RAM KISHUN Vs. STATE OF UTTAR PRADESH

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This is an appeal against the judgment and order dated 3-2-1981 passed by Sri C. P. Misra, the then Addl. District and Sessions Judge, Varanasi thereby convicting the appellants of the offences punishable under Section 302 read with Section 149, I.P.C. and sentencing them to undergo imprisonment for life. The appellants have further been held guilty of the offence punishable under Section 323 read with Section 149, I.P.C. and have been sentenced to undergo R.I. for a period of one year each. The appellants have further been sentenced to undergo R.I. for a period of one year each for the offence punishable under Section 147, I.P.C. All the sentences have been made to run concurrently.

(2.) Facts leading the prosecution of the appellants are that on 11-10-1979 the informant Moti Chand had gone to see the Mela of Bharat Milap at Mangari Bazar, P.S. Phoolpur, Varanasi. There he met Shiv Shankar Singh (deceased) son of Sadaphal Singh, resident of Village Bhanpur, P. S. Phoolpur as he had also come to see the said Mela. They both remained there together. Shiv Shankar's father-in-law's house was in the same Mangari Bazar and so after seeing Mela they both went there and stayed in the night. In the next morning at 8.00 a.m. Moti Chand and Shiv Shankar both proceeded to their house on the motor-cycle of Moti Chand, who was driving it and Shiv Shanker Singh was sitting behind him on that. While on their way at about 8.30 a.m. they reached near the pumping set of Bhaggan Singh alias Vibhuti Narain Singh resident of village Khurra, the accused Bansh Narain Singh son of Markandey Singh all of a sudden came on the way and instigated saying that let the deceased Shiv Shanker Singh be killed and be not spared as luckily he was found by them on that day. In the meantime, from the Arhar field in the two sides the other accused persons, namely, Pyare Lal, Prem Chand, Maharaj Narain and Ram Kishan, who were hidden there, came out having Lathis fitted with iron rings. At first the accused Pyarey Lal assaulted and felled down Moti Chand and thereafter the accused persons started assaulting Shiv Shanker-deceased with their Lathis and killed him on spot. Moti Chand's request to spare the deceased was of no avail and the accused persons paid no heed to that. On the alarm raised by them, the witnesses Rama Shanker, Jagdish, Satya Narain, Mattar, Ram Murat residents of Village Chamaroo, P. S. Cholapur and several persons who were returning back from the Mela had reached and witnessed the aforesaid incident. The accused persons after assaulting fled away from the spot. They had killed Shiv Shanker deceased due to long standing enmity. After that, the injured Moti Chand leaving the dead body of Shiv Shanker Singh on the spot went to the police station Phoolpur for lodging the F.I.R. The written F.I.R. Ext. Ka. 1 was lodged by him at 9.45 a.m. on 12-10-1979. The distance of the place from the police station was about 7 miles east. On the basis of the report Ext. Ka. 1, the chik F.I.R. Ext. Ka.3 was prepared by the H. C. Shyam Lal Ojha, who had also made entries in the general diary Ext. Ka. 4. The injured and the informant Moti Chand (P.W. 1) was sent through the letter Ext. Ka. 5 for the medical examination along with Constable Banshidhar Tewari to Pindra Hospital, Varanasi. The S. O. Sri Jairam Ali Khan, who was present at the police station took up the investigation himself and he proceeded towards the spot along with constables Ramanuj Sharma and Kamla Shanker for investigation and reached at 11.30 a.m. and on that day i.e. 12-10-1979 the Investigating Officer had recorded the statements of injured witness Moti Chand and other witnesses Jagdish Narain, Satya Narain, Rama Shanker, Mattar alias Raj Narain and Ram Murat and prepared the site plan Ext. Ka. 7. The panchayatnama of the dead body was prepared by him vide Ext. Ka. 8. He also prepared the diagram of the dead body and kept it in a sealed cover and prepared its Chalan Exts. Ka. 10 and Ka. 9. The dead body of the deceased Shiv Shanker Singh was sent for post-mortem through constable Ramdhani Singh and Balaram Pandey along with necessary papers. The Investigating Officer took the blood-stained and plain earth from the spot and kept them in a separate sealed boxes, material Exts. 1 and 2, and prepared their Fard Ext. Ka. 11. The Motor-Cycle lying on the spot was also taken by him into custody and was given in the custody of its owner Moti Chand after preparing the Supurdaginama Ext. Ka. 2. On the next day i.e. 13-10-1979 the Investigating Officer further recorded the statements of the eye-witness paras (sic) and he also took the search of the house of the accused persons. On 15-10-1979 the Investigating Officer got arrested the accused Prem Chand and Mahraj Narain in the Court campus, Varanasi and recorded their statements. On that day, the other accused Bansh Narain, Pyarey Lal and Ram Kishun had also appeared in the Court and their statement was also taken by the Investigating Officer on that day. After completing the investigation and receiving (sic) the injury report to Moti Chand he submitted the charge-sheet Ext. Ka. 12 against the accused persons on 15-10-1979. The post-mortem report received afterwards was also sent by the Investigating Officer, vide his supplementary report No. 1 dated 13-2-1980.

(3.) The learned Chief Judicial Magistrate, Varanasi Sri B. L. Sachdeva committed the accused persons to the Court of Session, vide his committal order dated 19-1-1980 as the offence under Sections 147/302/307/149, I.P.C. was exclusively triable by the Court of Session.