Holding

The Court affirmed the convictions, upheld the death sentence for Darshan Singh, and commuted the death sentence of Buggar Singh to life imprisonment, finding the motive established and the evidence reliable.

Summary

The appellants, Darshan Singh and Buggar Singh, were convicted of murdering Mukand Singh, his wife Pritam Kaur and daughter Harbans Kaur. The prosecution alleged a property‑dispute motive, asserting that the accused sought to eliminate heirs to a share of agricultural land. The defence challenged the motive, the timing of the First Information Report under Section 154, the reliability of eyewitnesses, and alleged police prejudice, also pointing to a will executed after the murders. The Supreme Court held that the will was filed post‑incident and could not negate the motive, that the eyewitness and medical evidence were reliable, and that the FIR was recorded promptly. Consequently, the Court upheld the convictions, affirmed the death sentence for Darshan Singh, but commuted Buggar Singh’s death sentence to life imprisonment, allowing the appeal in part.

Issues considered

The adequacy of the alleged property‑dispute motive to sustain convictions under Sections 302 and 34 IPC.
Whether the death sentence for Buggar Singh is justified in the absence of a demonstrable motive.
The propriety of questioning the time of recording of the FIR under Section 154 IPC.
The impact of alleged lack of independent witnesses and alleged police prejudice on the conviction.
The relevance of a will executed after the murders to the alleged motive.

Legislation cited

Indian Penal Code, 1860s. 154, s. 302, s. 34

Subjects

murderdeath penaltymotiveSection 34 IPCSection 302 IPCFIRsentencingproperty disputelife imprisonmentcriminal appeal

Judgment

DARSHAN SINGH &. AN01HER
A
.i V•
STATE OF PUNJAB.
_,.)
JANUARY 29, 1988

[G.L. OZA,B.C.RAYANDK.JAGANNA1HASHETTY,JJ.J B

Indian Penal Code, 1860: Sections 34 and 302-Murder by inflic-
ting injuries which were cruel-Sentence of death not justified in the
absence of motive.

Section 154-FIR-question as to time of recording-Such a ques-
tion to be put in cross_examination-Held, in the absence of any mate-
c
rial to the contrary, FIR was recorded immediately after the incident.

Appellants Nos. t and 2 along with two other accused were con-
victed for the mnrder of the first Appellant's paternal uncle, his wife
and daughter. First the brother, and then his daughter and wife were D
done to death with gandassa and kapa blows just outside their house.

The motive alleged was that the first appellant's father and his
deceased brother had inherited some land from their father and there
were disputes about it, and by eliminating the family, one of the succes-
sors entitled to half share in the property had been removed. It was also E
alleged that the deceased man had no male issue and had only one
daughter for whom negotiations for marriage were in the offing and
appellant No. t and his father apprehended the entry of a stranger in
the family as the son-in-law to succeed to the property falling to the
share of the deceased man. The Trial Court convicted the appellants
and sentenced them to death, while the other two accused were sent- F
.,.__enced to life imprisonment.

AgW,.St the conviction and sentence, an appeal was filed. There
was also a reference to the High Court, as death sentence was involved
in respect of the two appellants. The High Court dismissed the appeal
and conf'rrmed the death sentence. The appeal before this Court is filed G
by the two appellants who have been sentenced to death.

The motive alleged has been disputed on behalf of the appellants,
as a will bad been executed by the deceased man in favour of the son of
bis wife's brother, and that if at all there was a motive he should have
also been eliminated. H
843
844 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [ 1988] 2 S.C.R.

A It was also contended that in the locality independent witnesses
conld be availiible and they have not been examined. Another submis·
sion was that one of the witnesses had complained against the Police
omcer ·and so the Police Officers were prejudiced against him. The
time at wblcb the FIR had been registered has also been questioned. In
B the absence of motive on the part of the second appellant, it was con-
tended, that the death sentence awarded to him is not justified.

