KESHAV GANGARAM NAVGE Vs. STATE OF MAHARASHTRA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The High Court of Bombay reversed the order of acquittal of 1st and 2nd Appellant passed by the Additional Sessions Judge for Greater Bombay and convicted and sentenced each of them to life sentence for an offence of murder under Section 302 read with Section 34 of the Indian Penal Code. Against this Judgment the Appellants have come up in an Appeal before us by special leave.

(2.) The prosecution case is that the deceased Shantaram Sakharam Chawan, Dinker Pednekar P. W. 1. Sadu Shettey, P. W. 8 and Krishnan Chandan P. W. 10 as well as the first accused Keshav Gangaram Navge and one Gopal Parab were working in the Digvijay Mills at Bombay. In the Mills there were two workers Unions, one was Rastriya Mill Mazdur Sangh (also known as INTUC) hereinafter called Mazdur Sangh and the other was Girni Kamgar Union hereinafter called the Kamgar Union. A large number of workers belonged to the Mazdur Sangh while the Kamgar Union which was stated to have communist affiliation did not have sufficient following and was generally engaged in trying to get more workers to join it in which attempt it came into conflict with the Mazdur Sangh. The deceased Shantaram and the prosecution witnesses Dinker, Sadu Shettey and Krishnan Chandan belonged to the Kamgar Union while the accused Keshav and Gopal who is not examined, belonged to the Mazdur Sangh.

(3.) It appears that the Digvijay Mills had declared bonus for the year 1963 in consultation with the Government and the leaders of the Mazdur Sangh but the Kamgar Union was of the view that that bonus was very low, and blamed the Mazdur Sangh for not making sufficient efforts to procure a higher rate of bonus. This dispute between the two Unions went on for about a year before the incident. On 19th October, 1965 the deceased and the prosecution witnesses referred to above and the accused and Gopal Parab hereinafter referred to as Gopal worked in the 1st shift which started at 7 a m. and ended at 3 p. m. The prosecution case is that after the first shift was over the workers gathered in the Mill compound in the open space in front of the Manager's office and wanted the Manager to give an explanation as to why the bonus for the year 1963 was low and how it was that the Mazdur Sangh had been party to the agreement arrived at between the owners and the leaders of that Mazdur Sangh. At that meeting which it is said was not pre-arranged but spontaneous, the deceased and Dinker spoke on behalf of the Kamgar Union. They said that though the Mills have made good profit in the year 1963 the bonus declared by them were very low and wanted to know from the Manager as to why that bonus was so low. The Manager told the workers that the bonus was declared after consultation with the Mazdur Sangh leaders and it was justified. The first accused also spoke at the meeting as representative of the Mazdur Sangh. He told them that the bonus was decided in consultation with the Mill owners and the leaders of the Mazdur Sangh, that he as ordinary worker of the Mazdur Sangh could not give any explanation as to why the bonus for 1963 was low. The workers however, insisted that the Manager should send for the Mazdur Sangh leaders and should be asked to give their explanation. The Manager accordingly phoned the Mazdur Sangh office and asked them to send their representative to address the meeting but the Mazdur Sangh told the Manager that they were not in a position to send anybody from the office and if any worker wanted to know the real position they should be directed to the Mazdur Sangh Office. This message the Manager conveyed to the workers but the workers were in no mood to go to the Mazdur Sangh Office. After some discussion amongst the workers the meeting came to an end at about 5.30 p. m. After the meeting the deceased Shantaram, Dinker, Sadu Shettey left the Mills to go to the Bus stop which is some distance away from the Mills as Sadu Shettey wanted to go by bus to Chembur where he lived. They reached the bus stop and as they were waiting for a bus Accused 1, Accused 2 Bhagwan who was not working in the Mills and Gopal who also worked in the Mills came from the direction of Digvijay Mills to the bus stop and on seeing the deceased Shantaram, Dinker and Sadu Shettey. Accused Bhagwan rushed at Dinker, caught hold of his shirt, and gave a fist blow in his stomach. Keshav A-l took out a knife and gave a stab blow in the abdomen of Shantaram. On receiving the stab blow Shantaram pressed his injury with one hand and bent down. Gopal tried to intervene but accused 2 took out a hammer from under his shirt and hit the deceased on