STATE Vs. BHUGAWAN

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THIS is a reference by the learned Assistant Sessions Judge of Fyzabad under Section 307, criminal P. C. Two young boys, namely, Bujhawan and Bhaggal were prosecuted under Section 366, Penal Code. They were sent up for trial. The trial was conducted with the aid of a jury. At the end of the trial the jury returned a unanimous verdict of guilty. The trial Judge, however, disagreed with the said verdict and has made this reference to the High Court under the aforesaid section Bujhawan and Bhaggal are alleged to have kidnapped a minor girl named Sushila on the night of 12-6-1951.

(2.) THE prosecution case in respect of the occurrence is that Sushila daughter of Rajman Das, was living with her father on the date of the incident. The father used to maintain her and look after her. Bujhawan and Bhaggal lived at a distance of about 100 paces from her house. Bujhawan is a bari by caste, and Bhaggal is a Bhar. The girl was a Brahman by caste. The two boys used to come to the house of the girl. Five or six days prior to the date of occurrence Bujhawan asked her to accompany him to Delhi. He came to her house on the night of the incident and she accompanied him , at 9 p. m. Bhaggal was also with Bujhawan at that time. They went to Akbarpur on a tonga. They entrained at Akbarpur for Delhi. At Delhi they stayed at Kashmirigate. Bhaggal and Eujhawan were with her there. On 27-7-1951, Roshan Lal, sub-Inspector of Police Station Kashmirigate, Delhi, came to know that Bujhawan had brought a girl with him and was staying within his circle. He went to Bujhawan and made inquiries from him about it. Bujhawan represented to him that they were brother and sister. On their statements having been taken separately, it turned out that the girl was a Brahman and the accused was a servant of her house and had brought her. He accordingly arrested both of them. Having come to know that the case appertained to police station Bhaskari in Fyzabad, he sent information of it to the said police station.

(3.) A first information report of the incident had already been made on 15-6-1951, at 9-30 a. m. at police station Bhaskari by Rajdeo, the uncle of the girl. In this report Rajdeo had stated that his brother Rajman Das was a Mahant of Lakhanpur Kuti and his daughter Sushila aged fifteen years had been living with him at Lakhan-pur. She disappeared with a number of ornaments which were in her possession. Since the time of her disappearance Bujhawan and Bhaggal, who were residents of the same village, had not been seen in the village. For that reason he had suspected both of them of having kidnapped Sushila. He also stated in this report that his brother Rajman das was unsound in mind, and the mother of the girl was dead.