CHANDRA S O ISHWARI DUTT Vs. STATE

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THESE two appeals, are directed against the same judgment and order dated 30. 11. 1992, passed learned sessions Judge, Pauri Garhwal, in Sessions trial No. 47 of 1989, whereby accused / appellants Sri Chand, Janardhan prasad, Sashi Kishore, Birendra and Lalita Prasad are convicted under Section 302 read with Section 149, under section 325 read with Section 149, and under Section 148 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 (hereinafter referred as i. P. C.) and each one of them is sentenced to under imprisonment for life under Section 302 / 149 of I. P. C. ; rigorous imprisonment for a period of three years under section 325 read with Section 149 of I. P. C. and rigorous imprisonment for a period of two years under Section 148 of I. P. C. . By the same judgment accused / respondents smt. Kamla, Smt. Kalawati, Smt. Jaishwari Devi, Smt. Kaushalya, Smt. Munni and Smt. Prabha are acquitted of the aforesaid charges.

(2.) HEARD learned counsel for the parties and perused the lower court record.

(3.) PROSECUTION story, in brief, is that on 15. 06. 1989, at about 10:00 P. M. , accused namely Sri Chand, Janardhan prasad, Shashi Kishore, Birendra, Lalita Prasad, Kamla, kalawati, Jaishwari Devi, Kaushalya, Munni and Prabha, all residents of Village Kurigaon, Patti Aswalsyun, District pauri Garhwal, armed with KHUKHARI (sharp edged weapon), Danda (rod), sword and stones came to the house of Faras Ram (P. W. 1) and started beating him. The family members of Faras Ram raised hue and cry. But, other villagers had gone to the house of Kalam singh of the same village, who had arranged on that day "katha" (Satyanarain Katha ). Prosecution case is that accused birendra, armed with KHUKHARI (sharp edged weapon); shashi Kishore, armed with DARANTI (sharp edged weapon); Sri Chand, armed with MUNGRA; Lalita Prasad, armed with Lathi; Janardhan Prasad, armed with Lattha of timura (rod of a tree / plant having thorns) and women accused were armed with stones, started beating Faras ram. On this Mukesh Chandra (deceased), son of Faras ram, came to rescue of his father and he was given blow by Birendra on his head. On this Mukesh Chandra got unconscious. Thereafter, Anandi Devi (P. W. 3), wife of faras Ram, came to the rescue of her husband but she was also given a blow with MUNGRA by accused Sri Chand, fracturing her leg. Finally, Dinesh Chandra, another son of faras Ram, came to save his father and he was also beaten. Thereafter, Dinesh Chandra made attempt to contact village Pradhan in the night and next day got lodged first information report (Ext. A -2) with Patwari of Patwari circle Aswalsyun (In the interior hills of Uttarakhand, certain Revenue Officials are given police powers, under u. P. Government Notification No. 494 / VIII "418 "16 dated 7th March 1916 ). The Patwari registered the crime and prepared the check report. The injured were taken to nearby hospital of Patisain, but in view of the condition of the injured they were sent to District Hospital Pauri. Their injuries were examined on 17. 06. 1989, by Dr. S. K. Srivastava, who prepared the injury report (Ext. A -15)relating to injuries suffered by Dinesh Chandra; injury report (Ext. A -16) relating to injuries suffered by Mukesh chandra; injury report (Ext. A -17) relating to injuries suffered by Faras Ram and injury report (Ext. A -18)relating to injuries suffered by Anandi Devi. Out of the injured, Mukesh Chandra later succumbed to the injuries on 18. 06. 1989. On that very day, Sub Inspector R. C. Sharma (P. W. 7), who was posted at police station Pauri, after taking the dead body of the deceased in his possession prepared the inquest report and other necessary papers (Ext. A -23 to Ext. A -27) and the dead body was sent for postmortem examination. P. W. 2 Dr. D. K. Jain, conducted postmortem examination on 18. 06. 1989, at about 02:00 p. M. , on the dead body of Mukesh Chandra and prepared the autopsy report (Ext. A -1 ). He opined that the cause of death was coma due to shock and haemorrhage on account on ante mortem injury suffered on head. P. W. 5 Prakash negi, Patti Patwari (Investigating Officer) interrogated the witnesses, prepared the site plan, recovered the MUNGRA, daranti, blood stained clothes and blood stained soil, prepared the recovery memos, and on completion of investigation after arrest of the accused, submitted the charge sheet (Ext. A -28) against all the eleven accused.