KAMESHWAR SINGH Vs. STATE OF BIHAR

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The above two appeals are preferred by appellants 1 to 10 who were arrayed as accused Nos. 1 to 3, 6 to 12 respectively before the trial Court alongwith two others namely, Nand Kishore Singh (who has not preferred any appeal) and Guruki Singh @ Chandradeo Singh who is now stated to be dead. These appellants were placed on trial to answer the charges for offences punishable under Sections 147, 148, 302, 302 read with Sections 149, 307, 379 of the Indian Penal Code and under Section 27 of the Arms Act on the allegations that on 26.11.1980 at about 1.00 p.m. at village Majhaulia, Police Station Bathnaha, District Sitamarhi, they all formed themselves into an unlawful assembly alongwith 40 to 60 persons and in prosecution of the common object of the said unlawful assembly, committed theft of paddy worth about Rs.1100/- and in the course of the same transaction they committed rioting during the course of which appellant Nos. 10, 1 and 2 were armed with gun, garasa and Bhala respectively while the rest were armed with sticks. It is further stated that during the course of rioting appellant No. 10 before this Court shot at the deceased Dinesh Singh and caused injury to which Dinesh Singh succumbed instantaneously and that Dinesh Singh's brother, PW 8 who is the complainant in this case received gun shot injuries.

(2.) To substantiate these charges the prosecution examined PWs 1 to 16 of whom the eye witnesses are PWs 1 to 5, 8 and 16. PW 16 did not support the prosecution case. PW 7 is the medical officer who conducted the autopsy on the dead body of the deceased and PW 10 is another medical officer who examined PW 8. DW 10 (on being recalled) has testified to the fact that he examined the 5th appellant, Bhavesh Jha and found injuries on his person. (Vide Ex. B and Ex. D).

(3.) It appears from the records that there was a deep- rooted animosity between the two groups for a quite length of time. PW 8 was the Manager of the Western Temple of Sri Laxmi Narayan Thakurji since 1972. The deceased in this case is the brother of PW 8. The temple was owning a very extensive land and there was a dispute relating to two pieces of land comprised in Survey Nos. 350, 360, 361 and 621. The two fields in which the harvest took place on the date of occurrence are known as Birar field and Dori field which are to an area of one acre and two third acre respectively. While PW 8 claimed that the cultivation of the land was under his supervision, the appellant party put up the defence that they were cultivating the land subject to the liability of share croppers. It transpires from the evidence that there was a criminal proceeding under Section 144 of the Code of Criminal Procedure in which Guruki Singh (since dead) was on one side and PW 8 was on the other. The dispute relates to the same Survey Numbers. The Sub Divisional Officer passed the following order on 11.10.1980 in respect of the disputed land: