V D YESUDASAN Vs. GURUSAMY

JUDGEMENT

(1.) PETITIONERS 1 to 3 in Crl. M. P. No. 87 of 1956 (A. 5 to 7 in C. C. No. 96 of 1956)on the file of the Sub-divisional Magistrate,' Koilpatti, are the petitioners herein. The fifth accused is a sub-inspector of police and accused 6 and 7 are police constables. The complainant belongs to the village of Athikinar hamlet of shanmugapuram in the Tirunelveli district, After the Estates Abolition Act, there was trouble between the ryots in the village of Athinkinar and the proprietor, the zamindar of Ettayapuram. Orders under Section 144 Crl. P. C. , were passed against the complainant and the other residents of the village of Athikinar restraining them from interfering with the cultivation of certain lands belonging to the zamindar. That there was a dispute between the ryots and the inhabitants of the above village and the zamindar who is impleaded as the first accused in the above case is clear from the allegations contained in the complaint filed by the complainant. The matter was taken to the civil court also and the complainant and the other men were restrained by an injunction from interfering with the possession of the lands belonging to the zamindar of his lessees.

(2.) ON 21-4-1956 the fifth accused, the first petitioner herein, accompanied by two other constables, along with six or seven reserve constables and three or four police constables undoubtedly visited the village of Athikinar coming in a police lorry and a jeep. According to the allegations in the complaint they got down a furlong away from the village, rounded up the womenfolk who were engaged in plucking cotton and took them to the village and presented them before the circle inspector. Most of the menfolk ran away on seeing this. The complainant also took shelter in the house of one Villiammal. After getting information that the police and others were trying to break open the door of his house, the complainant alleges, he rushed to his house and then he was beaten by accused 2 to 7 by sticks. He was beaten in the buttock and on his leg and then he fell down unable to bear the pain and became unconscious and when he recovered consciousness, he alleges, he found himself kept under a margosa tree in the outskirts of the village. It is for causing these injuries to the complainant he has filed this complaint in the above case implicating accused 5 to 7, the sub-inspector and two other constables as accused in the case, along with the zamindar and his clerk, agent and others.

(3.) IN the sworn statement taken from the complainant this is what he stated: