SESHADEV SWAIN Vs. STATE OF ODISHA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This appeal is directed against the judgment of conviction and order of sentence dtd. 20/8/1996 passed by the learned Additional Sessions Judge, Khurda in Sessions Cases arising out of G.R. Case No.224 of 1991 committed by the JMFC, Banpur, convicting the present six Appellants for the offence punishable under Sec. 302 read with 34 IPC for causing the death of Rabindra Swain and Kubera Jani on the crest of Bhalleri hill near village Pratap between 4 and 5 pm on 16/9/1991. Each of the Appellants was sentenced to undergo imprisonment for life. The Appellants and twenty other co-accused were all acquitted of the offences under Sec. 3(2)(v) and (vi) of the SC and ST (PoA) Act, 1989 and Sec. 120 (B), 201 IPC.

(2.) The case of the prosecution is that the deceased Rabindra Swain was the younger brother of Golakha Swain (P.W.1), the Informant, who belonged to village Pratap. Rabindra Swain was in need of a servant for tending his buffaloes. Therefore, in the morning hours of 16/9/1991, he and his field servant Kubera Jani, the second deceased, went to the village Chhaka Singh situated in the terrains of Bhalleri hill. However, till 5 pm that evening he did not return leading P.W.1 to suspect that something was amiss.

(3.) Therefore, P.W. 1 along with Barendra Swain, son of deceased Rabindra Swain and Bijaya Patnaik (P.W.4) went towards village Chhaka Singh searching for the deceased. Before P.W.1 went up the hill, he met Raja Baliarsingh (P.W.3) who was working on a brinjal field in the foothill of Bhalleri. P.W. 3 asked P.W.1 where he was headed to. On hearing that P.W.1was looking for his brother, P.W.3 disclosed to him that he had seen six of the accused (A1 to A6) going with deadly weapons towards Chhaka Singh an hour before. This increased the suspicion of P.W.1 and he requested P.W.3 to accompany him towards Chhaka Singh.