DEO NARAIN Vs. STATE OF UP

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Six persons in all namely Raj Narain, Deo Narain, Shiv Singh, Vijay Singh, Raj Bahadur Singh and Anirudh Singh were brought to trial for offences punishable under Section 302 read with 149 of the Indian Penal Code for having committed the double murder of Ram Swarup and Ram Pratap Singh. They were all convicted by the trial court. While their appeal was pending in the High Court, Raj Narain, Vijay Singh, Raj Bahadur Singh and Anirudh Singh passed away. The High Court, accordingly, went into the matter qua Deo Narain and Shiv Singh, the two surviving accused, and vide the impugned judgment, dismissed the appeal. A Special Leave Petition was thereafter filed in this Court by the two convicted accused. By order dated 12th May, 2005, this Court dismissed the Special Leave Petition vis- -vis Shiv Singh and granted leave to the present appellant. It is in this situation that the matter is before us and has been heard at length.

(2.) The facts of the case are as under:

(3.) Mr. Subodh Patil, the learned Counsel for the appellant has pointed out that there was a clear doubt as to the participation of the appellant in the incident as no specific role had been attributed to him as the injuries caused to Ram Swarup with a lathi had been attributed to three accused. It has also been pointed out that there was admitted animosity between the parties as would be evident from the FIR itself and also from the statements of P.W. 7 and P.W. 8 which was to the effect that several criminal litigations had been initiated between them and they had different political affiliations as well and for this reason also the possibility of false implication of a large number of persons from one group could not be ruled out. He has further pointed out that the Bench hearing the Special Leave Petition had noticed the difference in the participation of Shiv Singh and Deo Narain and had declined to grant leave to Shiv Singh.