O R D E R  

T.S. THAKUR, J.

1. Leave granted.

2. This appeal arises out of an order dated 5th October,  

2010 passed by the High Court of Punjab and Haryana at  

Chandigarh whereby the appellant has been convicted and  

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sentenced to undergo rigorous imprisonment for a period of  

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four  years  and  a  fine  of  Rs.5,000/-  for  an  offence  

punishable under Section 326 of the Indian Penal Code and  

rigorous  imprisonment  for  two  years  with  a  fine  of  

Rs.2,000/-  for  an  offence  punishable  under  Section  324  

IPC.  

3. When the special leave petition came up for admission  

on 11th April, 2011 notice to the respondent was issued by  

this Court only on the question of sentence awarded to the  

appellant. We have, accordingly heard learned counsel for  

the parties  on the quantum of  sentence  awarded to  the  

appellant and perused the record.   

4. The incident in question is said to have taken place as  

early as in July, 1994. The genesis of the occurrence has no  

element  of  premeditation  or  other  criminal  overtones.  It  

arose  out  of  what  was  according  to  the  prosecution  an  

unintended  and  innocuous  straying  of  the  complainant’s  

cart  into  the  paddy  field  of  Natha  Singh,  father  of  

Bhupinder  Singh and Baljinder  Singh,  the  appellant.  The  

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brothers  were  enraged  by  what  they  thought  was  a  

trespass into the field owned by them and their father. -

They  caught  hold  of  and  beat  Kulwinder  Singh  the  

complainant,  owner  of  the  cart  who  received  two  knife  

blows on the  front  of  his  right  chest  and a  blow in  the  

scapular region. The co-accused Bhupinder Singh was also  

alleged to have given a fist blow at the back of Kulwinder  

Singh. The incident was witnessed by Bachan Singh PW-2  

and Sukhchain Singh who intervened to prevent any further  

injury  to  any  one  of  them.  At  the  trial  the  prosecution  

adduced  evidence  that  comprised  among  others  the  

depositions of Kulwinder Singh, PW-1, Bachan Singh, PW 2  

and Dr. K.K. Sharma, PW-3. Relying upon the deposition of  

the said witnesses, the trial Court found both the accused  

guilty of the offences under Sections 324 and 326 IPC and  

sentenced the appellant to undergo rigorous imprisonment  

for a period of four year and two years apart from payment  

of  fine  of  Rs.5,000/-  and  Rs.2,000/-  respectively  for  

offences  punishable  under  Sections  326  and  324  IPC  

respectively. In so far as Bhupinder Singh was concerned,  

the trial Court sentenced him to rigorous imprisonment for  

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a period of three years under Section 326 read with Section  

34 IPC and rigorous imprisonment for one year under -

Section 324 read with Section 34 IPC apart from payment  

of Rs.2,000/- for the former and Rs.1,000/- for the later  

offence.  

5. The  High  court  on  an  appeal  filed  by  the  accused,  

acquitted Bhupinder Singh giving him the benefit of doubt  

but maintained the sentence awarded to the appellant. The  

High Court found that while Dr. Rattanjit Singh, DW-1 had  

deposed and certified the appellant having suffered three  

injuries,  one  of  which  sustained  on  the  left  side  of  the  

forehead  was  reported  to  be  a  grievous  injury,  in  the  

absence of any x-ray examination and in the absence of  

any  analysis  of  the  cut  sustained  by  the  appellant,  the  

injury had to be treated to be a superficial one only. The  

fact that the incident had resulted in injuries to both the  

parties is all the same evident from the material on record.  

Superadded  to  that  is  the  fact  that  incident  took  place  

because  of  a  sudden  fight.   The  nature  of  the  injuries  

inflicted,  the absence of  any criminal  antecedents of  the  

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accused appellant, and the period that has elapsed since  

the occurrence, all call for a suitable alteration in the -

sentence awarded to the appellant. We are further of the  

opinion that while the sentence could be reduced from four  

years  rigorous  imprisonment  to  two  years  rigorous  

imprisonment for the offence under Section 326 IPC, the  

amount  of  fine  could  be  increased  from  Rs.5,000/-  to  

Rs.50,000/-. The sentence and fine under Section 324 IPC  

will,  however,  remain  unaltered.   Having  regard  to  the  

nature  of  the  injuries  sustained  by  Kulwinder  Singh  the  

medical  expenses  that  he  would  have  incurred  in  

connection with the treatment of those injuries, we consider  

it  just  and  proper  to  award  Rs.50,000/-  out  of  the  fine  

amount as compensation under Section 357 of Cr.P.C. to  

Kulwinder  Singh  the  victim  of  the  assault.   The  above  

modification would in our view serve the ends of justice.  

5. In the result, we allow this appeal but only in part and  

to the extent that the sentence awarded to the appellant  

under Section 326 IPC shall stand reduced from four years  

rigorous imprisonment to two years rigorous imprisonment  

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with  a  fine  of  Rs.50,000/-.  In  the  event  of  default  in  

payment of fine, the appellant shall suffer rigorous -

imprisonment  for  a  further  period  for  one  year.  The  

sentence  of  imprisonment  and  fine  awarded  to  the  

appellant under Section 324 is,  however, maintained. We  

further  direct  that  in  case  the  fine  amount  is  recovered  

from the appellant, a sum of Rs.50,000/- shall be paid to  

Kulwinder Singh as compensation under Section 357 of the  

Code of Criminal Procedure.  

……………………..………J. (CYRIAC JOSEPH)

……………………..………J. (T.S. THAKUR)

New Delhi September 28, 2011

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