RAJA RAM Vs. STATE OF MADHYA PRADESH

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Tola Ram son of Sidhu (since deceased) was the resident of village Lorwas. Ramesh (RW 3, Prabhu, rattan, Daya Ram (Public witness 4, Bondu and Bheru are the sons of Tola Ram. A month prior to the date of incident i. e. 24/10/1984, Ramesh (Public witness 3, his brother Prabhu and their two friends were sitting under a mango tree at about 10. 00 a. m. Kodar Mal (A-6 was passing by the said mango tree when Ramesh (Public witness 3 and his companions teased him (A-6 by sayir- 'topiwale Darbar Ek Bidi De Do'. A-6 felt offended and alleged to have given fist and kick blows to Ramesh. On intervention of Jaggu, the matter ended there but A-6 threatened them that he will deal with Ramesh in a short while. 24/10/1984, happened to be the Diwali Day and at about 8. 00 p. m. , Ramesh (Public witness 3 was going to the house of Badri Lal Kulmi to colour the cattle. Bheru and Bondu, other two brothers were also going with him to colour the bullocks of Jagdish. When they came near the chowk, Prem Singh (A-1 and Kodar Mat (A-6 surrounded Ramesh and told him that now they would tell him how the Topiwala Darbar' was A-1 and A-6 assaulted Ramesh (Public witness 3 with lathis as a result of which he fell down and then he was dragged by these two accused persons, catching hold of his legs. Bondu then called his brother Daya Ram who tried to rescue Ramesh when he was given lathi blows on his head by these two accused persons. In the meantime, Tola Ram reached that place whereupon Raja Ram (A-2 gave a lalkara that Tola Ram should be finished. Narain Singh (A-3, Bheru Singh (A-4, Dhan Singh (A-5 and Kodar Mal (A-6 caught hold of Tola Ram whereupon Prem Singh (A-1 and Narain Singh (A-3 assaulted him with lathi and tarsi. Tola Ram sustained bleeding injuries and fell down whereupon Ramesh (Public witness 3 and his other companions ran away out of fear. After a short while, Kanchan Bai and her husband Ganpat along with Ramesh (Public witness 3 came to the place of occurrence, lifted Tola Ram and brought him to his house. Since it was night time, they could not secure a bullock cart to take Tola Ram to the police station at Shahjahpur. First Information Reportwas lodged by Ramesh (Public witness 3 on 25/10/1984 at about 11.30 a. m. at Shahjahpur police station. after recording the FIR (Ex. P5, Mohkam Singh, SHO (Public witness 8 proceeded to the place of occurrence. After holding the inquest on the dead body of Tola Ram, it was sent to the District Hospital, Shahjahpur for postmortem examination. Ramesh (Public witness 3 and Daya Ram were also sent to the hospital for medical treatment. After completing the investigation, a charge sheet came to be submitted against the six accused persons for committing the offences punishable under S. 148, 302/149,302,324/149 of the Indian Penal Code.

(2.) It needs to be mentioned that Kodar Mal (A-6 who had also sustained the injuries on his head, lodged a complaint in the very same police station about an assault on him by Tola Ram and others (complainant party). A-6 was also sent to the hospital and was treated for injuries on his need. It is the common premise that the complaint lodged by A-6 remained unattended and no steps whatsoever were taken in that behalf by the SHO of Shahjahpur police station.

(3.) All the six accused persons denied the allegations levelled against them and pleaded that they have been falsely implicated in the present crime due to the enmity on account of election. According to Kodar Mal (A-6, on 24/10/1984, he was assaulted by Ramesh (Public witness 3, Daya Ram and Tola Ram and during that assault, he had sustained serious injuries on his head. All the accused persons pleaded that they are innocent and they be acquitted.