JARNAIL SINGH & ANR. VERSUS STATE OF PUNJAB

Landmark Cases of India / सुप्रीम कोर्ट के ऐतिहासिक फैसले

REPORTABLE

IN THE SUPREME COURT OF INDIA

CRIMINAL APPELLATE JURISDICTION

CRIMINAL APPEAL NO. 634 of 2010

JARNAIL SINGH & ANR. APPELLANT(S)

VERSUS

STATE OF PUNJAB RESPONDENT(S)

WITH

CRIMINAL APPEAL NO. 633 OF 2010

BALKAR SINGH APPELLANT(S)

VERSUS

STATE OF PUNJAB & ORS. RESPONDENT(S)

J U D G M E N T

Vikram Nath, J.

1. These two appeals question the correctness

of the judgment and order dated 14.09.2009

passed by the High Court of Punjab and Haryana

at Chandigarh in Criminal Appeal No.205 (SB) of

2002 (Sohan Lal and others Vs. The State of

Punjab) whereby, the High Court confirmed the

conviction of the appellants namely, Jarnail

Singh, Salwant Singh and Balkar Singh under

Sections 409/109, 420/109, 467/109, 471/109,

474/109, 477A/109 and 120B of the Indian

Penal Code, 18601

and Sections 13(i)(d) and 7 of

the Prevention of Corruption Act, 19882

undergo three years rigorous imprisonment with

fine of Rs.1000/ and in default of fine to undergo

additional six months imprisonment, awarded by

the Special Judge, Faridkot vide judgment and

order dated 28th January, 2002.

FACTS:

2. Briefly stated the relevant facts could be

summarised as under:

1 In short “IPC”

2 In short “PC Act”

(i) One Malkiat Singh, a driver of the Punjab

Roadways Depot, Muktsar made a complaint

dated 04.05.1996 to the higher officers of the

Department alleging that General Manager of

the Punjab Roadways Depot, Muktsar in

connivance with conductor and others has

been selling and using tickets got printed on

his own and sold through his own persons,

who used to collect money for him and, as

such, has caused loss to the tune of crores of

rupees to the Depot.

(ii) On the basis of the said complaint, the

Deputy Commissioner addressed a letter to

the Senior Superintendent of Police, Muktsar

and on its basis, an FIR was registered by

Inspector, Dilbag Singh.

(iii) The Deputy Commissioner, Muktsar also

forwarded the complaint to the Secretary,

Transport Department, Chandigarh regarding

the alleged scandal. The Secretary in turn

required three Officers namely,

(a) Mr. Darshan Singh Sandhu, Deputy

Secretary, Forest and Wildlife,

Chandigarh, Muktsar (PW20),

(b)Mr. M.S. Sandhu, S.D.M., Zira (PW21)

and,

Pathana (PW22);

to make a surprise checking and submit

their report.

(iv) These three officers made checking of the

conductors of the buses on the routes of

DelhiMuktsar and SirsaMuktsar on

11.05.1996. They took into possession old

tickets and tickets value of which was

increased by affixing stamps on the same, the

diaries and waybills of drivers, and the cash

in their possession in the ticket bag.

(v) The Enquiry Committee also recorded

statements. The statements of conductors of

some of the buses, which were given on

contract basis by the General Manager were

also recorded.

(vi) The Enquiry Committee also recorded the

statements of General Manager, Traffic

Manager and the Assistant Mechanical

Engineer.

(vii) The Committee was of the view that with

the connivance of the General Manager, a big

scandal was committed and the Government

was put to loss of lakhs of rupees by the

Inspectors of Muktsar Depot and also

Inspectors of other Depots and even the

Inspectors of the flying squad and the Incharge of the flying squad were also

conniving in the same.

(viii) On the basis of the detailed enquiry

report, a recommendation was made for

suspending the General Manager, Traffic

Manager, Assistant Mechanical Engineer,

concerned Inspectors and Conductors.

(ix) On the basis of legal opinion given that a

prima facie case was made out for registering

a case under Sections 409, 419, 420, 465,

468, 467, 471, 474, 477A and 120B of IPC,

an FIR was registered.

(x) Accordingly, after due investigation, a

police report under Section 173(2) the Code

of Criminal Procedure, 19733

was submitted

on the basis of which, cognizance was taken

and charges were framed against fifteen (15)

persons, viz. seven (7) Conductors, four (4)

Inspectors and four (4) Managers/Senior

officials. The prosecution examined as many

as twentythree (23) witnesses and also filed

documentary evidence.