Allowing the appeal partly, this Court,

HELD: t. The will was filed after the murders, in some civil
proceedings when the legatee claimed to be brought on record in place
c of the deceased man. This apparently could not indicate that this will
was in the knowledge or the appellants on the date of inddent. There-
fore the motive cannot be doubted. [848G-H]

2. One of the witnesses is the maternal uncle of the deceased girl
D and there were some negotiations for her marriage and for that purpoo;e
be along with bis son had come to the house of the deceased. It is
apparent that a maternal uncle is generally consulted when negotiations
for marriage of a girl are in progress and apart from it both the courts
below had accepted the testimony of this witness which is fully cor-
rol>orated by the First Information Report lodged immediately after the
E Incident. It appears from the evidence that the nearby area was not so
inhabitated and by that time in the evening no one else was available.
Those who were present have been examined and in this view of the
matter the contention that independent witnesses were not examined is
of· no consequence. The names of the eye-witnesses have been
mentioned in the First Information Report, which was lodged
F Immediately after the incident and the statements of eye-witnesses have .lll
been fully corroborated by m~ical evidence. No doubt could therefore .ri
be raised about the reliability of such evidence. [849B-C; 851C]

3. No relevant evidence was brought on record and not a single
question was put to any witness or to the person who made the First
G Information Report as to whether be had noted the correct time of the
Incident. There is no material on record to show as to whether tbe
persons who lodged the First Information Report, walked through l2'h
kilometres or took a lift in any vehicle. In the absence of any material,
the only thing that appears is that immediately after the incident the
repOrt was recorded and this report contains a clear description of the
I-l: incident corroborating the testimony of the eye-witnesses. [849F; 850A·BI
DARSHAN SINGH ._ STAlE OF PUNJAB 845

4. Merely because the second appellant chose to make some A
application and also mentioned the names of some police officers in it, It
conld not be said that all police officers wonld be Interested in falsely
Implicating him in a murder case. In the complaint made by appellant
No. 2, none of the police officers in charge of the investigation of the
present case has been referred to therein. It was, however, contended B.
that the brotherhood of the uniform created a prejudice against the
second appellant and that Is why he has been falsely Implicated. This
appears to be too tall a proposition. There Is no material to Indicate that
there was any prejudice in the mind of the investigating officer. The
report of the incident was lodged Immediately and in the report the part
played by the accused has been clearly stated. [851A·B; SSOG-H)
c
5.1 It appears that first appellant and his father were keen to .
grab the property and It Is in pursuit of this motive that they committed
the triple murder. The attack was brutal. The medical evidence indi-
cates that the deceased man's neck was chopped off and repeated blows
by Gandasa were inflicted on the body of his daughter•.Therefore, it is D
clear that the first appellant first chopped off the neck of his uncle and
even after doing this be inflicted number of blows on the young girl,
who was his own uncle's daughter, and the repeated blows go to show
that he inflicted the injuries with determination that she may not
escape. In this view of the matter and the brutal manner in which these -
two were done to death, there Is no reason to alter the sentence awarded - E
to the first appellant. [852C-E) '

5.2 So far as the second appellant Is concerned be Is a stranger
and he Is not in any way connected with the family and so there could be
no motive attrihnted to him. He appears to have been dragged into the
killing. Therefore, the sentence or death awarded to the second appel-
F
"'-. !ant is altered to a sentence of lmprlsonmentfor life. [852E-F)

.. CRIMINAL APPELLAlE JURISDICTION: Criminal Appeal
No. 98 of 1987.

From the Judgment and Order dated 9.10.1986 of the Punjab G
and Haryana High Court in Crl. A. No. 437 of 1986.

f A.N. Mulla and S.K. Sabharwal for the Appellants.

M.R. Sharma, R.S. Suri, H.S. Phoolta, Meera Agarwal and
R.C. Mishra for the Respondent. H-
846 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [1988) 2 S.C.R.

