S.C.R. invoked by the · plaintiff, to the property held by a wife in her own right, the foundation on which custom grows would be wanting. When the matter is further probed, it appears that the plaintiff relies not only on custom but partly on custom and partly on
the rule of Hindu la:w, namely, that the law which governs the husband will govern the wife , also. Whether the latter rule can be extended to a case like the present ~ a question of some difficulty, on which,
as at present advised, we would reserve our opinion. In the circumstances, we prefer to leave the issue of custom undecided, and base our decision on the sole ground, which by itself is sufficient to conclude the
appeal, that the plaintiff's marriage with Ram Piari has not been clearly established. The appeal therefore fails and it is dismissed, but in the circumstances of the e;ase and particularly since
the appellant has appealed in f orma pauperis, we direct that the parties will bear their own costs in all the courts. Appeal dismissed. Agent for the appellant: S. D. Sekhri. Agent for the respondent: Naunit Lal.
LACHMAN SINGH AND OTHERS v. THE STATE [SAIYID FAzL Au and VIVIAN BosE JJ.] Evidence Act (1 of 1872), sec. 27-Statements of several accused leading to discoveries-Admissibility-Necessity of
proof as to which statement was made first-Scope of sec. 27. Three persons K, M and S, who were accused of murder · made statements to the police which disclosed that the dead bodies after being dismembered were thrown into a stream and the police party thereafter went with the three accused to the stream where each of them pointed out a place where different Thakur Gokal
Chand v. Parvin Kumari. Fazl Ali f. March 21. Lachma11 Singh and Others v. The State. [1952] parts of the dead bodies were discovered. It was contended on behalf of the accused that it was only the information which was first given that was admissible u·nder sec.
of the Evidence Act, that once a fact has been discovered in consequence of information received from a person accused of an offence~ it cannot be said to be re~discovered in consequence of information
received from another accused person, and that in the absence of evidence to show which of the accused first gave the infer· mation the discoveries alleged cannot be proved against any of the accused persons: Held, that, even assuming that this argu· ment was correct, as it appeared from the
evidence that S led the police to a particular spot on the stream and it was at his instance that some blood stained earth was recovered from a place outside the village and he had also pointed out the trunk of one of the dead bodies, and the High Court was satisfied that there was an "initial pointing out" by S, the case was covered by
the rule and the evidence as to the discoveries was admissible. \Vith regard to the rule applicable to cases where there is clear and unimpeachable evidence as to independent and authen· tic statements of the nature referred to in sec. 27 of the Evidence Act having been made by several accused persons either
simul- taneously or otherwise, some of the decided cases have gone further than is warranted by the language of sec. 27 of the Evidence Act and may have to be reviewed on a future occasion. CRIMINAL
APPELLATE JURISDICTION : Criminal Appeal No. 2i of 1950. Appeal from the judgment and order dated 29th J uni:, 1950, of the High Court of Judicature at Simla (Weston C.J. and Khosla J.) in
Criminal Appeal No. 432 of 1949 arising out of a judg- ment dated 5th August, 1949, of the Court of the Addi- · tional Sessions Judge, Amritsar, in Sessions Trial No. 7 <if 1949 and Case No. 8 of 1949.
