RANG BAHADUR SINGH Vs. STATE OF UTTAR PRADESH

JUDGEMENT

(1.) For Bhulani Devi the night on the 1st of August, 1978 turned out to be the most dreadful in her life, for it was on that night her husband, her father-in-law, his brother and two other neighbours were gunned down within her sight inside her nuptial home by armed dacoits. Police, after investigation challenged the appellants as three out of a gang of dacoits, as the others could not be identified thus far. Though the three appellants secured acquittal from the trial Court they fell into the dragnet of conviction when a Division Bench of the High Court found them guilty of the offence, on the appeal preferred by the State. All the appellants were thereupon convicted under Section 396 of the Indian Penal Code and each was sentenced to undergo imprisonment for life.

(2.) Thus the appellants filed this appeal as of right under Section 379 of the Code of Criminal Procedure and Section 2 of the Supreme Court (Enlargement of Criminal Appellate Jurisdiction) Act, 1970. We heard detailed arguments advanced by Shri U.R. Lalit, senior counsel for the appellants and Shri Vishwajit Singh, counsel for the Stae of U.P.

(3.) Facts lie in a narrow compass. The incident happened in Rudauli village (Mirzapur District). Bhulani Devi's husband Rama Shankar Yadav was the Pradhan of that village. His residential building must have been a twin house wherein the entire family of his father would have been living. On the fateful night he and his wife Bhulani Devi along with their children were sleeping on the roof of one segment of the building. His father Chamman Yadav was sleeping on the verandah of the next segment along with his brother Sombhar Yadav. It appears that the family was in reasonably affluent circumstances and they had a number of valuables which were kept in the house. It was around midnight that the dacoits arrived consisting of a gang of 14 to 15. They tried to break open the door of the house. On hearing the sound of gate-crashing Bhulani Devi woke up and saw the dacoits in the light of torch lights flashed by them. They were armed with guns, chopper and lathis. One of the inmates of the house - Ram Lakhan Yadav - presumably to alert the villagers, set ablaze a haystack in the courtyard. The flames provided enough alert to the neighbours who started trickling in. The decoits first attacked Ram Lakhan Yadav and vanquished him. Some of the neighbours who arrived there gathered courage and attacked the marauders with bricks and pebbles.