PARBHOO AND OTHERS Vs. STATE

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The four applicants were convicted by a Magistrate First Class, Unnao, Parbhu u/S. 224, Penal Code and the rest u/Ss. 225/149 and 147, IPC. Parbhu was sentenced to 18 months rigorous imprisonment and a fine of Rs. 100.00 and the rest were sentenced to one year's rigorous imprisonment u/S. 147 and to 18 months rigorous imprisonment and a fine of Rs. 100.00 u/S. 225/149, IPC. In default of payment of fine they were to undergo six months further rigorous imprisonment. The sentences were directed to run concurrently. On appeal the learned First Additional Sessions Judge, Unnao, upheld the conviction and sentence of the applicants; hence this revision.

(2.) According to the prosecution case, Excise Inspector Mohammad Malik accompanied by a number of peons raided the house of Parbhu in Village Gangaghat and conducted its search. He recovered one bottle of illicit liquor from the house, arrested Parbhu and handed him over to the custody of his peon Brahmanand. The party came out of the house and sat under a Neem tree where the Excise Inspector busied himself with preparing the memo of the recovery of the articles. Parbhu, it appears, raised an alarm and the other three applicants along with some others responded to his call. They tried to rescue Parbhu. A fight ensued in which they wielded lathis causing a number of simple injuries to the peons. Parbhu and his rescuers also received injuries during the incident as is evident from the injury reports on the record. Ultimately the villagers succeeded in rescuing Parbhu from the custody of the Excise staff, but Shambhu Dayal was arrested at the spot and taken to the police station where a report was lodged by Brahmanand which ultimately led to their prosecution and conviction as has been stated above. The applicants have denied the prosecution case and the recovery of illicit liquor from the house of Parbhu. According to them they had been falsely implicated in the case and that Shambhu Dayal had not been arrested at the spot. They also alleged that Shambhu Dayal's hand and right knee had been fractured.

(3.) The prosecution case was supported by the four Excise Peons Brahmanand, Mohammad Yaseen, Mohammad Abbas and Madan Mohan who had received injuries during the incident and by Excise Inspector Mohammad Malik (PW 9) who had conducted the search and Sheo Balak, Ganga Din, Prag Narain and Abhul Salam, residents of the village. Doctor S. N. Tandon (PW 1) proved the injuries received by the Excise Peons involved in the incident. The applicants examined Smt. Rampati, wife of Parbhu to prove that the incident was sparked off when some of the Excise Peons unauthorizedly entered her house in the absence of her husband and tried to misbehave with her. The courts below rejected the defence set out by the applicants as unreliable and placing reliance on the testimony furnished by the prosecution witnesses referred to above recorded their conviction.