A
The Judgment of the Court was delivered by r
OZA, J. This is an appeal on grant of special leave against the
judgment of the High Court of Punjab and Haryana in Criminal
Appeal No. 437/86 and Reference No. 4/86 wherein the learned
Judgess of the High Court maintained the conviction and sentence
B passed against the appellants by the learned Additional Sessions
Judge, Faridkot. The conviction and sentences passed against the
appellants are: ri
CHARGES & SENTENCES:

c Darshan Singh u/s 302 IPC (for Sentenced to death and to }
the murder of pay a fine of Rs.200/· or
Mukand Singh in default R.I. for three \
months.

Pala Singh, u/ss 302/34 IPC Sentenced to undergo
D Buggar Singh . (for the murder) imprisonment for life and
aliasBagga (ofMukand Singh) to pay a fine of Rs.200/· or
Singh and in default R. I. for three
Roop Singh months each.

Darshan Singh u/s302 IPC Sentenced to death and to
E (for the murder) pay a fine of Rs.200/· or in
of Harb ans Kaur) default to undergo R.I.
for three months.

Pala Singh, u/ss 302/34 IPC Sentenced to undergo ~
Buggar Singh (for the murder) imprisonment for life
F alias Bagga of Harb ans Kaur) and to pay a fine of .-·
Singh and Rs.200/· or in default R.I.
Roop Singh for three months each.

B uggar Singh u/s3021PC Sentenced to death and to
Bagga Singh (for the murder) pay a fine of Rs.200/· or in
~
G of Pritam Kaur) default to undergo R.I. for
three months.
)
Darshan Singh, u/ss 302/34 IPC Sentenced to undergo
Pala Singh and (for the murder) imprisonment for life and
Roop Singh of Pritam Kaur) to pay a fine of Rs.200/· or
H in default to undergo R.I.
for three months each.
DARSHAN SINGH v. STATE OF PUNJAB [OZA, J.[ 847

Accused Pala Singh and Roop Singh are also convicted as A
'i mentioned above but they have not come up before this Court. This
appeal has been filed by Darshan Singh and Buggar Singh @ llagga
Singh. therefore we are concerned with their cases only.

The prosecution case at the trial was that on 24th June, 1985 at B
., , about 7.30 p.m. Dalip Singh, brother of Pritam Kaur, and his son
. Sarbjit Singh were present outside the house of Mukand Singh along-
with Gurnam Singh son of Babu Singh. Mukand Singh was returning
to his house. At that time, Darshan Singh and Roop Singh accused
armed with a Gandasa each, Pala Singh and Buggar Singh accused
armed with Kapa each came on a tractor from the village side. They
stopped the tractor near Mukand Singh. All the four accused got down c
-i from the tractor. Pala Singh and Roop Singh accused caught hold of
Mukand Singh deceased and threw him on the ground. A blow on the
neck of Mukand Singh was inflicted by Darshan Singh as a result of
which the neck was chopped off except that it remained suspended
with the body by skin. Then Harbans Kaur, the daughter of Mukand D
Singh came out of the house and she was given three garidasa blows on
her head by Darshan Singh. It is thereafter that Pritam Kaur, the wife
of Mukand Singh came out of the house and Bugger Singh gave kapa
i blows on her person. As a result, all the three victims died on the spot.
Dalip Singh, Sarbjit Singh and Gurnam Singh who had witnessed the
incident raised an alarm and also threw brick bats towards the assail-
E
ants. Thereupon all the appellants made good their escape . .It is signi-
'.a. ficant that Mukand Singh had only one daughter Harbans Kaur and
had no male issue.

_The appellant Darshan Singh is the son of Pala Singh whereas
) Bugger Singh is said to be an agricultural labourer working with Pala F
. . Singh and Roop Singh also belonging to the group of appellant.
·.
It is alleged by the prosecution that the two brothers had in-
herited som6 land from their father and there were disputes about it.
Apparently, Pala Singh and Darshan Singh by eradicating the family of
his brother Mukand Singh removed one of the successors claiming half G
share in the property. It was also alleged that as Mukand Singh had no
male issue and Harbans Kaur was of marriageable age, it appears from
-r evidence that negotiations for marriage were in the offing, Pala Singh
apprehended the entrance of some stranger in the family as son-in-law
of Mukand Singh to succeed to the property falling in the share of
Mukand Singh. H .
848 SUPREME COURT REPORTS • (1988J 2 S.C.R.