fai Gopal Sethi (R. L. Kohli, with him) for the appellants. Gopal Singh for the State. 1952, March 21. The Judgment of the Court delivered by· was : -. :;oo FAzL Au J.-The three appellants were tried by the
Additional Sessions Judge at Amritsar and found guilty of having murdered two persons named Darshan Singh and Achhar Singh and sentenced to transporta- tion for life. The High Court of Punjab upheld their
;..- ·- ===t S.C.R. conviction and sentence and granted them a certificate under article 134( 1) ( c) of the Constitution that the case 1s a fit one for appeal to this Court. Hence this
appeal. The facts of the case may be briefly stated as follows. On the evening of 16th December, 1948, a little before sunset, Achhar Singh, one of the murdered persons, went to the house of one Inder Singh in
village Dalam for getting paddy husked. Achhar Singh's brother, Darshan Singh, who was working as a driver at Amritsar, came to Dalam from Amritsar the same evening, and, on coming, to know from his
father that Achhar Singh had gone to Inder Singh's house, he also went there. While the two brothers were returning home, they were attacked by the three appellants and two of their relatives in a lane adjoin-
ing Inder Singh's house. The five assailants, who were armed with deadly weapons, inflicted a number of in- juries on the two victims, as a result of which they died then and there. After the murder, the appellants
and their companions tied the two dead bodies in two kheses (wrappers) and took them to village Saleempura where two other persons, named Ajaib Singh and Banta Singh, joined them, and the dead bodies after being
dismembered were thrown into a stream known as Sakinala at a place about five miles from village Dalam. Bela Singh, father of the deceased persons, who was one of the persons who claiw; to have witnessed the
occurrence, did not leave the village at night on account of fear, but he started about two hours before sunrise on the next morning and lodged the first information report at 10 A.M. at the nearest police station. A police
officer arrived in village Dalam shortly afterwards, and after investigation a charge-sheet was submitted against seven persons including the present appellants. At the trial, five of the accused were charged with
offences under section 302 read with section 149 and under section 201 read with section 149 of the Indian Penal Code, and the remaining two accused were charged with the offence under section 201 read with
section 149 of that Code. The learned Judge who tried Lachman Sing/, and Others v. The State. Fazl Ali/. Lzchman Singh and Others v. The State, Fazl Ali/. [1952] the accused, convicted the
appellants and two other persons under section 302 read with section 149 of the Penal Code and sentenced them to transportation for life and convicted Ajaib Singh under section 201 read
with section 149 and sentenced him to three years' R.I. Banta Singh, accused, was acquitted. On appeal the Punjab High Court upheld the conviction of th~ present appellants and acquitted the remaining three
persons. Before proceeding to discuss the evidence in the case, it is necessary to refer to what has been described as the motive for thy. murder. It appears, that in June, 1947, Natha Singh, father
of the third appellant, Swaran Singh, was murdered, and Darshan Singh and Achhar Singh, the two milrdered persons in the case before us, and their third · brother, Sulakhan Singh,
were charged with the murder of that person. As a result of the trial, Darshan Singh was acquitted and Achhar Singh was sentenced to 1! years' R.I., while Sulakhan Singh was sentenced to 7 years' R.I. The
judgment of the Sessions Judge in that case was deli- vered shortly before the date of the present occurrence, and it is common ground that Achhar Singh had been released on bail by the appellate court and was at large
at _that time. It is said that the appellants and their re- latives felt aggrieved by the 'acquittal of Darshan Singh and by the light sentenced passed on Achhar Singh, and therefore
committed this murder in a spirit of frmtration and revenge. It was conceded before us by the learned counsel for the appellants that the facts stated above constituted a strong motive for
the murder, but he also contended that .they constituted an equally strong motive for the appellants being falsely implicated in case the murder was committed, as was suggested by him, in circumstances under which
the murderers could not be seen or identified. It there- fore becomes necessary to set out the evidence adduced by the prosecution in support of the murder. The evidence led by the prosecution may be divided
under two main heads:-(1) Direct evidence, and (2) Circumstantial evidence. The direct evidence consists S.C.R. oif the testimony of four eye-witnesses, namely, Bela Singh, father of the deceased, who claims to have gone
to the scene of occurrence on hearing an outcry and to have witnessed the murderous assault on his sons ; Inder Singh and his wife, Mst. Taro, to whom the murdered persons had gone for getting paddy husked
and who lived in a house adjoining the lane where the murder took place ; and Gurcharan Singh, a resident of a different village, who states that he saw the occurrence when he was going towards village Dhadar
on a cycle. The circumstantial evidence in the case, on which the High Court has relied, may be briefly summarised as follows :- ( 1) The second appellant, Massa Singh, who was arrested on the 18th December, 1948, was wearing a
pyjama stained with human blood. (2) The third appellant, Swaran Singh, who was arrested on the 18th December, 1948, took the police on the 19th December to his haveli which was locked,
and, on opening it two khases (wrappers) which were stained with human blood were recovered. (3) Swaran Singh pointed out a spot on the way to Sakinala, where the two dead bodies were placed for
a short time while they were being taken to Sakinala, and the police scrapped blood-stained earth from that spot. He also led the police to the bank of Sakinala and pointed out the trunk of the body of Darshan Singh
which was lying in the nala. (4) Lachhman Singh, who was arrested on the 28th December, 1948, pointed out· a dilapidated khola near Sakinala where 3 spears, one kirpan and a datar, all
stained with human blood, were recovered. The learned Sessions Judge, who heard the evidence, seems to have been impressed by the evidence of the eye-witnesses, and he has summed up his conclusion
in these words:- "This evidence was so consistent, so reliable, and of such nature that in my opinion it is definitely esta- blished that the five accmed Lachhman Singh, Katha Lachman Singh
and Others v. Th r: Sta tr:. Fazl Ali/. Lachman Singh and Others v. The State. Fazl Ali J. [1952] Singh, Massa Singh, Charan Singh and Swaran Singh are proved to have actually murdered both Darshan
Singh and Achhar Singh. This fact is further proved from subsequent events as deposed by P.W. 8 Bahadur Singh and P.W. 9 Gian Singh and P. W. 11 Bhagwan Singh. These witnesses had witnessed the various re-
coveries in this case which were made at the instance of all the accused." The learned Judges of the High 03urt, though they repelled most of the criticisms levelled against the witnesses, ultimately came to the conclusion that "in
all the circumstances (of the case) it would be proper not to rely upon the oral evidence implicating parti- cular accused ' unJess there is some circumstantial evidence to support it".
