NASIR DAFADAR Vs. STATE OF WEST BENGAL

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The eight appellants have been convicted under Sections 302/149 and 148 of the Penal Code. They have been sentenced to suffer life imprisonment under Sections 302/149 of the Penal Code and imprisonment for three years under Sec. 148 thereof, both sentences running concurrently. In addition, they have been fined Rs.5,000.00 each with a default clause for another two years in prison upon failing to pay the fine.

(2.) The incident is of Nov. 13, 2008. The case made out by the prosecution was that these appellants, along with several other accused persons who have been acquitted of the charges, unlawfully assembled at the place of occurrence and committed the murder of Momin Sheikh. The grounds on which the order of conviction and the consequent sentence have been challenged include the alleged contradiction in the testimonies of the eye-witnesses and the oral evidence of the widow of the victim. It is also contended on behalf of the appellants that there was no evidence that the injuries allegedly inflicted by the appellants on the victim could, in the usual or ordinary course, lead to death. The alternative case made out is of a lesser offence of culpable homicide not amounting to murder.

(3.) One of the sons of the victim lodged the written complaint scribed by another villager. The complainant alleged that at about 2 pm on Nov. 13, 2008 when his father was digging holes for fixing pillars to mark the boundary of an agricultural land or putting up a temporary construction thereat, several persons, including all the appellants herein, sought to resist the father. The complaint went on to narrate that upon an altercation taking place between the several persons named in the complaint on the one hand and the complaint's father, the persons opposing the work called upon one Sadek Sheikh, whose house was close by, to bring iron rods, crow-bars and lathis. Upon Sadek Sheikh bringing the weapons, such persons rained blows on the victim resulting in his instantaneous death. The complaint also spoke of several persons trying to intervene to protect the victim, including the victim's wife, who were mostly beaten up and suffered injuries.