CIVIL APPEAL 1756 of 2001 on 3 August 1993

IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB & HARYANA, CHANDIGARH

Criminal Revision No. 1756 of 2001 Date of Decision: April 20, 2009

Mohinder Singh

...........Petitioner

Versus

State of Punjab

..........Respondent

Coram: Hon'ble Mrs. Justice Sabina

Present:None for the petitioner.Mr.Amandeep Singh Rai, Assistant Advocate General,Punjab. **

Sabina, J.

Petitioner-Mohinder Singh was convicted for an offenceunder Sections 279/304-A of the Indian Penal Code (`IPC' for short) inFIR No. 79 dated 3.8.1993 registered at Police Station Morinda, Tehsil andDistrict Ropar by the Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate Ropar on18.1.1996. Vide order of even date, he was sentenced to undergo rigorousimprisonment for the period of six months under Section 279 IPC and toundergo rigorous imprisonment for the period of one year under Section304-A IPC and to pay a fine of Rs.1000/-. Substantive sentences wereordered to run concurrently. Aggrieved by the same, petitioner preferred anappeal and the same was dismissed by the Additional Sessions Judge, Roparon 22.11.2001. Hence, the present revision petition.

The case of the prosecution, as noticed by the appellate Court in para 2 of its judgment, is reproduced here in below:- “The brief facts of the case, as advanced by theprosecution are that on 3.8.1993, one Jagmohan Singh son ofBudh Singh resident of Ram Darbar, Chandigarh made astatement to the Police that on 2.8.1993, he along with his wifeJaswinder Kaur and children Gurvinder Singh (aged five years),Ajit Singh (aged four years) and Amrit Pal (aged six months) aswell as Ashwani Kumar son of Bachan Lal were going to Rajpuratownship in their car bearing No. CH-01-F-9475. They hadstarted from Chandigarh at 3.00 P.M. and reached Rajpuratownship where in-laws of the complainant was residing. It wasRakhi-Festival and they had gone to Rajpura township for tyingRakhri by Jaswinder Kaur to her brothers. After performing theceremony, they were returning to Chandigarh via Sirhind. Whenthey reached near village Sukho Majra, the back tyre of the cargot punctured. The car was parked on one side of the katcha roadand the complainant started changing the tyre of the car. At thattime, Jaswinder Kaur wife of the complainant along with her sixmonth old child were standing outside the car on their left side,while Aswhani Kumar and other children of Jagmohan Singhwere sitting in the car. At that time, one four-wheeler SwarajMajda being driven by the accused driver came from the back sidein a very rash and negligent speed and it hit the car on its back leftside. The car was dragged for a distance of 15 karms and it alsohit Jaswinder Kaur as well as the child carried over by her.Jaswinder Kaur fell down and died on the spot while the small Criminal Revision No.1756 of 2001

child fell down on the road and he was taken to Civil Hospital,Morinda, where he also died on the same night. The complainantstated that the Swaraj Majda vehicle was bearing registrationNo.PB-12-A-2112 and it was being driven by Mohinder Singh,who was already known to the complainant. He also stated thatthis accident took place at about 9.30 PM. After the accident, thedriver ran away from the spot but the vehicle remained there. Thestatement of the complainant was recorded by the police and aformal FIR Ex.PC/2 was registered. During the investigations,the vehicle Swaraj Majda as well as Car were taken in possessionalong with their documents, the accused was arrested, PostMortem of dead bodies was got conducted and their copies weretaken on record, photographs of the spot were also arranged, siteplan was drawn, mechanical test of the vehicles were also gotdone, inquest report was prepared and after completion of theinvestigation challan was presented in the Court of learnedJudicial Magistrate Ist Class, Ropar for trial of the accused.”

I have gone through the record of the case with the assistanceof the learned counsel for the State.

The accident in the present case had taken place on 3.8.1993.

As per the prosecution case, the car driven by the complainant was parkedon one side of the katcha road as the back tyre of the car had got punctured.Jaswinder Kaur, wife of the complainant along with her six months oldchild was standing outside the car on the left side,whereas, Ashwani Kumarand other children of the complainant were sitting inside the car. Thevehicle in question driven by the petitioner came from behind at a fast speed Criminal Revision No.1756 of 2001

in a rash and negligent manner and struck against the car and the car wasalso dragged to some distance and it struck against Jaswinder Kaur and thechild carried by her. As a result of this, Jaswinder Kaur and her child died.Complainant, while appearing in the witness box as PW2, has duly provedthe prosecution case. Complainant had no enmity against the petitioner toinvolve him falsely in this case. The testimony of the complainant withregard to the accident is duly corroborated by PW6 Ashwani Kumar.

In these circumstances, the Courts below has rightlyconvicted and sentenced the petitioner under Sections 304-A/279 IPC. Thejudgments of the Courts below do not call for interference.

Dismissed.

(Sabina) Judge

April 20,2009

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