AAS MOHAMMAD Vs. STATE

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THIS is an appeal by Aas Mohammad, his brother Ehsan AH and Hasan Khan, the brother-in-law of Ehsan Ali, against the judgment dated 1h-9-1972 of the Civil and Sessions Judge, Rampur, convicting them Under Section 396 of the Indian Penal Code and sentencing each to imprisonment for life.

(2.) THE prosecution has proved by cogent evidence including the statements made by P. W. 1 Mohammad Jan, P. W. 2 Shaqoor and P. W. 3 Maseeta that an armed da-coity was committed by about ten persons during the night between the 26th and 27th of Oct. 1971 at about midnight in village Chakia Mazra in the house of P. W. 1 Mohammad Jan at a distance of about five miles from police station Kemri. During the dacoity Mohammad Nabi, the father of Mohammad Jan and also Mohammad Jan were beaten by the dacoits in order to extract information about the valuables and Mohammad Nabi was shot dead. First Information Report of the incident was lodged by Mohammad Jan at police station Kemri on the 27th morning at 4. 10 A. M. After the report was lodged, Mohammad Jan was sent by the police to Kemri Hospital where he was medically examined by Dr. G. D, Agnihotri whose statement is Ex. Ka 26 on the record. The doctor found blunt weapon iniuries on the person of the victim which, according to the doctor, could have been caused at about midnight during the night of the incident. Autopsy on the body of the deceased was done by Dr. H. A. Khan on the 27th of Oct. 1971 at 5. 00 P. M. He found one ante-mortem gunshot punctured wound 4 cm. x 4 cm. x cavity deep on the left side of the chest 5 cm. below the nipple. The post-mortem examination report is Ex. Ka 3 on the record, while the statement of Dr. M. A. Khan is Ex. Ka 27.

(3.) ACCORDING to the prosecution; during the night of the dacoity a a kerosene lamp was kept lighted in the western room of the house of the victim where P. W. 1 Mohammad Jan had slept with other members of the family. Some of the dacoits had entered that room and had dug out and removed the valuables besides looting the same from other places. The father of" the informant had slept in the courtyard near which there was a lighted lantern. During the dacoity fire was set by the vllagers who were attracted to the scene of the incident by the alarm raised by the inmates, to two heaps of straw and dry millet plants on either side of the entrance to the informant's house. Due to the light from these sources outside the house, some of the neighbours who had assembled towards east of the house in the lane, were able to see the faces of the dacoits when they ran out of the house and were also going in and coming out of the same. Mohammad Jan also saw the faces of the dacoits who had entered the room in which Mohammad Jan was beaten. The dacoits were all strangers.