The Supreme Court has held that a person committing a heinous crime like murder cannot be let off merely because he or she has been pardoned by the family members of the deceased and the village panchayat. "The crime had been committed against the society/state and not only against the family and, therefore, the pardon accorded by the family and panchayat has no significance in such a heinous crime," a Bench of Justices P. Sathasivam and B.S. Chauhan in a judgement said.
The apex court passed the judgement while dismissing the appeal filed by Paramjee Singh, alias Pamma, who shot dead his own brothers and two nephews over a property dispute in Uttarakhand's Rudrapur district on April 27, 2000.
The sessions court awarded him life imprisonment and the Uttarkhand High Court confirmed the sentence even though the witnesses in the case turned hostile. Pamma also took the plea that he was entitled to a lenient view as the family and the village panchayat had pardoned him.
"It is evident that the eye-witnesses turned hostile because of the decision taken in the panchayat pardoning the appellant... It is also evident that the said eye-witnesses have no regard for the truth and concealed the material facts from the court only in order to protect the appellant for reasons best known to them. Such an unwarranted attitude on the part of the witnesses disentitles any benefit to the appellant who has committed a heinous crime," Justice Chauhan writing the judgement said.
Pamma shot dead in broad daylight his brother Inderjit Singh and his nephews Surender Singh and Saranjit Singh and injured his father Hardayal Singh and two other nephews Ajit Singh and Baljit Singh over the property dispute.
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