LAVKUSH SINGH Vs. STATE OF U P

JUDGEMENT

(1.) M. C. Jain, J. The appellant is Lavkush who has been convicted under Sections 302 I. P. C. and 27 Indian Arms Act. He has been sentenced to undergo life imprisonment for the former offence and three years' rigorous imprisonment for the latter by Sri S. S. Srivastava, the then III Additional Sessions Judge, Deoria before whom he was tried in S. T. No. 72 of 1980, the judgment having been delivered on 31-10-1981.

(2.) BRIEFLY stated, the facts leading to this appeal are that the incident took place on 28-12-1979 at about 2. 30 p. m. in Village Bardiha Parsu Ram, P. S. Lar, District Deoria and the F. I. R. was lodged by Nand Lal P. W. 1 the same day at 3. 30 p. m. , the distance of police station from the place of occurrence being two miles. It was one Shiv Prasad, father of the informant, whose life was cut short in this incident by shooting by the appellant. The deceased and the informant ran a grocery shop from her house situated in village aforesaid and the appellant also resided in the same village. He used to regularly purchase provision from the shop of the deceased. He owed some money of the articles purchased by him. On the fateful day, he reached the shop of the deceased in the afternoon and asked for some articles. The deceased insisted that he should first make payment of the amount due against him for the purchase already made. At that time, Ram Parikshan P. W. 2 and Bal Chand P. W. 3 were also present at the shop. The informant Nand Lal Gupta P. W. 1 (son of the deceased) and his mother were also sitting there. The appellant became angry and held out that as he had not been supplied the articles asked for by him, he would teach him (deceased) a lesson. He went away to his house. The deceased sat at the door and started warming himself in the sun. Nand Lal P. W. 1 sat at the shop and began to transact business with others. At about 2. 30 p. m. the appellant again came over there from the side of his house armed with gun of his father and accosted the deceased Shiv Prasad that he would pay the debt. So saying, he fired in the chest of Shiv Prasad with his gun, who received injuries and fell down. Nand Lal Gupta P. W. 1 Mohan Lal, Sukh Lal, Ram Parikshan P. W. 2 and Bal Chand P. W. 3 witnessed the incident. The appellant made his escape good towards west and could not be apprehended despite being chased by Nand Lal and others. While fleeing, he opened fire on them too. Nand Lal left the dead body of his father in the care of other family members and went to the police station where he lodged the F. I. R. A case was registered and investigation followed which was entrusted to S. I. Bal Ram Rai P. W. 8 and was concluded by S. I. Navrang Singh P. W. 4. It should also be related here that post mortem over the dead body of the deceased was conducted by Dr. J. N. Thakur P. W. 7 on 29-12-1979 at 12. 00 O' Clock noon. The following ante mortem injuries were found on his person: (1) Gun shot wound of entry 1 cm x 3/4 cm x cavity deep on right side chest 4 cms above right nipple at 9 O' clock position with lacerated margins & oval in shape, blackening and tattooing around the wound present. (2) Multiple superficial fire-arm wounds on the right side chest, size ranging from 0. 5 cm x 0. 6 cm adjacent to injury No. 1. On cutting the wound No. 1, clotted blood found present. Muscles were lacerated and torn. Ist, 2nd and 3rd ribs were broken.

(3.) THE prosecution, in all, examined 8 witnesses including the doctor, Investigating Officer and of formal nature. THE eye- witness account was rendered by Nand Lal P. W. 1 son of the deceased, Ram Parikshan P. W. 2, Bal Chand P. W. 3 and Mohan P. W. 6. THE learned Trial Judge believing the prosecution case and evidence passed the impugned judgment of which the appellant has felt aggrieved and filed this appeal.