BACHAN PANDE Vs. STATE

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This is an application in revision under Section 439, Criminal P. C. by Bachan Pandey Alias Bachan Ram and 15 other persons who 'have been committed by a Magistrate 1st Class of Gorakhpur to the Court of Session, Gorakhpur, to stand their trial on charges under Sections 120B, 342, 384 and 389, I. P. C. The applicants first filed a revision against the order of committal before the learned Sessions Judge of Gorakhpur on the ground that the learned Sessions Judge bad no jurisdiction to try the charge of conspiracy under Section 120-B, I.P.C. as that offence was committed within the jurisdiction of the Sessions Court at Ghazipur. This revision was rejected by the learned Sessions Judge and so the present revision has been filed in this Court.

(2.) It is alleged by the prosecution that the accused had formed a conspiracy to earn money by filing false cases against innocent persons in Courts outside the districts of their residence, thereby causing unnecessary harassment to them; that in pursuance of this conspiracy the accused either themselves or through associates got several false cases filed in the various Courts, and after the summons or warranty of arrest had been issued against these persons and received for execution in the police station concerned, the accused cither directly or through other persons approached them with a view to extort money from them and forced them to agree to the terms offered by them by threatening that otherwise they would have to bear serious consequences; that the victims in order to escape harassment and inconvenience of attending the Court and also on. account of the fear of the accused, agreed to pay the-money demanded from them and thereafter the cases-against them were dropped. The inquiry into the case was made by a Magistrate in the district of Gorakhpur and no less than 177 witnesses were examined in the case. P. W. 177, Sri Ram Nandan alias Bulbul, who is alleged to be one of the members of the conspiracy, turned approver and was examined last. The learned Magistrate after a consideration of the entire prosecution evidence was of the opinion that a prima facie case against the accused on the various sections with which they had been charged had been made out and he, therefore, directed that they should be committed to the sessions to stand their trial on those charges. These charges are in respect of the alleged conspiracy and also in respect of the overt acts which were done by the various accused in pursuance of the above conspiracy and which acts by themselves also constituted offences.

(3.) It was contended before me on behalf of the applicants that in view of the finding of the learned Sessions Judge that the offence of conspiracy had been committed within the district of Ghazipur the applicants could not be tried on that charge in Gorakhpur. It was also contended that in fact the main charge against the applicants was for conspiracy to commit the various offences and that they had not been charged, separately of the various offences which had been committed in pursuance of the conspiracy. There is no doubt that if the charge against the applicants is of conspiracy simpliciter and for no other offence they can only be tried in that district where the conspiracy was formed and where the offence of conspiracy was complete. I am, however, not inclined to accept the contention on behalf of the applicants that the charge against them is for conspiracy simpliciter and not for the various other offences which were committed by them in pursuance of this conspiracy. On an examination of the charges which were framed against the different applicants it is quite clear that they were charged not only for conspiracy simpliciter but also for the various offences which were alleged to have been committed by the various accused in pursuance of the conspiracy. I do not consider it necessary to reproduce here the various charges which were framed by the learned Magistrate against the applicants and for the trial of which they were committed to the Court of Session at Gorakhpur.