3. All the incriminating circumstances and the

evidence led by the prosecution were put to the

accused at the stage of section 313 CrPC. The

accused denied all the allegations and pleaded

innocence.

3 In short “CrPC”

4. The Trial Court vide judgment dated

28.01.2002 acquitted two Managers/Senior

officials namely, Iqbal Singh and Amrik Singh and

two Inspectors namely, Gurucharan Singh and

Kharaiti Lal. Rest of the eleven(11) accused were

convicted by the Trial Court. Against the

judgment of the Trial Court four (4) appeals were

filed bearing Nos.179 (SB) of 2002, 205 (SB) of

2002, 228 (SB) of 2002 and 245 (SB) of 2002. The

High Court vide judgment and order dated

14.09.2009 acquitted the remaining

Managers/Senior Officials namely, Jagdip Singh

Galwatti and Amarjeet Singh Sandhu. It also

acquitted remaining two Inspectors namely,

Sohan Lal and Teja Singh. It further acquitted

three Conductors namely, Charanjeet Singh, Iqbal

Singh and Sham Lal. One of the conductors

namely, Jugraj Singh had died during the trial

and against him proceedings were abated. The

High Court thus confirmed the conviction of three

conductors namely, Jarnail Singh, Salwant Singh

and Balkar Singh, who are before this Court.

5. We have heard learned counsel for the parties

and perused the material on record.

6. The submissions advanced on behalf of the

appellants may be summarized as follows:

(i) The enquiry report jointly submitted by the

three officers who were examined as PW20, PW21 and PW22 were not placed on record in

original, an objection was taken regarding its

admissibility as only a xerox copy was filed. The

Trial Court had taken it on record subject to the

objection by the defence that the same would be

admitted subject to proof and further evidence.

This order was passed by the Trial Court on 15th

February, 2001 on an application, filed by the

Public Prosecutor under Section 65(c) and the

Indian Evidence Act, 18724

, seeking permission to

give secondary evidence of the original document,

namely, the affidavit of Malkiat Singh and the

enquiry report given by the three officers. The

Trial Court by the above order allowed the

application for permission to lead secondary

evidence of the abovementioned documents

subject to proof of its existence and subsequent

loss of the said documents. Thereafter, no further

evidence was led by the State to prove the loss of

the existence of the original documents thereby

enabling the Trial Court to accept the said

explanation and permit them to lead secondary

4 In short “Evidence Act”

evidence. No further evidence was led by the

State.

(ii) The enquiry report at best could be said to be

a factfinding report and was not a piece of

evidence. It could have been the basis for

registering the FIR and nothing more than that.

Even the Trial Court, when the true copy of the

report was being exhibited, had recorded the

objections of the defence in the following terms in

the statement of Arjan Singh, PW18, who had

come to prove the said report in the following

terms: "Objected to as these documents will be

exhibited subject to proof of the existence of

documents in original and loss thereof."

(iii) The Investigating Officer, Baljeet Singh Buttar,

PW23 stated that he had received a photocopy of

the affidavit of Malkiat Singh marked with a letter

of Deputy Commissioner and enquiry report from

the Station House Officer, Dilbag Singh and that

he conducted the investigation. He further goes

on to say that he does not know whether the

original of the enquiry report, affidavit and other

documents were lost.

(iv) In support of the above submissions, the

appellants have relied upon the judgment in the

case of Ashok Dhulichand Vs. Madhavrao

Dube5

(v) The alleged used tickets/fake tickets/tickets

bearing the nomination of higher value were taken

into custody by the Inspection Committee while

inspecting the three buses from the conductors

present on the vehicle. These seized tickets are

said to have been subsequently handed over to

5 (1975) 4 SCC 664 (Para 7 thereof)

the Investigating Officer or at the Police StationDilbagh. These seized tickets were never seen

either by the Inspecting Team or by the police at

any stage. There was no segregation of the tickets

seized by the Inspection Team from the

conductors of the three different buses. Even

before the Court, these tickets were produced in

an unsealed form and are said to have been

proved by PW8 and PW15. Both these witnesses

were neither the witnesses of recovery nor they

had personal knowledge of said recovery of

tickets. They only said that these are the same

tickets which they had seen at the police station.

(vi) There is no evidence of sale of such tickets of

higher denomination to any passenger as no

passenger was examined during the trial. The

case of the prosecution at best is that of

possession of such fake tickets and nothing

beyond that.

