RAMCHARAN (DEAD) Vs. STATE OF MADHYA PRADESH

JUDGEMENT

(1.) These two appeals take exception to the judgment dtd. 31/7/2009 passed by the High Court of Madhya Pradesh by which conviction of the appellants has been confirmed. In all, there were nine accused. The appellants in Criminal Appeal No.162 of 2010 are accused nos.2 and 3 and the appellant in Criminal Appeal No.1716 of 2010 is accused no.9.

(2.) As per the case of the prosecution, when the incident occurred, the complainant Jagannath (P.W.1) and his wife Kamlabai (P.W.8) along with their son deceased Laxminarayan as well as two daughters-in-law Suganbai (P.W.10) and Sharmilabai (P.W.11) were sleeping in the house situated near a tube-well in their field. P.W.10 and P.W.11 were sleeping inside the house and others were sleeping outside. Around midnight, the accused reached the house and started assaulting Jagannath (P.W.1). When P.W.8 Kamlabai tried to save P.W.1 Jagannath, even she was assaulted by the accused. At that time, deceased Laxminarayan came there to protect his parents. He was also assaulted by the appellants. Though deceased ran away to save himself, the accused chased him and assaulted him. He sustained injuries. While he was being taken by a tractor to the police station, he died on the way. It must be noted here that P.W.18 who was the Executive Magistrate purportedly recorded a statement of P.W.1 Jagannath as a dying declaration. The Trial Court found all nine accused persons guilty of the offence punishable under Sec. 302 of Indian Penal Code (for short, 'IPC') with the aid of Sec. 149 of IPC. The Trial Court held that accused no.1 - Ranglal and accused no.4 - Prem Singh were guilty of the offence punishable under Sec. 325 read with Sec. 149 of IPC for assaulting P.W.1 Jagannath. The said two accused were also held guilty of the offence punishable under Sec. 325 read with Sec. 149 of IPC for assaulting P.W.8 Kamlabai. Both accused nos.1 and 4 were also convicted for the offence under Sec. 148 of IPC. The Trial Court sentenced all the accused to undergo life imprisonment for the offence punishable under Sec. 302 read with Sec. 149 of IPC. The accused were also separately punished for the other offences.

(3.) There were separate appeals preferred by the accused. It must be noted here that accused no.4 Prem Singh died during the pendency of the appeals. By the impugned judgment, the High Court acquitted accused no.1 Ranglal; accused no.5 Bhagwan Singh; accused no.6 Kamal Singh; accused no.7 Benu and accused no.8 Lakhan. However, the conviction and sentence of the appellants in these two appeals was maintained. The learned counsel for the appellants during the course of submissions stated that accused no.2 who is the appellant no.1 in Criminal Appeal No.162 of 2010 has passed away.