RAMPAL PANNALAL Vs. STATE OF GUJARAT

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The appellants have preferred the above-referred appeals against the judgement and order dated 10th April 2006, passed by the learned Additional Sessions Judge, Court No.14, Ahmedabad City, in Sessions Case No.19 of 2005. Since all the appeals arise out of a common judgement and order, the same were heard together and are disposed of by this common judgement.

(2.) The appellants in Criminal Appeal No.1246 of 2006 are the original accused No.1, 3 and 6. The appellants in Criminal Appeal NO.1637 of 2006, 673 of 2007 and 1209 of 2006 are the original accused No.2, 5 and 4 respectively. (For the sake of convenience the appellants are hereinafter collectively referred to as the accused.)

(3.) The prosecution case is that the complainant Sulochanaben had lodged a complaint that she and her husband Bantu Motiram (hereinafter referred to as the deceased) were living in Ramji Mandirà ¢ ¬"s Chali at Jamalpur in Ahmedabad. Deceased Bantu Motiram was carrying on the business of selling puri-pakori in a handcart near Bhadrakali temple. On 22.8.2004, the deceased, as usual, had gone for his business with her brother-in-law Radhe. At about 5 Oà ¢ ¬"clock in the evening Rampal Bhaiya and his friends, accused Ghanshyam, Bhole, Pushpin and Jitendra, in all five persons who were residing at Ramji Mandirà ¢ ¬"s Chali and were known to the complainant, entered her house, wherein Rampal had a stick in his hand. Out of these five, Rampal indiscriminately hurled vulgar abuses at her and asked her what she was doing at home. The complainant told him not to use abusive language, whereupon he asked her whether she was going to call him inside or should he come on his own and started teasing her. All of a sudden, they all came inside the house and Rampal tapped her on her cheek. She, therefore, threatened him and told them to get out else she would start shouting. Upon her saying so, Rampal got incited and hit her on the forehead and her right thigh with a stick, whereupon she started shouting and all the accused went away. Thereafter, at about 9 oà ¢ ¬"clock at night, Radhe came home, whereas the deceased Bantu had come home with his cart at about 10:15 p.m. The complainant thereafter related the incident to the deceased, whereupon at about 11:15 the deceased set out to reprimand accused Rampal and his friends and the complainant also followed him and she came out of the house. Her husband had gone in front of the house of accused Jitendra and at that time accused Rampal wielding a sword, accused Pushpin with a hockey, Ghanshyam, Bholo and Kanda with sticks and Jitendra with a bare knife, came rushing out of Jitendra's house towards her husband. Whereupon her husband started asking accused Rampal as to why they all had gone to his house in the evening when his wife was alone at home and teased and ridiculed her. So, the accused suddenly got incited and told her husband that if he behaved in a highhanded manner they would also finish him off. Saying so they argued with him and Rampal inflicted sword blows on the neck and head of the deceased and Jitendra delivered knife blows on the right hand and near the right eye, near the shoulder one after the other, Pushpin inflicted hockey blows on the back of his head and accused Ghanshyam, Bhola and Kanda beat him all over the body with sticks. At that time, her husband started crying for help and fell down whereupon she and her brother in-law Radhe came running to save him. Hence, Pushpin gave one blow to Radhe on his right thumb and another on his right hand. At that time people from the vicinity came running there, whereupon the accused fled from the scene along with their weapons. As her husband had sustained several injuries on his body, to provide him immediate treatment, she and Radhe took him to Vadilal Sarabhai Hospital in a rickshaw where he was admitted to the emergency ward and died during the course of treatment.