HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH Decided on: December 14 v. State of Punjab

HON'BLE MR.JUSTICE M.M.S.BEDI PRESENT Mr.R.S.Cheema, Sr., Advocate, with Mr.R.K.Trikha, Advocate, for the petitioner Mr.Abhishek Chautala, AAG., Punjab. Mr.D.D.Sharma, Advocate, for the complainant. *** M.M.S. BEDI, J. Petitioner Harkamal Singh seeks the concession of regular bail in a case registered at the instance of Amarjit Singh alleging that on 17.09.2009, the complainant had to appear in connection with a case under Section 307 IPC, registered against . . . 1 Crl. Misc. No.M-21305 of 2010 Fateh Singh, Karam Singh, Karan Singh and Gurmeet Singh, Devinder Singh, nephew of the complainant and complainant. After attending the hearing when they were present in the Court, then the petitioner along with Baljinder Singh alias Billa, Babby, Inder Singh, Kulbir Singh, Karam Singh, Soni Sarpanch, Swaran Singh, Darshan Singh and Harpreet Singh who are close to Lakhbir Singh were present in the Court. They showed eyes to the complainant. The complainant and his brother apprehended danger as such, they went towards Morinda and halted at G.T.Road, Morinda, in order to take tea in the hall room of Lucky Dhaba. At about 1:30 PM, 3-4 vehicles including one black colour Indica Car stopped in front of the Dhaba and the petitioner along with Baljinder Singh alas Babbi armed with revolver, Darshan Singh armed with double barrel gun, Kamey armed with iron rod, Karam Singh armed with gandasi, Sonu Sarpanch armed with sword, Swaran Singh armed with Sword, Babbi armed with revolver, Kulwinder Singh armed with revolver alighted from the above said vehicles. Baljinder Singh raised lalkara that the complainant and others should not be permitted to escape. All of them with a common intention, opened attack on the complainant and his brother with their respective weapons. The complainant party tried to run away from the spot. Baljinder Singh alias Billa made a fire shot with his revolver on Fateh Singh hitting him on the back. He fell down. Harpreet Singh fired a gun shot on Devinder Singh hitting him on stomach and he also fell down. The petitioner and his brother Babbi fired shots on the . . . 2 Crl. Misc. No.M-21305 of 2010 complainant while they were running. Kamey has been attributed a rod blow. The complainant party ran to save their lives towards the fields and they were chased by the accused firing gun shots. After alarm was raised number of persons gathered at Lucky Dhaba. All the assailants escaped form the spot. The brother of the complainant namely Fateh Singh died on the spot whereas Devinder Singh had sustained bullet injuries in the stomach. Jaspreet Singh and Gurmeet Singh were also lying in injured condition. They were rushed to hospital. Certain weapons like sword etc., were lying on the spot. The statement of the complainant had been recorded in the PGI. Shri Rajinder Singh Cheema, learned Senior Advocate, on behalf of the petitioner, has submitted that the the only part attributed to the petitioner is that while the complainant party was running away from the place of occurrence, the petitioner along with Babbi and others fired gun shots, indiscriminately. There is no allegation that the gun shots fired by the petitioner hit any member of the complainant party. There is a contradiction in the supplementary statement of complainant Amarjit Singh, under Section 161 C r.P.C., indicating that part attributed to the petitioner is that he was armed with iron rod. It is contended that Devinder Singh, Jaspreet Singh and Gurmeet Singh injured PWs have attributed different role to the petitioner that he was present on the spot armed with iron rod. However, no injury is attributed to the petitioner. . . . 3 Crl. Misc. No.M-21305 of 2010 Mr.Cheema, vehemently urged that no injury having been attributed to the petitioner on the person of deceased Fateh Singh or to any other injured, prosecution witness namely Devinder Singh, Jaspreet Singh or Gurmeet Singh, the petitioner can be granted the concession of regular bail. Deceased Fateh Singh was injured by Baljinder Singh alias Billa with a shot fired from his revolver hitting him on his back. The deceased as per the Post Mortem Report, AnnexureP-6, had only one fire arm injury. Devinder Singh also suffered a gun shot injury in the abdomen, which is attributed to Harpreet Singh alias Lovely. Gurmeet Singh had also received an injury as per, Annexure P-8. It was contended that the injury on the person of Devinder Singh was declared dangerous to life whereas injury on the person of Gurmeet Singh was declared grievous in nature. The petitioner has been in custody w.e.f., 22.09.2009, as such, he can be granted the concession of bail. I have heard the counsel for the petitioner, at length, and gone through the averments in the FIR and the supplementary statement of Amarjit Singh and the statement of Devinder Singh, Jaspreet Singh and Gurmeet Singh, made under Section 161 Cr.P.C., as well as the Post Mortem Reports and Medico Legal Reports, of the injured in order to appreciate the contentions of the counsel for the petitioner Counsel for the petitioner has urged that on account of enmity of the complainant, a large number of persons . . . 4 Crl. Misc. No.M-21305 of 2010 have been named to spread the net to entangle all the persons known to Lakhbir Singh, Chairman of the Market Committee, as he had registered a case under Section 307 IPC, against the complainant, his brother and nephew. Counsel for the complainant has argued that the petitioner has not been falsely implicated in the case. He was a member of an unlawful assembly and that on an earlier occasion two days prior to the present occurrence, he had also made an attack on Fateh Singh, regarding which an FIR No.146 dated 14.09.2009, under Sections 341, 323, 506, 427, 148 & 149 IPC, had been recorded. The said FIR was registered at the instance of Fateh Singh alleging that he along with his brother Amarjit Singh, Gurpreet Singh, Balwinder Singh and Gulzar Singh had gone to the office of the Deputy Superintendent of Police, to file a complaint and when they were returning back to Bassi Pathana and reached near Cheema Gas Agency, 5-6 persons came on Balero and Scorpio vehicles and encircled the Car of the complainant in that case. The petitioner was also present along with others. He had inflicted a rod blow on the person of Karamjit Singh. The said occurrence is dated

14.09.2009. Petitioner Harkamal Singh is also an accused in another case registered at the instance of Gulzar Singh in FIR No.79 of

06.08.2007. The allegation against the petitioner levelled in the said FIR is that the petitioner had attacked the complainant Gulzar Singh constituting an unlawful assembly armed with Gandasi. The petitioner being involved in two other criminal cases of assault . . . 5 Crl. Misc. No.M-21305 of 2010 cannot be granted the concession of pre-arrest bail in a murder case when he has been specifically named in the FIR of having attacked as a member of an unlawful assembly. Chances of tampering with the evidence cannot be ruled out, at this stage, on account of the previous conduct of the petitioner. No ground is made out for bail to the petitioner, at this stage, on the basis of the contradictions pointed out by the counsel for the petitioner as it will be pre-mature to appreciate the evidence at this stage. Dismissed. December 14, 2010. (M.M.S.BEDI) JUDGE . . . 6