PANDIT DEVU PATIL Vs. STATE OF MAHARASHTRA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THE appellants have been convicted by III Additional Sessions Judge, Thane vide Judgment dated 29-11-1997 for various offences. They have been held guilty for the offence of rioting under S. 148 of IPC and sentenced to suffer R. 1, for one year and to pay a fine of Rs. 200/- each in default to suffer S. I. for 15 days; for the offence of murder under S. 302 read with 149 of IPC and sentenced to imprisonment for life as also to pay a fine of Rs. 1000/- each in default to suffer S. I. for three months; for voluntarily causing hurt under S. 324 read with 149 of IPC and sentenced to suffer R. I. for one year and to pay a fine of Rs. 200/- each in default to suffer S. I. for 15 days. In addition they have also been held guilty under S. 37 read with 135 of the B. P. Act and sentenced to suffer S. I. for two months and also to pay a fine of Rs. 100/- each in default to suffer S. I. for ten days. All the sentences have been ordered to run concurrently. The appellants have been given benefit of set off under S. 428 of Cr. P. C. for their detention during the pendency of the trial.

(2.) IN all 35 accused had been put up for trial, but except the appellants all other co-accused have been acquitted. Appellants challenge their conviction and sentence in this appeal.

(3.) THE prosecution case, in brief, is that there is two groups in the village and there was long standing rivalry between the two groups. One group was controlled by the deceased Ganpat Dalvi who was the sarpanch of village Sawad and the other group was headed by Patil group. Somewhere in the year 1986 Ankush S. Dalvi brother of deceased Dalvi was murdered.