MIAN BURHANUDDIN KHAN, J.-The appellant was convicted under section 302, P. P. C. On two counts for the murder of Abdul Ghani and Khalid Mahmood. He was sentenced to death on both the counts and a fine of Rs. 4,000 on each count by the Sessions Judge, Bahawalpur vide his judgment dated 6-12-1975. The fine, if recovered, was ordered to be paid to the legal heirs of both the deceased. The appellant filed an appeal against his conviction, and his death sentence also came up for confirmation before the Lahore High Court. The learned Judges confirmed the death sentence, rejected his appeal, maintained his conviction under section 302, P. P. C. And fine imposed upon him. Thereafter, the appellant filed a Jail Petition and vide order dated 17-4-78 this Court considered that the offence committed by the petitioner has rightly been recorded as falling under section 302, P. P. C. But granted leave to consider the question of sentence only.
2. According to the prosecution case the murder of the two deceased was committed on the night between 19/20-7-1975 when the two deceased were lying asleep in a Bethak alongwith the complainant Muhammad Yusuf and his brothers Akbar A.I, Bashir Ahmad and Latif on different cots. At about midnight the complainant Muhammad Yusuf heard screams of the two deceased and saw the appellant Ghulam Rasool dealing blows with a Kassi to Abdul Ghani and Khalid Mahmood, sons of the complainant. Muhammad Yusuf raised an alarm on which Bashir Ahmad, Abdul Latif and Muhammad Nawaz were attracted to the spot and they witnessed the occurrence.
They attempted to apprehend the accused/appellant but he escaped. The two deceased were found by them to have expired. Motive given in the report is that the appellant suspected the two deceased for teasing his wife. During the trial Muhammad Yusuf, P. W.
6. Muhammad Nawaz, P. W. 7 and Basbir Ahmad P. W. 8 appeared as ocular witnesses.
3. Ghulam Qadir, S.-I. (P. W. 10) recorded the F. I. R. Exh. P. A. At the instance of Muhammad Yusuf, investigated the case, took the blood--stained earth from the places where Abdul Ghani and Khalid Mahmood were murdered, and sent the deed bodies for post-mortem examination. He arrested the accused and recovered chaddar Exh. P. 3 stained with blood, and sealed it into a parcel. While in custody the appellant led the police to recover Kassi P. 4 from the sugar-cane field which was sealed into a parcel Exh. P. F.
4. Dr. Muhammad A.I, P. W. 1, performed the post-mortem examination on 21-7-75 on the body of Abdul Ghani, aged about 17 years and found:
(a) A cut wound 6' x 1" x 2" on the front neck cutting all the soft structures underneath.
(b) A cut wound 3' x 1' x 1 --on the right side of neck downward and backward.
(c) A cut wound 2 -- " x -- x -- on the left side of the front of neck.
(d) A cut wound 6" x 1 -- " x 2' on the lower part of front of neck.
(e) A cut wound 5' x 1 -- x 2' on the back of lower part of neck.
(f ) An oblique cut wound 3' x 1' x -- ' on the back of upper part of the neck.
According to the doctor, death was due to shock and haemorrhage or account of injuries to the spinal cord caused by sharp-edged weapon. All the injuries were stated to be sufficient to cause death in the ordinary course of nature. The same doctor conducted the post-mortem examination on the body of Khalid Mahmood aged 13/14 years and found:
(a) A gaping cut wound 5' X 2 -- x 2' on the front of neck in transverse directions cutting all the soft structures of the neck and blood vessels.
(b) A cut wound 1 -- " x -- ' x -- on the right side of neck transverse in direction.
(c ) A cut wound 2 -- ' x 1' x 1' on the right side of upper part of neck, and (d )A cut -- x --x 1/6' on the front of right shoulder.
Death "is case also was the result of shock and haemorrhage as well as due to the cutting of blood vessels of the neck Injury (a) was found sufficient, by the doctor, to cause the death in the ordinary course of nature.