(vii) Lastly, it was submitted that the excess cash

alleged to have been found at the time of

inspection also has neither been proved, nor any

evidence was led with respect to the same, nor

were any such questions put to the accused at the

stage of Section 313 CrPC. Such evidence as such

could not be read against the accused. For the

above proposition, reliance has been placed upon

the following judgments:

(1) Jai Dev Vs. State of Punjab6

(2) Sharad Birdichand Sarda Vs.

State of Maharashtra7

(3) Sujit Biswas Vs. State of

Assam8

6 AIR 1973 SC 612 (Para 21)

7 (1984) 4 SCC 116 (Para 143-145)

8 (2013) 12 SCC 406 (Para 20)

(4) Samsul Haque Vs. State of

Assam9

(viii) Lastly, the counsel for the appellants

submitted that the prosecution failed to prove his

case not only beyond reasonable doubt but, in

fact, it completely failed to prove its case in the

absence of any legally, reliable, admissible and

unimpeachable evidence. In support of the above

submissions, he placed reliance upon the

following judgments:

(1) Sarwan Singh Vs. State of

Punjab10

(2) Shivaji S. Bobade Vs. State of

Maharashtra11

(3) Subhash Chand Vs. State of

Rajasthan12

9 (2019) 18 SCC 161 (Paras 13, 22, 23)

10 AIR 1957 SC 637 (Para 12)

11 (1973) 2 SCC 793 (Para 19)

12 (2002) 1 SCC 702 (Para 24)

(4) Sujit Biswas Vs. State of

Assam13

(5) Rajiv Singh Vs. State of Bihar14

(6) State of U.P. Vs. Wasif Haider15

7. On the other hand, learned counsel for the

State of Punjab has supported the judgment of

the High Court. It was submitted that conviction

of the appellants is based upon reliable, cogent

and convincing evidence led by the prosecution. It

is also submitted that PW8 and PW15 proved

the recovery of the tickets and further that PW20, PW21 and PW22 proved the inspection and

the enquiry report and, as such, nothing further

remains to be established for conviction of the

appellants. It is also submitted that appellants

are assailing the judgment of the High Court on

13 (2013) 12 SCC 406 (Para 13)

14 (2015) 16 SCC 369 (Page 69)

15 (2019) 2 SCC 303 (Para 22).

purely technical grounds; the Court should

examine the substantive material on record,

which has been relied upon by the High Court to

uphold the conviction.

8. Having considered the submissions advanced

and the material on record, we now proceed to

analyse the evidence relevant for the conviction of

the appellants as also the submissions made.

9. PW8 is Charanjeet Singh, who at the

relevant time was posted as Station Supervisor,

Muktsar Depot. In his examinationinchief, he

has stated that he, along with Tarlochan Singh,

Chief Inspector, Punjab Roadways, Muktsar had

compared the tickets with the waybills and

dockets. He has sought to distinguish the tickets

of Jarnail Singh and Salwant Singh as also Balkar

Singh. He has also sought to identify those tickets

visavis, the respective buses being conducted by

the aforesaid three conductors. On his statement,

exhibits were marked of the tickets shown to him.

However, in the crossexamination, PW8 clearly

states that all the tickets and the waybills shown

to him in Court were actually shown to them in

the Police Station by the police. None of these

documents were sealed at that time. We did not

know at that time that which tickets are relating

to which bus or conductor. He was not present,

when the alleged tickets and waybills were taken

into possession by the police or anyone else from

the bus conductors. He cannot say whether these

waybills and these tickets were connected or

relevant with any bus mentioned in his report.

Lastly, in the crossexamination, he states that

numbers of the tickets issued to the conductors

by the Head Office were note supplied to them for

comparison and checking.

10. PW15 is Tarlochan Singh, Inspector Punjab

Roadways, Muktsar. He states in his

examinationinchief that on 04.08.1986, he along

with Charanjeet Singh, Station Supervisor (PW8)

were deputed to check the vouchers, waybills

and tickets pertaining to the three buses. After

checking the records, they have submitted their

report Ext. PW8/A, which bears his signatures.

He further repeats the same statement as given

by Charanjeet Singh (PW8) regarding the tickets

of the three buses, where Jarnail Singh, Salwant

Singh and Balkar Singh were deputed as

conductors. However, in the crossexamination,

he admits that all the waybills and tickets

referred to above, were shown to them in the

Police Station. None of these were sealed at that

time. He did not know which tickets or waybills

were relating to which bus as they were not

recovered in his presence. No numbers of the

tickets issued by the Office or Depot were

supplied to them for checking purposes.

