SHIV PRASAD Vs. STATE OF MADHYA PRADESH

JUDGEMENT

(1.) TWENTY accused persons were convicted under Section 302/149 I. P. C. and sentenced to imprisonment for life. Out of these appellants No. 6 and 15 Veereshwar and Yogeshwar were also convicted under Section 148, I. P. C. and sentenced to rigorous imprisonment for one year and appellant Purshottam was convicted under Section 147, I. P. C. and sentenced to rigorous imprisonment for six months. All of them filed this appeal. It was decided by a Division Bench of this Court by the judgment dated 18-1-2000 and it was dismissed. On further appeal by appellant Veereshwar and others to the Supreme Court the appeal has been remanded for rehearing and fresh decision. During the course of hearing the learned counsel for appellants Veereshwar, Yogeshwar and Purshottam has confined his arguments in respect of these three persons only and therefore their appeal is being decided afresh. It is submitted that the other appellants have either died or served out the sentence and their case need not be dealt with by this Court.

(2.) IT is no longer in dispute that there was deep seated enmity between deceased Jagannath and accused Shiv Prasad who were residents of village Sukri. Shiv Prasad purchased a piece of land which Jagannath wanted to buy for himself and that also became a bone of contention between the two. A violent incident took place between 4 to 5 P. M. on 22-8-1983 between villages Sukri and Kodia in which five persons Jagannath, Annilal, Om Prakash, Balaram and Ramesh lost their lives. They died on the spot. Autopsy was conducted on their dead bodies. They had sustained multiple incised wounds besides other injuries. Their post-mortem and injury reports are Ex. P-18 to Ex. P-25. These have been duly proved by the doctors who conducted the post-mortem examination.

(3.) THE prosecution case is that all the twenty accused persons formed an unlawful assembly and in prosecution of the common object of that assembly caused serious injuries to the five persons named above. Jamna Prasad who is Sarpanch of Village Kaudia received information from Radhelal about this incident and he conveyed the same on telephone to Gadarwara Police Station which was recorded in Rojnamcha Sanha (Ex. P-28-A ). After sometime Mannulal (P. W. 2) gave detailed information to Jamna Prasad (P. W. 1) and he in his turn lodged Dehati Nalishi Ex. P-1 at 5. 45 P. M. on the date of incident itself. It was recorded by Awadhesh Kumar Pande (P. W. 21) Town Inspector, who had reached village Sukri on receipt of telephonic message of the Sarpanch. This Dehati Nalishi was sent to Gadarwara Police Station where the regular F. I. R. (Ex. P-17) was registered. According to the prosecution the incident was witnessed by four ocular witnesses. They are Mannulal (P. W. 2), Lakhan (P. W 3), Devendra Kumar (P. W. 4) and Sushil Kumar (P. W. 5 ). There was a prelude to this incident at about 10 A. M. in village Sukri but that was averted on the intervention of the Sarpanch and some other persons.