OM PRAKASH Vs. STATE OF U P

JUDGEMENT

(1.) PRESENT appeal has been preferred against the judgment and order dated 25.9.1985 delivered by Sessions Judge, Rae Bareilly in Sessions Trial No 29 of 1984 whereby the appellants aforesaid have been convicted under section 302/34 IPC and each of them have been sentenced to undergo imprisonment for life.

(2.) THE incident as mentioned in this case is said to have taken place on 3.11.1983 at 7 am. The FIR was lodged by complainant Balram at police station Mohanganj at 8.30 am. Deceased Sheo Kumar is the cousin of the complainant while Rajendra Kumar is his son. On the day of occurrence, the deceased Sheo Kumar and Rajendra Kumar were on way to their field alongwith he -buffalo for ploughing their fields and as soon as they reached near their grove, they were encircled by the accused persons namely Om Prakash, Hari Om, Onkar and Sheo Mahesh alias Lallan who were then hiding in a paddy field adjacent to the grove and hurled the choicest abuses and challenged them. To be precise, it is mentioned that at that time, the accused Om Prakash was armed with country made pistol, accused Hari Om and Onkar were armed with guns while accused Sheo Mahesh alias Lallan was empty handed. Sensing trouble, proceeds the narrative, the deceased raised alarm which attracted complainant Balram PW 1 and his wife Smt Dhanpati. The aforesaid witnesses who were attracted, it is alleged, tried to prevail upon the accused to desist from picking up quarrel but instead of being amenable, they opened fire. It is mentioned that the fire opened by accused Om Prakash hit Smt Dhanpati while the fire opened by accused Hari Om struck Sheo Kumar. Upon being hit, the deceased fell down and collapsed. The accused person namely, Sheo Mahesh thereafter exhorted the other accused for assault upon which deceased Rajendra Kumar tried to flee but he was chased and while chasing, fire was opened on him as a result of which Rajendra Kumar too fell down in the adjacent paddy field. It is further mentioned that when the deceased fell down, accused Hari Om fired yet another shot at him which hit him in the abdomen. Thereafter the accused pursued complainant Balram who had then escaped towards the village and had taken shelter in the house of Sidhnath. The complainant, it is alleged, shut himself in a room. The accused who were chasing the complainant, tried to open the door by pushing it but subsequently seeing village people gathering in large number, the accused persons abandoned the idea and walked away from the said house. After the accused had walked away, the complainant Balram came out of the room and straightway, went to the place of occurrence alongwith co -villagers and found that his wife and brother Sheo Kumar had already succumbed to injuries. He then went to the paddy field of Dhani where he found Rajendra Kumar lying injured. It is mentioned that no village people came to his rescue for fear of reprisal and therefore, he went to the police station Mohanganj and lodged the First Information Report on 3.11.1983 at 8.30 am.

(3.) AS a prelude, the complainant referred to the events prior to the occurrence in his written report. It is narrated that in the year 1968, one Dinanath was murdered in which the complainant, his brother Sheo Kumar, one Ram Asrey and mother Ratna were arrayed as accused. In the said case, all the accused persons named above were convicted by the trial court but on appeal, the High Court gave verdict of acquittal in respect of Smt Ratna and complainant Balram. It is also mentioned that while they were in jail, accused Om Prakash and others ransacked their houses in village and robbed the household effects. Since they were in jail, no FIR could be lodged. He summed up submitting that the incident occurred on account of enmity as mentioned above.