UMA SHANKER Vs. STATE OF UTTAR PRADESH

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This appeal is directed against the judgment of conviction and sentence dated 15-12-1999, passed by the Session Judge, Ghazipur. By virtue of the said judgment, the six accused-appellants were convicted under S. 302/149 I.P.C. and sentenced to death. They were further held guilty under S. 307/149 IPC and sentenced to five years rigorous imprisonment. Also they were held guilty under S. 148 I.P.C. and sentenced to one year rigorous imprisonment. All the sentences were to run concurrently. Learned sessions Judge has also referred the verdict of conviction and sentence as disclosed above for confirmation under S. 306(1) of the Code of Criminal procedure.

(2.) The facts giving rise to this appeal may, in brief, be recapitulated as follows : Sri Ram Chandra son of Bramhdev Singh Kushwaha, resident of village Deokali, P.S. Gahmar, district Ghazipur submitted a report to the Station Officer of Gahmar Police Station reciting therein that one Suresh, resident of village Bhadura was the leader of a gang of dacoits and he had in his gang several other members, namely Saudagar Harijan of village Tiwai, Jagdish Bhar of village Jatpura, Suresh Harijan of village Itwa (all the villages are located in the State of Bihar), Uma Shankar, Onkar Nath Yadav, Ramadhar and Mukteshwar Bhar, all residents of village Deokali. Thus, there were two sets of members one belonging to village Deokali and the other hailing from other different villages. The appellants belong to the former set. All these gangsters used to frequently meet in village Deokali. At 5.00 P.M. on 27-8-1988, the leader of the gang, Sri Suresh Bhar along with the other members of his gang, namely Suresh Harijan, Saudagar Harijan and Jagdish Bhar, all armed with deadly fire arms were sitting in front of the hut of Ramadhar situated at the outskirt of the village. Some 4-5 miscreants of the same gang were chatting at the tubewell of Sri Onkar Nath. At about 6.00 P.M., Constable Babban Singh of Police Station Gahmar arrived in the village and apprehended Saudagar Harijan suspecting him to be involved in unlawful activities. He brought him inside the village and while sitting on the wooden logs lying in the GHER (a compound with some accommodation used by male folk in villages) of one Rajnet, started interrogating him. At the time of his interrogation, many villagers, namely Rajnet, Balistar, Parmeshwar, Sudarshan, Saddique, Ram Dayal, Sheo Narain, Pyareylal and many more gathered there. Shri Sudarshan disclosed to the constable that Saudagar Harijan was a miscreant and he was a member of Suresh Bhar's gang. The police Constable tied Saudagar Harijan with a string and taking the help of the villagers set out for police station holding the miscreant in his custody. In the meantime, Munnilal, a villager of Deokali passed on, to Suresh, the gang leader the information about Saudagar being arrested by the police Constable. As soon as the constable came out of the village, he and other villagers were accosted by Suresh Bhar's gang comprising Suresh Bhar himself, Suresh Harijan and several other miscreants, namely, Mukteshwar, Onkar and Ramadhar. They threatened the constable and other villagemen on his side with dire consequences and fired some shots from their fire-arms in the air. The villagers ran helter skelter for their life. Some of the villagers entered the GHER (to be referred hereinafter as compound or AHATA) of Rajnet. They were chased by the miscrcants, who in the meantime, started indiscriminate firing. In this incident of indiscriminate firing by the gangsters, the villagers, Om Prakash, Nand Kumar, Sheo Munni, Ishwar Dayal, Udai Narain, Badruddin, Lal Bahadur and Tej Bahadur died then and there and several others sustained serious gun shot injuries. The injured included Manji, Mahendra, Hawaldar Rai, Smt. Indraseni, Smt, Ghurfekni and Pramod Kumar. This massacre of 8 villagers was witnessed by villagers, namely, Rajnet (the owner of the compound), Balister, Permeshwar Singh, Sudarshan Giri, Saddique, Ram Dayal, Sheo Narain, Pyarelal besides the Constable Babban Singh. Rajnet returned the fire and in the meantime, many more villagers were attracted towards the site of occurrence and they also challenged the miscreants who then took to their heels and succeeded in making their escape good. The informant Ramchandra who lost his only son got the report prepared by Ram Jee Singh and submitted to the police, whereupon a case was registered at the police station Gahmar. The Station Officer J.P. Singh took up the investigation for himself and immediately proceeded towards the place of occurrence. The investigating officer examined the dead bodies, got their inquest reports prepared by S.I. S.S. Misra and then sent the dead bodies for autopsy. He collected some incriminating articles from the place of occurrence and prepared their memos. Also, he sketched the site plan and examined eye witnesses. After completing all the formalities of the investigation, the Station Officer submitted charge-sheet against as many as 11 offenders namely, Ramadhar, Munnilal, Mukteshwar, Madan, Uma shankar, Onkar Nath, Kag Narain, Heera Lal, Gulab, Jagdish Yadav and Jagdish Bhar.

(3.) The main accused Suresh Bhar, Suresh Harijan and Saudagar could not be apprehended and therefore were charge-sheeted as absconders.