MAJJU Vs. STATE OF MADHYA PRADESH

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The two appellants herein were tried by the Sessions Judge, Shajpur in Madhya Pradesh, along with nine others for the various offences punishable under Sections 302, 148, 323, 341 read with Section 149, IPC. The learned Sessions Judge acquitted three of the accused and found others guilty of all the offences charged. The accused who were convicted by the Sessions Court filed an appeal and the Division Bench of the Madhya Pradesh High Court, Bench at Indore, acquitted six of the appellants and found guilty the present appellants for the offences under Section 302/34, IPC and they were sentenced to undergo imprisonment for life. The above conviction and sentence are challenged before us.

(2.) We heard the appellants' learned cousnel, Mr. Niraj Sharma. The learned counsel contended that the appellants have been wrongly convicted as the evidence adduced by the prosecution was highly interested and that there was a free fight between two factions and the appellants have not committed any criminal offence.

(3.) Briefly stated, the prosecution case is that on 20-7-1987 Ayyub Khan, the third accused before the Sessions Court, used some abusive words against Ganesh, son of deceased Bihari Lal, whereby Ganesh felt irritated and slapped Ayyub. People of the locality then persuaded the parties to compromise the matter and there was no further incident. But on 24-7-1987 at about 2.00 PM when deceased Bihari Lal and his brother Ramchandra along with their children were returning after performing some ceremony at the temple, the appellants and other accused, who were waiting for them on the way stopped Bihari Lal and others. Bihari Lal was carrying a gun with him and according to prosecution, accuused Nawab snatched away that gun from Bihari Lal and thereafter all the accused started beating Bihari Lal. The accused were carrying Farsi and Sticks. The first appellant Majju alias Nasir hit deceased Bihari Lal with a Stick and the second appellant Irshad hit Bihari Lal with a Farsi on the head. Bihari Lal fell unconscious. He was taken to Shajpur hospital but as his condition was serious he was immediately removed to M.Y. Hospital, Indore, where, while undergoing treatment, he died. Ramchandra, the brother of the deceased Bihari Lal also had sustained injuries. According to the prosecution, in the meanwhile, somebody had informed the police and pursuant thereto the police came to the place of occurrence and recorded the statement of Ganesh, son of Bihari Lal. PW-13 took over the investigation and the dead body of the deceased was sent for post-mortem examination. PW-14, Dr. D.S. Mehta, examined the deceased and found that he had five incised wounds - two on the head, one on the leg and two on arms, and these injuries were caused by a sharp cutting weapon. PW-8, Dr. Vijay Agrawal, who conducted the post-mortem, stated that injuries 4 and 5 were not caused by a cutting weapon but by some blunt weapon. He opined that death was caused due to head injury.