his head. Thereafter both the accused and Gopal ran away. Dinkar took Shantaram across the Lalbaug Road which is on the other side of the Road, hailed a Taxi and took him in that Taxi to Kala-Chowki Police Station. At the Police Station Dinkar reported about the incident to S. I. Jayawantrao Suryavanshi P. W. 17. Suryavanshi immediately directed the P. C. Kadam P. W. 4 to take Shantaram to the K. E. M. Hospital in that Taxi which he did. After sending the deceased to the Hospital Suryavanshi recorded the statement of Dinkar and issued the F. I. R. at about 6 p. m. after which he went to the K. E. M. Hospital and recorded Shantaram's statement at about 6.45 or 7 p. m. It is also the prosecution case that on the way to the Hospital Kadam asked the deceased about the incident and the deceased is said to have made a statement to him which he recorded in his notebook at the Hospital before he left for the Police Station at 7 p. m. It is after this, that the S. I. Suryavanshi came and recorded the statement of Shantaram. Sita Ram P. W. 15 brother of Shantaram, who is said to have learnt from his wife that Shantaram was stabbed by some one went to the K. E. M. Hospital after first making enquiries at the Police Station. On seeing the deceased when Sita Ram enquired from him as to what had happened, the decreased told him that Keshav Navge had stabbed him in the stomach and Bhagwan hit him on his head with the hammer. After recording the statement of the deceased Suryavanshi along with Dinkar went to Lalbaug bus stop where the assault on Shantaram is said to have taken place and made a Panchnama. He made enquiries from the persons living near the bus stop where there were shops and returned to the Police Station. It may be stated that the deceased died at 2 A. M. on the 20th. Accused 2 was arrested on the morning of 21st while Accused 1 came to the Kala Chowki Police Station and surrendered himself. The case of the accused in the statement under Section 342, Criminal Procedure Code is that he has been working for the INTUC for the past 16 years and before the incident he was working for the Digvijay Mills and that the incident did not take place as alleged by the prosecution nor did it take place at the bus stop. According to him there has always been rivalry between him and the deceased because of the activities of the rival Trade Unions. In the afternoon of the day of the incident a meeting had taken place of the workers of the Mill in the Mill compound immediately after the end of the 1st shift at 3 p. m. and that in the meeting the bonus issue was discussed and he spoke at that meeting. He narrated all that took place at that meeting and how Shantaram and Dinkar attacked him while speaking in that meeting, etc, and how he had to defend himself and had to give an explanation. According to him the workers insisted that he should go to the INTUC office and get INTUC leaders to the Mill but he said this was beyond his powers. Bhagwan A-2 who was once employed in the Mills but had lost his job and wanted him to help, did come to see him that afternoon as he had asked him to do so. After leaving the Mills Bhagwan, Gopal and he went to a tea shop which is near the Mill and after spending 10/15 minutes there all of them started for the INTUC office. A-l further stated that as generally there are gangs of communists on the way to the INTUC office he avoided going through the lane, but all of them walked along the Ambedkar Road and went to the cross roads and when they were near the Lamp post on that road he heard Shantaram accosting him by name and began to abuse him. The deceased said, "you are a pimp of the Mill owners, you take money from the Mill owners and do harm to the workers". When the accused protested Shantaram took out a knife on seeing which the accused got frightened and caught his hand in which he was holding the knife. Gopal intervened. Dinkar, Sadu Shettey and Krishnan Chandan came to Shantaram's help. He and Shantaram struggled with each other but A-l says he caught hold of Shantaram's hand tightly. Dinkar took out a hammer from below his shirt and wanted to rush at him and hit him on the head but when he moved aside and evaded the blow, the hammer blow accidentally landed on Shantaram's head. On receiving this blow on his head the deceased started falling down and while falling down the knife which the deceased was holding in his hand struck against his stomach and he fell down. He further states that he was warned and as he apprehended being assaulted he did not go to his house or the Mills. Accused Bhagwan also made a similar statement and denied that he had assaulted Dinkar or that he had assaulted the deceased Shantaram.