Having laid down this standard, they examined the circumstancial evidence against each of the accused persons and upheld the conv>iction of the three appellants on the ground that
the circumstantial evidence, to which reference has been made, was sufficient corrobbration of the oral evidence. The case of the appellants was argued at great length by Mr. Sethi, who appeared for them, and everything
that could possibly be said in their favour was urged by him with great force and clarity. Proceedings, however, upon the principles laid down by this court, circumscribing the scope of a criminal appeal after the
case has been sifted by the trial court, and the High Court, it seems to us that the question involved in the present appeal is a short and simple one. According to our reading of the judgment of the High Court, the
learned Judges, who dealt with the case, did not condemn the oral evidence outright, but, as a matter of prudence and caution, they decided not to convict an accused person unless there were some circumstances
to lend support to the evidence of the eye-witnesses with regard to him. It is quite clear on reading the judgment that the corroboration· which the learned judges required to satisfy
themselves was not that kind of corroboration which one requires in the case of the evidence of an approver or an accomplice, S.C.R. but corroboration by some circumstances which would
lend assurance to the evidence before them and satisfy them that the particular accused persons were really concerned in the murder of the deceased. Judged by this standard, which it was open to them to prescribe,
it seems to us that the case of each of -the appellants clearly fell within the rule which they had laid down for their own guidance. The comment of the learned counsel for the appel-
lants with regard to the blood-stained pyjama which was recovered from Massa Singh was, firstly, that it was not possible to gather from the evidence the extent of the blood stains, and secondly that it would
be highly improbabk that this accused person would be so reckless as to continue to wear a blood stained pyjama after having perpetrated the crime. This criticism has been considered by the
courts below, and it does not appear to us to be of such a nature as to affect the conclusion arrived at by them. As to the recovery of blood-stained weapons at the instance 'Of Lachhman Singh, it was urged that the entire
evidence with regard to this recovery should be dis- carded, as the police investigation in the case was not a straightforward one but was conducted in such a way as to raise suspicion that the police were deliberately
trying to create some evidence of recovery against each of the accused persons. It is sufficient to say that it is not the function of this court to reassess evi- <lence and an argument on a point of fact which did
not prevail with the courts below cannot avail the appellants in this court. The comment against the 'discoveries made at \the instance of Swaran Singh was that they are not admissible in evidence under section
27 of the Indian Evidence Act, which provides- "When any fact is deposed to as discovered in consequence of information received from a person accused of an offence in the custody of a police officer,
so much of such information whether it amounts to a 'COnfession or not, as relates distinctly to the fact there- by discovered, may be proved." Lachman Singn and Others v. The State.