A Dalip Singh accompained with Gumam Singh son of Babu Singh
went immediately to the Police Station, Baghapurana and lod1., .J the
First Information Report Ex. PH which was recorded .by Inspector
Darshan Singh. This report was recorded at 8.30 p.m. and it was
alleged that the incident had taken place sometimes in the evening
about 7.30 p.m.
B
Inspector Darshan Singh went on the spot, prepared the visual
. plan. He also held inquest of the three dead bodies of Mukand Singh,
Harbans Kaur and Pritam Kaur respectively and sent the dead bodies
for autopsy. He also took blood-.;tained earth from the place where
• the bodies were found and recovered 20 brick bats from the spot. The
accused persons were searched and it is alleged that they were not
· C traceable. They, however, were arrested subsequently on 27th June,
1985. and lst July, 1985. After arrest, the Investigation officer inter·
rogated Darshan Singh accused in the presence of Gumam Singh son
· of Kartar Singh and Kalkiat Singh PW and he disclosed in his state-
ment giving information where the gandasa is and on his information
D from the specified place; the gandasa was recovered. After investiga-
ton, a' charge-.;heet was filed and on trial the appellants have been
convicted and sentenced as mentioned above. As ·it involved a sent-
ence of death to the two appellants, apart from the appeal preferred by
the appellants there was also a reference to the High Court and by the
impugned judgment the High Court dismissed the appeal filed by the
E appellants and confirmed the sentence of death awarded by the
learned trial court an.d it is against this judgment that the present
appeal by Darshan Singh and Bugger Singh is before us. ·

Learned counsel appearing for the appellants mainly contended
that the motive alleged that the appellants did not like the idea of a
F . stranger inheriting the property and coming into the family after the
-.... •. ._ marriage of Harbans Kaur appears to be not a very plaussible reason.
·•It. was also contended that there is a will executed by Mukand Singh in
favour of Sarbjit Singh son of Dalip Singh and therefore if the motive
..•was to eliminate all possible successors to the half share of Mukand
Singh the accused appellants would not have spared Sarbjit Singh. So
G far as this contention of the learned counsel is concerned when he
·referred to the relevant evidence it is discovered that this will was filed
by Sarbjit Singh after this incident in some civil proceecliOgs when he
claimed to be brought on record in place of Mukand Singh on the basis
of the will. This apparently could not indicate that this will in favour of
Sarb jit Singh was in the knowledge of the appellants on the date of
H incident. Learned counsel could not point out to any other material to
DARSHAN SINGH v. STATE OF PUNJAB (OZA, J.J. 849

suggest that this will was known to the appellants on the date of inci- A
dent'and therefore this contention raised by the learned counsel for
the appellant is without any substance.

Learned counsel also attempted to contend that Dalip Singh who
is the brother of Pritam Kaur the wife ,of Mukantl Singh has given an
· explanation for having come to the house ofMukand Singh but it does ·s
not appear to be justified. As according to the witnesss, he is the
maternal uncle of Harbans Kaur and there was some negotiations
about her marriage and for that purpose he alongwith his son had
come to the house of Mukand Singh. It is apparent that a maternal
uncle of the daughter (bride) is generally consulted when negotiations
for marriage of the daughter are in progress and apart from it both the
courts below had accepted the testimony of this witness which also is
c
fully corroborated by the First Information Report lodged irnme-
diately after the incident. In fart, in this case as the report is lodged
immediately the contention advanced by the learned counsel for the
appellants is not that there is delay but it was seriously contended that
if the incident has taken place at 7.30 p.m. as mentioned in the.First D
Information Report the report could not have been lodged at 8.30
p.m. within one hour as in the First Information Report itself the
distance of the police station from the scene of occurrence is recorded
as 121/2 kilometres and on this basis an argument was raised by learned
counsel for the appellants that the report appears to have been pre-
pared later on and a false time has been mentioned in the report. E