11. PW8 and PW15 are the two witnesses relied

upon by the High Court to uphold the conviction

of the appellants. From the perusal of their

statement as noted above, we are afraid that the

High Court could have recorded conviction on its

basis for the following reasons:

 Firstly, there is no evidence of the seized

tickets being sealed at any stage.

 PW8 and PW15 have clearly stated that

they were not present at the time of

recovery of these tickets.

 They have also clearly stated that these

tickets were not sealed, when they went

to the Police Station.

 They have further stated that they do not

know whether these waybills and

tickets are connected or relevant to any

of the vehicles mentioned in their report.

 They also stated that no numbers of the

tickets issued to the conductors by the

Head office, were supplied to them for

comparison in checking.

12. PW20, PW21 and PW22 are the members

of the Inspection Committee constituted by the

Deputy Commissioner. They had checked three

buses on 11.05.1996, which are said to be

manned by the present appellants as conductors.

Their statements are more or less similar, as

such, they are not being repeated but the

contents as stated in their examinationinchief

and in their cross examination are referred to

hereunder:

(i) In their examinationinchief, it is stated

that the Committee was constituted by the

Deputy Commissioner to check buses of the

Punjab Roadways, Muktsar Depot, as there

was a complaint regarding use of already sold

tickets (Khaddar tickets) by the conductors in

connivance with the officers of Muktsar

Depot of Punjab Roadways.

(ii) The Members of the Committee were

Darshan Singh Sandhu, M.S. Sandhu and

Mr. Amarjeet Singh Shahi.

(iii) They checked three buses and in one of

the buses they found a suspended conductor

was present in place of the regular

conductor.

(iv) Upon enquiry, the conductors informed

that they were carrying used tickets and that

they were doing this on the orders of higher

authorities.

(v) They took the tickets in their possession.

(vi) They further stated that they cannot

identify the accused from whom they had

taken which ticket.

(vii) They made further enquiry after

inspecting three buses and recorded the

statements of the General Manager and the

Traffic Manager and also the concerned

conductors and also inspected the relevant

records.

(viii) Upon enquiry, it was found that even

some buses of Punjab Roadways were plying

on roads without permit and without any

time schedule.

(ix) It is specifically stated in the

examinationinchief that they could not tell

the name of the conductor, number of the

buses and the number of the Khaddar tickets

recovered from the accused conductor and

which Khaddar tickets were recovered from

which accused.

(x) It is further stated that they had

mentioned the details in the enquiry report

Ext.PW20/A.

(xi) They admitted that Ext. PW20/A is a

photocopy. The original enquiry report was

submitted to the Deputy Commissioner,

Muktsar, who had forwarded the same to the

Secretary, Transport for immediate action

and suspension.

(xii) They also stated that their statements

were recorded by the police.

(xiii) Apparently, in view of the statements

given in the examinationinchief not much of

crossexamination was required, as such,

only formal questions were put during crossexamination, which we need not refer to here.

13. From the above statements of the Inspecting

Team, they failed to firstly prove the recovery of

the tickets to have been validly made. Secondly,

they also failed to prove the enquiry report as only

a photocopy was filed and objections to the same

was recorded in the statement itself, that the

same would be exhibited subject to proof of the

existence of the documents in original and loss

thereof. The prosecution did not make that effort

to prove the existence of the original and loss

thereof in order to take an order for leading

secondary evidence. Thus, no reliance could be

placed upon the enquiry report and even the High

Court has recorded that enquiry report was not a

piece of evidence. Once, the recovery of the tickets

is found to have not been made in accordance

with law, nor the seized tickets could be

connected to the three different buses and the

conductors manning the said buses (the

appellants), it would not be safe to rely upon the

unconfirmed tickets to connect them to the

appellants. Secondly, the enquiry report having

not been proved despite the State applying for

leading secondary evidence and not pursuing it

any further, there appears to be a complete

vacuum of substratum on the basis of which, the

entire case was set up by the prosecution.

14. In view of our finding that there is no

evidence to establish the charge against the

appellants, we need not burden this judgment by

referring to the case laws relied upon by the

appellants.

15. Accordingly, the Appeals are allowed.

16. The judgment of the High Court and the trial

court qua the present appellants are set aside.

17. The conviction of the appellants is set aside.

They stand acquitted of all the charges levelled

against them. They are already on bail. Their bailbonds stand discharged.

…………..........................J.

[AJAY RASTOGI]

………….........................J.

[VIKRAM NATH]

NEW DELHI

JULY 12, 2022

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