5. The accused-appellant was produced before Mian Atta Muhammad Zaffar, Magistrate First Class (P. W. 2) who, after observing all the legal formalities, recorded his confessional statement Exh. P. K. And obtained his signatures Exh. P.K/1 thereon. Statement of the accused-appellant was recorded by the learned trial Court and on being questioned about committing the murder of the two deceased, he stated that his wife was sitting in the verandah of his house. Abdul Ghani became naked at the top of his house while Khalid Mahmood made indecent gestures to her. He (accused-appellant) was offering Magrib prayer at that time. At about mid-night he found his wife was not on her bed and went in search of her and found her sleeping in the cot of Abdul Ghani deceased while Khalid Mahmood was also sitting there and keeping a guard. He was provoked and lost his self-control, picked up a kassi from the field and gave blows with it on the neck of Abdul Ghani. Khalid Mahmood grappled with him, so be attacked him too. In the meantime his wife ran away. He went in search of her but she was not available. None of his uncles or anybody else was present neat the place of occurrence and he told this fact to his father and uncle.
6. Before the committing Magistrate he gave another version which was to the effect that Abdul Ghani deceased was seen by him with his wife in a compromising position while Khalid Mahwood was keeping a guard. He therefore injured Abdul Ghani and Khalid Mahmood out of sense of honour with a Kassi picked up from the spot. He ran for his wife to kill her but she succeded in running away.
7. It may be mentioned that the accused appellant is real nephew of the complainant Muhammad Yusuf (I. e. Son of Muhammad Yusuf's brother) and the two deceased were the sons of the uncle of the accused-appellant. It is in the F. I. R. That the accused-appellant had made a grouse of the fact that Abdul Ghani deceased had teased his wife but this fact was not correct. Besides, this no other motive was furnished by the prosecution for the commission ofthe offence of double murder.
8. The learned trial Judge believed the ocular evidence and relied on the confessional statement Exh. P. K. The learned Judges of the High Court also believed the ocular testimony of the three eye- witnesses though they discarded the confessional statement Exh. P. K. On the ground of serious irregularities in recording the same.
9. Learned counsel for the appellant contended that it was a case where the family honour of the accused-appellant was involved. The two deceased used to make indecent gestures to his wife resulting in their murder. This argument is not available in the case because in law no provocation whatsoever can render homicide justifiable but it may reduce the offence to culpable homicide not amounting to murder. General speaking gestures or words do not amount to sufficient provocation to reduce homicide to culpable homicide not amounting to murder. The injuries, etc. Must have been inflicted immediately upon provocation being given and before the anger has had time to subside and the provocation must be of a kind which would deprive the ordinary man of his self- control. The learned Judges of the High Court have also considered this aspect of the case in their judgment and observed that the accused-appellant had made three different statement at different stages of the case. First, before the Committing Magistrate, second in his confession and the third at the time of trial under section 342, Cr. P. C. Which are glaringly contradictory and held that: "Moreover, the plea that Abdul Ghani had become naked at the top of the house and Khalid Mahmood had been making indecent gestures to his wife while the appellant was offering his Maghreb prayer, even if correct, cannot be said to have given rise to the provocation in the sense that would be grave and allow the appellant to kill the two young boys and at the mid of night which would also mean that the provoca--petition cannot be said to be sudden. It appears that the appellant was suffering from some kind of stress in his early days of married life and took an exaggerated view of the jokes cut by the deceased, if an with his wife, omitting to consider that the young boys being Dewas of his wife, even if bad made some jokes, had done nothing of the kind which could give rise to an ordinary reasonable man such a kind of provocation that may lead him to commit cold-blooded doubt murder. The plea of 'grave and sudden provocation' is not available in the circumstances of the case to the appellant. In this view of the matter, the plea is rejected altogether. Relying on the eye-witness account of the occurrence the appellant is clearly guilty of double murder of the twoyoung boys."
10. The learned counsel then took the alternative plea that it is a case where the facts on the record would make it a case of 'extenuating circum--stance---; that the deceased were making indecent gestures in the presence of the accused appellant to his wife and he made a complaint of this to the father of the deceased namely, Muhammad Yusuf but still the deceased persisted in their misbehaviour. We have considered the point that the prosecution itself has relied on the fact that the two deceased were teasing the wife of the accused-appellant and there is no escape from the conclusion that the accused was smarting under the feeling of disgrace to his wife an this fact has been repeatedly stated by him that the two deceased used t come naked on the top of the house where the wife of the accused appellant used to be present. This would make a reasonable ground to reduce the penalty of death to that of imprisonment for life. We accordingly reduce, the death sentence awarded to the accused-appellant to imprisonment for life. However, fine imposed on both the counts is maintained.