SHAMSHER SINGH Vs. STATE OF UTTAR PRADESH

JUDGEMENT

(1.) There are five appellants. The appeal is filed under the provisions of the supreme court (Enlargement of Criminal Appellate Jurisdiction) Act. These five appellants (A-1, A-2, A-4, A-5 and A-7 along with seven others were tried for offences punishable under S. 148, 302 read with Section 149 and section 307 read with Section 149 Indian Penal Code. The trial court acquitted all of them. The State preferred an appeal. The High court while confirming acquittal of the other seven convicted the present appellants under Section 302 Indian Penal Code read with section 149 and sentenced them to imprisonment for life in respect of the death of Jeet Bahadur Singh the deceased in the case. They are further convicted under Section 307 read with Section 149 Indian Penal Code and sentenced to undergo fouryears RI for attempting to commit the murder of Ram Bahadur Singh, Public Witness 1, in the case. They are also convicted under Section 143 Indian Penal Code and sentenced to one year Rl while Shamsher Bahadur Singh, A-1, is further convicted under Section 147 Indian Penal Code and sentenced to one year Rl. All the sentences were directed to run concurrently. The prosecution case is as follows.

(2.) All the accused and the deceased and the material witnesses belong to village Chandipur, District Faizabad. The deceased was real brother of Public Witness 1. Six of the accused are related to each other. The six others were members of the party of A-1. There was enmity between the accused on one hand and the deceased and Public Witness 1 on the other. There were number of instances preceding the occurrence which created ill feelings between the two groups. There were cases pending. The deceased was the Pradhan of his village since a long time In 1972 the election was held and he contested it and one Ram Deo was the rival candidate and the accused was supporting him. The voting took place on 20/05/1972 in the Primary School. Upto 1.30 p. m. on that day the deceased is stated to have polled more votes and was likely to succeed. All the accused formed an unlawful assembly with the common object of committing the murder of the deceased and Public Witness 1 and others concealed themselves in the culvert which is about 100 paces to the north of the Primary School. It is further alleged that at 4.30 p. m. the deceased and Public Witness 1 and others left the polling booth for their village after casting their votes. When they were at a distance of about 20 paces to the south of the culvert A-1 and A-5 came out from the culvert and challenged them. A-1, Shamsher Singh, was armed with a lathi and Bansraj singh had a spear. Thereupon the other accused also came out. Out of them, A- 2 was armed with a gun; A-4 with a country-made pistol and A-7 with a gun and others were armed with lathis. They rushed towards the deceased and seeing them the latter ran away. In order to save themselves Public Witness 1 concealed himself behind a Mahua tree and the deceased took shelter of a charan (cattle trough). The accused continued the chase and A-7 fired a shot from his gun at Public Witness 1 and he received the injuries. A-2 and A-4 then fired one shot each from their country-made pistol and gun respectively and caused serious injuries to the deceased. Thereafter, all the accused made good their escape. One Kapil Deo singh and others removed the corpse of the deceased and placed it at the door of lurkhur. Public Witness 1 wrote a report and went to the police station and delivered the report on the basis of which crime was registered. The investigation was taken up by the Station House Officer and he recorded the statement of Public Witness 1, reached the scene of occurrence, sent Public Witness 1 for treatment and held the inquest on the dead body and sent the dead body for post-mortem.

(3.) On Public Witness 1 the doctor found six cut wounds and abrasions. He found burning, tattooing or singeing of the hair in or around the injuries. Injuries were simple and approximate duration was one day. These injuries could be caused by pellets fired from a shotgun, from a fairly long range. No pellet could be detected in the wound. The doctor who conducted the post-mortem on the deceased found seven gunshot wounds. He also found that brain matter was coming out through the wounds. There was fracture of the anterior fossa (sphenoid was fractured). Stomach was empty and two ozs. of liquid was present. Small intestines were empty. He also found fracture of right frontal and parietal bones and sphenoid bones. In his opinion the death was due to shock and on account of the injuries to the head. He further opined that the injuries onthe head were caused by gunshot and that they were sufficient in the ordinary course of nature to cause death. Two large pellets were recovered from the brain and were handed over in a sealed envelope to the constable. After completion of the investigation the charge-sheet was laid. The prosecution mainly relied on the evidence of PWs 1, 2, 3 and 7 who figured as eyewitnesses. The accused denied the charges framed against them and pleaded not guilty. However, A-1 admitted the factum of occurrence but stated that the occurrence took place in a different manner. He stated that he was going to the village chamruati to bring voters on the date of polling and when he was passing by the side of the house of Lurkhur, Jeet Bahadur, Ram Bahadur and one Saheb Ali armed with spears and two others, Shanker and Lurthur armed with lathis accosted him and made an attempt to cause injuries to him; he ran away and when he reached towards the north of the Mahua tree he saw Ram Lakhan singh coming from the west armed with a gun. He immediately snatched the gun and some cartridges from him and fired at the deceased and the others. In support of his defence he also examined PWs 1 to 3.