MAHENDRA PRATAP SINGH Vs. STATE OF UTTAR PRADESH

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This appeal is filed by Mahendra Pratap Singh- appellant herein under Section 2 (a) of the Supreme Court (Enlargement of Criminal Appellate Jurisdiction) Act, 1970 against the final judgment and order dated 29.07.2005 passed by the High Court of Judicature at Allahabad in Appeal No. 142 of 1981. By the impugned judgment, the High Court has set aside the order of acquittal dated 09.10.1980 of the appellant passed by the Sessions Judge, Jhansi, in Sessions Trial No. A-135 of 1975 under Section 304 Part- II, under Section 307 and Section 324 of the Indian Penal Code (for short the "IPC") and under Section 25 of the Arms Act and as a result thereof he has been sentenced to undergo rigorous imprisonment for 10 years under Section 304 Part-II, 7 years R.I. under Section 307 IPC, 6 months R.I. under Section 324 IPC and 2 years R.I. under Section 25 of the Arms Act.

(2.) 1. The incident leading to the prosecution of the appellant occurred on 12.02.1975 at about 1.00 P.M. at bus stand Lalitpur. According to the prosecution case, on the day of the incident one passenger Bus No. MPR 5393 on its route from Madanpur to Jhansi was stopped by its driver Sukhnandan (CW-3) at bus stand Lalitpur. The departure time of the said bus from the bus stand Lalitpur was 1.00 P.M., but it remained parked till 1.10 P.M. beyond schedule time fixed by the Road Transport Authority. One more Bus No. USG 5519 came from Jammi Dem and reached bus stand Lalitpur at about 1.15 P.M. as per schedule time which was to proceed from Lalitpur bus stand at 1.20 P.M. for Jhansi. Matin Khan (PW-8) driver of Bus No. USG 5519 stopped the vehicle at bus stand Lalitpur at 1.00 P.M. Laxman Dass (PW-4) and his brother Prahlad Babu (PW-9) the owners of the said bus reached at bus stand Lalitpur for settlement of fare accounts with PW-8 Matin Khan-Driver. They noticed some passengers boarding Bus No. MPR 5393 in place of their bus. They asked Sukhnandan (CW-3) driver of Bus No. MPR 5393. to drive his vehicle out of the parking place in order to provide halting place for their bus. The appellant allegedly was standing behind the bus armed with a rifle and was supervising his luggage being unloaded by the conductor from the bus-roof top. PW Prahlad Babu told the appellant that he would lose his passengers and the appellant could get the luggage unloaded after the bus moved ahead of the halting place. On this, the appellant allegedly threatened to shoot PW Prahlad Babu with his rifle if such request would be repeated. PW Prahlad Babu retorted saying that like the appellant, he has seen many shooters in his lifetime. The case of the prosecution further was that the appellant raised his rifle and fired single bullet shot causing injuries to four persons, namely, PW Prahlad Babu, Dhanna Lal (CW-1). Ram Ratan Joshi (CW-2) and Devendra Singh (Deceased) who allegedly were all standing behind PW Prahlad Babu. The appellant tried to re-load the rifle, but was over-powered by the passengers present at the place of occurrence. In the melee, someone hurled a stone which hurt the head of PW Laxman Dass.

(3.) Before we proceed to deal with the evidence of the witnesses, it would be appropriate to extract the injuries found by Dr. S.P. Singh on the persons of PW Prahlad Babu, deceased Devendra Singh, Dhanna Lal (CW-1) and Ram Ratan Joshi (CW-2) which find recorded in the Statement of Injuries: