RAM PUKAR THAKUR Vs. STATE OF BIHAR

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This appeal by special leave is directed against a judgment of the High Court at Patna confirming the conviction of appellant 1 under Section 302, Penal Code, that of appellants 2 to 8 under Section 302 read with Section 149 and the sentence of life imprisonment imposed on each of them. Appellant 6 has also been convicted under S. 323 but no separate sentence has been passed for that offence.

(2.) At about 1 a.m. on the night between 12th and 13th May, 1966, an eighteen-year old boy, Arjun, was done to death. He was sleeping in the courtyard of his house and he and his brother Nakuldeo Thakur (P. W. 1) were occupying the same cot. Nakuldeo noticed that certain persons were standing near the cot and one of them gave a lead to the others to beat. Nakuldeo escaped with his torch and before he had run a few paces he heard Arjun saying "Ram Pukar Kaka, do not kill me". Ram Pukar is appellant 1 before us. It is alleged that thereafter Ram Pukar attacked Arjun with a spear and some of the other appellants attacked Nakuldeo himself with lathis.

(3.) Apart from Nakuldeo, two other brothers of the deceased Arjun, Rajendar (P.W. 6) and Dwapar (P.W. 7) also claimed to have witnessesd the incident. The learned Sessions Judge rejected their claim that they were eye-witnesses and the High Court has endorsed that finding. Before undertaking the assessment of Nakuldeo's evidence the High Court observed. "The position, therefore, is that page No. W. 1 is the solitary witness of the murder ...The whole question for consideration, therefore, is whether the evidence of Nakuldeo (P.W. 1) is fit to be safely relied upon." According to the High Court the evidence of Rajendar, Dwapar and of Bachia (P. W. 11), the mother of Arjun could only be used to corroborate the evidence of Nakuldeo.