BHAGWATI PRASAD Vs. STATE OF M P

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Appellant herein, who was original accused No. 6 (A-6) in the trial, has challenged the judgment of the High Court, allowing the State's Appeal and setting aside the judgment of acquittal passed by the Trial Court. All the accused persons were tried for the offences punishable under Sections 148 and 149 read with Section 302 of the Indian Penal Code (hereinafter called "IPC" or short), while the charge against the present appellant was substantively for the offence under Sections 148 and 302 IPC.

(2.) The allegation was that all the accused persons, six in number, formed an unlawful assembly and by way of a common object thereof, committed murder of one Ramgopal (deceased) on 18.2.1984 at about 7 A.M. As per the prosecution story, a report came to be lodged by one Kedar Prasad (PW-2) of Bansipura, the brother of Ramgopal (deceased) in Police Station Ambah to the effect that he alongwith the deceased and neighbour farmer Ramgopal (PW-3) S/o Tularam had gone to irrigate their field from the canal in Village Lahdaria situated at a distance of 12 K.M. When they opened the canal for irrigation, at that time, Bhagwati (appellant herein), armed with spear and the other accused persons armed with Lathi came there and stopped them from opening the canal. The said accused persons belonged to Village Lahdaria and they were staying nearby. There were arguments, as the accused persons objected to the complainant party taking water from the canal while the complainant insisted upon taking water, on which Baburam, original accused No. 1 (A- 1) gave Lathi blow upon Kedar Prasad (complainant/ PW-2). When Ramgopal (deceased) came to his rescue, Bhagwati (A-6) gave a spear blow on Ramgopal' back, as a result of which Ramgopal fell down. It was further stated that other accused persons, namely, Devi Prasad, original accused No. 5 (A-5), Hari Shankar, original accused No. 2 (A-2) and Radhacharan, original accused No. 3 (A-3) also gave Lathi blows on injured Ramgopal (deceased). Ramgopal was then taken to Ambah, but he died on the way.

(3.) On receipt of the information, the usual investigation started. Inquest report was drawn and the body of Ramgopal (deceased) was sent for post mortem examination, which was conducted by Dr. K.S. Chauhan (PW-1). In the post mortem report, it was shown that the death was caused because of the piercing blow, due to which right lung was damaged by penetrating spear. After the registration of offence, Sambhu Singh, Sub-Inspector (PW-9) arrested all the accused persons, who were initially absconding. After their arrest, Bhagwati (appellant herein) agreed to discover the spear used in the crime from the wheat field, which was accordingly recovered from that place. So also, the other accused persons gave information leading to the recovery of their respective Lathis, which were used in commission of crime. The spear was sent to Forensic Science Laboratory, Sagar, M.P. and after completion of the investigation, the chargesheet was filed.