.Instances of this filed that no relevant evidence was brought on
record and not a single question was put to any witness or to Dalip
Singh who made the First Information Report that he had noted the
.time of incident after seeing the watch and this was recorded in the
. first information report as 7 .30 p.m. It is also clear that there is nothing. F
in his evidence to indicate that he and Gumam Singh who went to the
police station walked on foot and covered a distance of 121/2 kilo-.
metres because it is not in their testimony as to whether they went
through the normal route or they went acr,oss the fields by short cut
nor there is anything in the evidence that they did not take a lift in any
vehicles. Learned counsel when confronted with this situation con- G
tended that the burden Jay on the prosecution but it could not be
. disputed that if this was the contention of the defence that the report
could not have been recorded at 8.30 p.m .. if the incident was at 7.30
p.m. question to establish this should have been put in corss-examinac
tion. It is apparent that there is no material to indicate that the time of
incident when noted was 7.30 p.m. it is precise time nor it is there in H
850 SUPREME COURT REPORTS (1988] 2 S.C.R.

evidence as to whether the persons who lodged the first ipfon: . tion
A
report walked through 121/2 kilometres. In abssence of any ~ ·'~rial
the· only thing that appears is that immediately after the incident the
report' is recorded and this report contains a clear description of the
incident corroborating the testimony of the eye witnesses. The courts
below therefore on consideration of the testimony of the eye witnesses
B · accepted their version and convicted the appellants as mentioned
!
above.

Learned counsel could not from the evidence of the eye witnes-
ses refer to any part of their evidence to indicate that the evidence is
such on which reliance could not be placed except for the fact, accord-
c ing to the learned counsel, that there were disputes between the two
parties i.e. the groups of the two brothers and all the prosecution
witnesses apparently were belonging to the group of the deceased. It
· was also contended that in the locality independent witnesses could be
· available but they have not been examined. The Courts below have
considered this aspect of the matter. It appears from the evidence that
D the n'earby area was not so inhabitated and by that time in the evening
no one else was available. Those who were present have been exami-
ned and in this view of the matter the contention that independent
witnesses were not examined is of no consequence.

It is also significant that the testimony of the eye witnesses has ~
E been fully corroborated by the medical evidence and the injuries on
the particular parts of the body of the three deceased persons. In this
view of the matter therefore learned counsel for the appellants'mainly i.
emphasised on the aspect of motive and the first information ·report. !'.,

··•. It was also contended that appellant Bugger Singh had submitted
· F . an application somtimes before this incident in which he had made
allegations against the police officers of the police sta.tion and in view
of that the police officers must have been prejudiced against him. The
application for contempt against the police moved by Bugger Singh
was also relied upon in support of the contention. We do not find any
substance in this'contention too. In' the complaint made, it is apparent
G that none of the police officers in charge of the investigations of the
present case has been referred to therein. It was however, contended
that the brotherhood of the uniform created a prejudice against the
appellant Buggar Singh, and it is why he has been falsely implicated.
This appears to be too tall a proposition. There is no material to
indicate that there was any prejudice in the mind of the investigating
H officer. The report of the incident was lodged immediately and in the
DARSHAN SINGH v. STATE OF PUNJAB [OZA, J.[ 851

report the part played by the accused has been clearly stated. Under A
these circumstances, therefore, merely because Buggar Singh chose to
make some application and also mentioned the names of some police
officers in it, it could not be held that all police officers will be in·
terested in falsely implicating this appellant in a murder case. There is
no other material on the basis of which it could be contended that

, ._j
there was any prejudice against him.

