Justice Deepak Sibal, while granting regular bail to a person accused in a case of murder, noted how FSL reports are casually drafted and asked the Director, of FSL, Punjab to explain the casual drafting of the reports through an affidavit.
Brief Facts:
This petition has been filed under Section 439 Cr.p.c for the grant of regular bail in FIR No.144 dated 27.08.2019 registered under Sections 302, 34, 460, and 120-B IPC.
In brief, the case is that there is a person Mandeep Kaur who was Baldev Singh’s wife and she was having an extramarital affair with Bhinder Singh. When the husband came to know he asked the wife to stop meeting Bhinder Singh. Thereafter, Mandeep Kaur and Bhinder Singh along with the petitioner, who is Bhinder Singh’s friend conspired to murder Baldev Singh that is the husband, and in pursuance of the same the petitioner and Bhinder Singh committed Baldev Singh murder.
Contentions of the Petitioner:
The learned counsel for the petitioner has submitted that the petitioner has been falsely implicated in this case. This has been said because the complainant, who is the deceased’s brother had not named the petitioner till the filling of the final report by the police under Section 173 Cr.P.C., but it is when he was appearing before the trial court that he falsely named the petitioner as one of the assailants who murdered Baldev Singh.
Further even the other prosecution witness Boga Singh in front of whom the alleged extra-judicial confession took place has actually denied any extra-judicial confession made before him. It is also contended that there is no forensic evidence as well to connect the petitioner with the crime, that he is accused of and he also has no motive to murder the deceased.
Contentions of the Respondent:
The state counsel is opposing the grant of bail to the petitioner on the ground that he, along with his co-accused the one liable for the murder and that the petitioner’s involvement is borne out clearly from Gurtej Singh’s statement.
Observations of the court:
The Hon’ble Court noted that the evidentiary value of the alleged change in the stance of the complainant Gurtej Singh is something that would be debated during the course of the petitioner’s trial. However, the petitioner has already undergone custody of over 3 years and 6 months and all the material witnesses have been examined. Boga Singh, the person in front of the alleged extra-judicial confession that took place has turned hostile and the report of the FSL Punjab does not conclusively establish that the murder weapon that was recovered was used in the murder of the deceased.
And since there are still 21 prosecution witnesses yet to be examined, the trial is likely to take a long time to conclude. Keeping in view the above facts, the court found the current case to be a fit one where the petitioner is directed to be released on regular bail and the same was directed, subject to the satisfaction of CJM/Duty Magistrate.
Further, the court also noted a few cases where it was observed that FSL reports were casually drafted. And the current case was one of those cases only, therefore the Director of FSL, Punjab was directed to explain casual drafting through an affidavit.
Judgment of the Court:
Regular bail was granted subject to the satisfaction of the CJM/Duty Magistrate and the Director of FSL, Punjab was directed to explain the casual drafting of the report by way of an affidavit.
Case Title: Gagandeep Singh @Gaggu v. State of Punjab
Coram: Justice Deepak Sibal
Advocate for the Petitioner: Mr. R.B.S. Mann, Advocate
Advocate for the Respondent: Mr. Arun Luthra, DAG, Punjab
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