PHOOL CHARAN Vs. STATE OF MADHYA PRADESH

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This common judgment shall govern the disposal of Cr.A. No.540/1998 and Cr.A. No.363/1998.

(2.) These criminal appeals have been filed under Sec. 374(2) of the Cr.P.C. against the judgment dtd. 7/2/1998 passed by Special Judge, Panna, in S.T. No.37/1997, whereby learned Special Judge found the appellants guilty for the offences punishable under Ss. 325/34 of the IPC and sentenced them to undergo R.I for 5 years each with fine of Rs.1000.00 each with default clause.

(3.) As per the prosecution case, on 7/9/1997 at around 9:00 PM Deo Singh went to Pooran Singh's flour mill located at village Ranwaha to get the wheat grinded. Appellant Guman Singh (Appellant in Cr.A. No.540/1998) had also come there for the same purpose. Deo Singh and Guman Singh had a fight over who would get his grains grinded first. Thereupon appellant Guman Singh went to his house and came back along with appellants Phool Charan (Appellant in Cr.A.No.540/1998) and Kamta Prasad (Appellant in Cr.A. No.363/1998) at Pooran Singh's flour mill to beat Deo Singh. Appellant Kamta Prasad was armed with Ballam (spear). When deceased Shiv Singh received the information that appellants Phool Charan, Guman Singh and Kamta Prasad went to Pooran Singh's flour mill to beat Deo Singh, he reached Pooran Singh's flour mill to rescue Deo Singh. He tried to stop appellants from beating Deo Singh, on which Phool Charan told other appellants Guman Singh and Kamta Prasad to beat Shiv Singh. Appellants Guman Singh and Kamta Prasad scuffled with him, appellants Guman Singh and co-accused Babu Singh Rajput caught hold of his hand and appellant Phool Charan caught hold of his testicles. At that point of time, Deo Singh ran away from the spot and informed Pratap Singh (PW-3) that appellants Phool Charan, Guman Singh and Kamta Prasad were assaulting Shiv Singh. On that Pratap Singh (PW-3), Sant Kumar (PW-10), Ramlal (PW-12) and Deo Singh (PW-2) went to the spot. On that, appellants left Shiv Singh and fled away from the spot. They brought Shiv Singh from the spot to the house, but Shiv Singh had died. Pratipal Singh lodged the report of the incident to Police Chowki Kakarhati. On that ASI Suraj Singh (PW-13) registered Marg No.09/1997 (Ex.P.-9) and Crime No.02/1997 (Ex.P-2) at Police Chowki Kakarhati and sent it to P.S. Panna for original registration, where original Marg No.9/1997 (Ex.P-6) and Crime No.10/1997 (Ex.P-11) were registered by SHO Panna N.K. Parihar (PW- 11). ASI Suraj Singh (PW-13) went to the spot and prepared an inquest memo (Ex.P-4) of the dead body of the deceased Shiv Singh and sent it to District Hospital, Panna for postmortem along with the application (Ex.P-8) and he also recorded the case diary statements of Preetamlal Singh (PW-1), Deo Singh (PW-2), Pratap Singh (PW-3) and Buddh Singh (PW-4) and prepared spot map (Ex.P-3). In the District Hospital, Panna Dr J.B. Singh (PW-8) conducted the postmortem of the dead body of deceased Shiv Singh and gave postmortem report (Ex.P-8) to the effect that deceased Shiv Singh's C1 and C2 vertebrae were found fractured, deceased Shiv Singh died due to injury in the spinal cord. Further investigation of the crime was conducted by Inspector K.N. Parihar (PW-11). During investigation K.N. Parihar (PW-11) arrested the appellants Phool Charan, Guman Singh and Kamta Prasad and co-accused Babu Singh. He also seized one Ballam (spear) from the possession of appellant Kamta Prasad and prepared seizure memo (Ex.P-5) and after investigation he filed charge-sheet before CJM, Panna. On that charge-sheet, Criminal Case No.169/1997 was registered. Learned CJM committed the case to the Court of Sessions. On that S.T. No.37/1997 was registered. Learned Special Judge, Panna framed charges under Sec. 302 of the IPC against appellant Guman Singh and co- accused Babu Singh and charge under Sec. 302 read with Sec. 34 of the IPC against appellants Kamta Prasad and Phool Charan and tried the case. Appellants Phool Charan, Guman Singh and Kamta Prasad denied the charges and took the defence that at the time of the incident, an altercation took place between Guman Singh and Deo Singh about who would get his grains grinded first. Ramlal (PW-12) put them out of the mill and closed the flour mill. At that time, crowd gathered outside the mill. Shiv Singh was also in the crowd and fell on the stone due to the push, due to which he got hurt. Appellants did not assault him, and due to animosity appellants were falsely implicated in the crime. In this regard, they also produced Uttam Singh (DW-1) and Raghuveer Singh (DW-2) in their defence. Learned trial Court acquitted Babu Singh from the charge punishable under Sec. 302 of the IPC. However, learned trial court found appellants Phool Charan, Guman Singh and Kamta Prasad guilty for the offence punishable under Ss. 325 and 34 of IPC instead of Sec. 302, 302/34 of IPC and sentenced them as aforesaid. Being aggrieved from the judgment appellant Kamta Prasad filed Criminal Appeal No.363/1998 and appellants Phool Charan and Guman Singh filed Criminal Appeal No.540/1998.