RAM PRASAD Vs. STATE

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This is a reference under Section 438 of the Criminal P. C. by the learned Additional Sessions Judge of Agra recommending that the conviction of Ram Prasad Vaidya and four others recorded by a learned Magistrate, first class, of Agra, under Section 297/149 "be set aside and the parties be directed to seek redress in the proper civil Courts if they are so advised".

(2.) A complaint was filed by two persons, viz. Sidh Behari and Jai Narain, against Earn Prasad Vaidya and his four campanions, charging them with having committed offences punishable under "Sections 295/297/147/149, Indian Penal Code" Sidh Behari described himself as the manager and trustee of a temple and Jai Narain called himself a Pujari thereof. It was alleged that the accused persons had forcibly entered the temple on 17-9-1948, dug out the Singhasan and the platform and thrown away the idols. 2a. The defence was that the building in question was not a temple but a private house which had been sold two days before by Shrimati Bibbo (the mother of one of the accused, viz. Gutti) to the wife of another accused, Earn Vinod, and the, purchasers had, in lawful exercise of their civil right, entered the house they had purchased and obtained possession thereof. A charge was framed by the learned Magistrate under Section 295/149, I.P.C. It ran as follows:

(3.) The learned Magistrate held that the building in question was a temple and in a portion of the said building Jai Narain was living as a Pujari. Further, he held that Sidh Behari, the other complainant, was neither the Manager nor the trustee of the said temple. As regards the occurrence, he was of the opinion that the accused persons had, in fact, forcibly entered the temple, dug out the platform and thrown away the idols. On these findings, he recorded a conviction under Section 297/ 149 I. P. C. and sentenced every one of the accused to pay a fine of Rs. 50.