The evidence of the eye witnesses have been considered by both
the courts in detail and especially the Sessions Court before whom the
witnesses were examined accepted their testimony and we have no
reason to discard their testimony. The names of the eye witnesses have
B

\ been mentioned in the first information report, which was lodged
c
'l immediately after the incident and the statements of eye witnesses
have been fully corroborated by medical evidence. No doubt could
therefore be raised about the reliability of such evidence.

Learned counsel realising the situation ultimately contended that
. ; so far as Darshan Singh is concerned he could not make submissions
about the sentence as he has done away with first Mukand Singh his
D

uncle and then Harbans Kaur, Mukand Singh' daughter i.e. her own
cousin. But he contended that so far as Buggar Singh is concerned he is
a stranger and he is not in any way connected with the family and so
there could be no motive attributed to him. Pala Singh and Darshan
'-1 Singh may have the interest of getting the property falling into the E
share of Mukand Singh but Buggar Singh has no such motive and
therefore the sentence of death awarded to him does not appear to be
justified .
•
..,.,. The learned counsel appearing for the respondent State
. ,:,
;-
contended that the courts below have considered the question of sent·
ence in a reasonable manner and those who are personally responsible
F

for killing in such a brutal manner three persons one after another,
have been sentenced to death and those who have been convicted with
the aid of Section 34 have been treated leniently and sentence of life
t • imprisonment alone is awarded.
G
In the light of the discussions above therefore so far as merits are
concerned, there is no substance in the contention advanced by
learned counsel for the appellants. The conviction of the appellants
could not be assailed on any ground. The only question that remains to
be considered is the question of sentence. Learned counsel referred to
the decision of this Court in Dalbir Singh & Ors. v. State of Punjab, H
852 SUPREME COURT REPORTS I1988] 2 S.C.R.

A I1979] 3 SCR 1059 wherein the plausible reasons which may weigh with )'"
a court while awarding a sentence of death have been enunciated. So
far as the present case is concerned we must consider the facts of the
case. It is clear and not disputed also that father of Mukand Singh and
Pala Singh left behind some agricultural land. It is not in dispute that
the two brothers Pala Singh and Mukand Singh were the only heirs
B
entitled to the share in the property of their father. It is also not
disputed that so far as Mukand Singh is concerned he had only one
daughter Harbans Kaur and had no male issue. It is also disputed that
the property disputes have been going on. There have been cases and
complaints against each other. It appears that Pala Singh and his son ,
1
Darshan Singh were keen to grab that property and it is in pursuit of i. .
c this motive that they attacked Mukand Singh and his family and killed T
all the members of the family, Mukand Singh, his wife Pritam Kaur \
and his only daughter Harbans Kaur and thereby eliminated everyone T
who could claim any share in the property. The attack was brutal. The
medical evidence indicates that Mukand Singh's neck was chopped off,
repeated blows by Gandasa were inflicted on the body of Harbans
0 Kaur. Therefore it is clear that Darshan Singh first chopped off the
neck of Mukand Singh and even after doing this he inflicted number of
blows on Harbans Kaur a young girl, his own Uncle's daughter and the
repeated blows go to show that he inflicted injuries with determination
that she may not escape. In this view of the matter and the manner in
which brutally these two were done to death, we see no reason to alter ~
E the sentence awarded to Darshan Singh.

So far as Buggar Singh is concerned it is no doubt true that he
inflicted three blows on Pritam Kaur by Kapa which he was carryin\'
So far as infliction of injuries are concerned it could be described
nothing but cruel but it is true that he had no motive. He appears ~
F have been dragged into the killing. In our opinion, so far as he i• ,
concerned both the courts below were not right in awarding sentence •<;'
of death.

Consequently the appeal is partly allowed. The conviction of all
the appellants is maintained. The sentences of all the appellants except
G Buggar Singh are maintained and so far as Buggar Singh is concerned,
sentence of death awarded to him is altered to a sentence of imprison-
ment for life.

G.N. Appeal allowed.