FALITRAM Vs. STATE OF MADHYA PRADESH

JUDGEMENT

(1.) In a mob assault by villager's fifty persons were named and put on trial. Three died during the course of the trial. Thirty Nine have been acquitted. The present eight Appellants in the three appeals alone have been convicted under Sections 302, 148, 149 IPC to life imprisonment with fine of Rs.1,000/-, in the event of failure to pay which, they were required to undergo further one month's imprisonment as ordered on 12.7.1999 by the Second Additional Sessions Judge, Bilaspur in Sessions Trial No.263 of 1994.

(2.) The prosecution case according to the FIR, Exhibit P-4, lodged by PW-5, Vichardas on 28.9.1993 at 14:45 pm succinctly is that the deceased Sudhe Rawat was the owner of a large area of lands in the village. He had sold certain lands to PW-17, Pawan, who was running a Brick-Kiln on the same. The lands of the deceased were also used as grazing grounds by villagers regarding which the deceased had complained to the police. A proceeding under Sections 107 and 116(3) Cr.P.C. was initiated. The police had asked PW-5, Vichardas to call Appellants Neelkanth alias Jhakku, Bhakku, Abhay, Jawahar Gond, Lakdu Kewat and Patrakhan and his two sons as also deceased Sudhe Rawat to the police station for sorting out the dispute. On 28.8.1993, the aforesaid Appellants along with other villagers went to the police station in a crowd consisting of fifty named persons carrying Lathis and Tangias. They were waiting at a culvert near the police station for the Officer-in-Charge to come. The deceased came with PW-17, Pawan. A verbal dual ensued between Appellant Falit following which the deceased was assaulted by the mob leading his death.

(3.) The post mortem of the deceased, Exhibit P-16, was conducted by PW-18, Dr. S.K.Verma, who found a total of twenty injuries on the person of the deceased consisting of lacerated wounds, abrasions, bruises, lacerated wound of scalp from frontal region to occipital and bilateral temporo-parietal region with depression of right half of face and multiple fractures into pieces of bones of skull and face except mandible with missing of bones of skull partly and exposing the crushed brain and multiple fractures of bones of skull with the face completely disfigured which had to be assembled together during post mortem. The 9th, 10th and 11th ribs on the left side were found fractured posterior with the doctor opining that they had all been caused by a hard and blunt object. Death was attributed to the head injury and brain.