Fazl Ali/. Lachman Singh and Others v. The State. Faz/ Ali/. [1952] The main facts which it is necessary to ~tate to understand the argument on this point may be sum- med up as follows:-
According to the prosecution, all the three accused, namely, Katha Singh, Massa Singh and Swaran Singh, were interrogated by the police on the morning of the 19th December, 1948, and they
made certain statements which were duly recorded by the police. In these statements, it was disclosed that the dead bodies were thrown in the Sakinala. Thereafter, the police party with the three-
accused went to Sakinala where each of them pointed out a place where different parts of the dead bodies were discovered. The learned counsel for the appellants cited a num- ber of rulings in which section 27 bas been construed to
mean that it is only the information which is first given that is admissible . and once a fact bas been discovered in consequence of information received from a person· accused of an offence, it cannot be said to be a re-dis-
covered in consequence of information received from another accused person. It was urged before us that the prosecution was bound to adduce evidence to prove as to which of the three a£Cused gave the information
first. The head constable,· who recorded the state- ments of the three accused has not stated which of them gave the information first to him, but Bahadur Singh, one of the witnesses who attested the recovery
memos, was specifically asked in cross-examination about it and stated : "I cannot say from whom infor- mation was got first". In the circumstances, it was contended that since it cannot be ascertained which
of the accused first gave the information, the alleged discoveries cannot he proved against any of the accused persons. It seems to us that if the evidence adduced by the prosecution is found to be open to
suspicion and it appears that the police have delibera- tely attributed similar confessional statements relat- ing to facts discovered to different accused persons,. in order to create evidence against all of them, the
case undoubtedly demands a most cautious approach. S.C.R. But as to what should be the rule when there is clear and unimpeachable evidence as to independent and authentic statements
of the nature referred to in section 27 of the Evidence Act, having been made by several accused persons either simultaneously or otherwise, all that we wish to say is that as at present
advised we are inclined to think that some of the cases relied upon by the learned counsel for the appellants have perhaps gone farther than is warranted by the language of section 27, and it may be that on a suit-
able occasion in future thooe cases may have to be reviewed. For the purpose of this appeal, however, it is sufficient to state that even if the argument put forward on behalf of the appellants, which apparently
found favour with the High Court, is correct, the dis- coveries made at the instance of Swaran Singh cannot be ruled out of consideration. It may be that several of the accused gave information to the police
that the dead bodies could be recovered in the Sakinala, which is a stream running over several miles, but such an indefinite information could not lead to any discovery unless the accused followed it up by
conducting the police to the actual spot where parts of the two bodies were recovered. From the evidence of the head constable as well as that of Bahadur Singh, it is quite clear that Swaran Singh led the police via
Salimpura to a particular spot on Sakinala, and it was at his imtance that blood-stained · earth was recovered from a place outside the village and he also pointed out the trunk of the body of Darshan Singh. The
learned judges of the High Court were satisfied, as appears from their judgment, that his was "the initial pointing out" and tl1erefore the case was covered even by the rule which,
according to the counsel for the appellants_, is the rule to be applied in the present case. The learned counsel for the appellants poinred out that the doctor who performed the post-mortem exa-
mination of the corpses, found partially digested rice in the stomach of the two deceased persons, and he 19"2 Lachman Singh and Others v. The States. Faz/ Ali/. Lackman Singh and Ot'1er1
v. Tlie State, Fazl Ali]. [1952] urged that from this it would be inferred that the occurrence must have taken place sometime at night after the deceased persons had taken their evening
meals together. This argument again raises a ques- tion of fact which the High Court has not omitted to consider. It may however be stated that a reference to books on medical jurisprudence shows that there are
many factors affecting one's digestion, and cases were cited before us in which rise was not fully digested even though considerable time had elapsed since the last meal was taken. There are also no data before us to
show when the two deceased persons took their last meal, and what article of food, if any, was taken by them along with rice. The finding of the doctor there- fore does not necessarily affect the prosecution case as
to the time of occurrence. It was also contended that there being no charge under section 302 read with section 34 of the Indian Penal Code, the conviction of the appellants under sec-
tion 302 read with section 149 could not have been alter- ed by the High Court to one under section 302 read wlth section 34, upon the acquittal of the remaining accus- ed persons. The facts of the case are however such
that the accused could have been charged alternative.. ly, either under section 302 read with section 149 or under section 302 read with section 34. The point has therefore no force.
In our opinion, there is no ground for interfering with the judgment of the courts below, and we accord- ingly disrujss this appeal and uphold the conviction and sentence of the appellants. We however wish to
endorse the opinion of the High Court that having regard to the gruesome nature of the crime, the sen- tence imposed by the Additional Sessions Judge was inappropriate and his reasons for imposing the lighter
penalty are wholly inadequate. Appeal dismissed. Agent for the appellant : R. N. Sachthey. Agent for the respondent: P. A. Mehta.