PADIA PATRA Vs. STATE

JUDGEMENT

(1.) PADIA Patra has been convicted under Section 302, I. P C and sentenced to imprisonment for life. Mahichandra Patra and Muruli Patra have been convicted under Section 326 I. P. C and each has been sentenced to R I. for two years. All the three have been convicted Under Section 148 I. P. C. but no separate sentence has been awarded under this section. The rest of the accused persons have been convicted Under Section 325/149 I. P C. (obviously a mistake for 326/149 I. P. C.)and each has been sentenced to R. I. for one year. They were further convicted under Section 147 1 P. C. but no separate sentence has been passed under this section. All of them have been charged Under Section 302/149 I P C Though in the body of the judgment the learned Sessions Judge was of opinion that accused 2 to 8 were not guilty under this charge, he did not pass any final order acquitting them of this charge.

(2.) ONE Java Patra had two wives. Through the first wife he had a son Badu the father of Chandra Mohan (P. W. 1) Through the second wife he had five sons. Hiranva, Baida, Sidheswar Pravakai and Mangulu deceased) Muruli (accused 2)Paresawar (accused-3) and Mahichandra (accused 4) are the suns of Sidheswar chakra (accused-6) and Kubera (accused-7) are the sons of Pravakar Padia (accused 1) is the son of accused-8. Hiranya acquired 9. 02 acres of Nayabadi land at Bandhatala Chak in village surupatala within the jurisdiction of Champua P S in the district of Keonjhar prosecution case is that as he was serving under the T. I. S. Co. he allowed his brothers to cultivate the said land. He retired from service in 1962 and resided in the village Naturally he asked his brothers and nephews to give up possession of the land. 8 kiarais of the land, which are the" disputed land according to the prosecution, were cultivated by Purandar and Dasarathi in 1968 Before 1963 the said kiarais were in possession of Chakra and Kubera The crop of the year 1963 grown on the said land by Purandar and Dasarathi was harvested by them The mother of Kubera had filed a complaint against Purandar and Dasarathi before the gram Punchayat No action was taken thereof On 14-2-64 some of the accused persons cultivated 4 kiarais out of the disputed land. It resulted in a quarrel between the parties in the morning of 15-2-64 (the dale of occurrence ). Mahichandra. Pareswar and kubera and Chakra started for the field with ploughs. Purandai and Dasarathi went to the field being armed with bows and arrows apprehending that the accused might plough the disputed land. On the spot they found Pareswar, Chakra, Kubera, mahichandra, Maladhar and Nabina (a labourer of theirs) ploughing the field of murali which was his self-acquired land and contiguous to the disputed land. Both of them sat armed on the ridge of "dhipa Kiari" (mark 8 in the spot map) waiting to resist entry of the accused into the disputed land. Padia and Murali were sitting on the ridge of Murali's land with bows and arrows. Thereafter Jema (mother of padia) and Jamuna (P. W. 7) and the mother of the deceased) came there and quarrelled with each other Jema and Jamuna are sisters. Manguli arrived on the spot with a conch shell. Jema and Jamuna left the place after the quarrel was over. Padia and Chakra went to the village and brought some weapons. Padia brought a spear and a lathi and Chakra a bow and arrows. Kishore Chandra (P. W. 2), the Sarpanch arrived on the spot. Jamuna again came back after requesting P. W. 1 (the padhan of the village) to come to the spot to prevent troubles which she apprehended the accused finished ploughing the land of Murali Thereafter Pareswar and Chakra went to Dhipa Kiari with two ploughs and started ploughing them. P. W. 4 obstructed the ploughing by standing in their front. Pareswar shouted and Mangulu blew the conch-shell. Other accused persons came running towards P. W. 4 with bows and arrows shouting "kill them, kill them'1 Both the parties aimed arrows at each other An arrow shot by Mahichandra, pierced into the right leg of Dasarathi. P. W. 4 pulled it out from his leg and walked two to three steps with difficulty in a bending posture. Murali struck a blow on his head Chalra threw a big clod of earth on his back When he fell down. Pareswar gave a blow on his head with an axe. He became senseless Purandar ran away out of fear and sought protection from P. W. 8. The accused, however, dragged him to some distance and assaulted him He fell down. When he was trying to get up. Padia pierced a spear into his chest Purandar walked a distance of about 50 cubits with some difficulty and fell down dead accused left the spot.

(3.) BEFORE the Committing Court the accused denied the occurrence. In the sessions Court. They took the plea that though the Nayabadi lands were acquired in the name of Hiranya. those belonged to the entire family and each branch was in separate possession of different portions in a family partition long ago. The accused admitted that P. W. 4 and the deceased cultivated and harvested the crop of the year 1963 from the 8 kiaris of the disputed land which were being previously possessed by Chakra and Kubera With regard to the story as to how many out of the 8 kiaris were cultivated by the accused on 14-2-64, divergent versions were presented by different accused Some said 7 kiaris had been cultivated and some others stated that 5 kiaris were ploughed Mahichandra however, admitted that only 4 kiaris were ploughed on that day They admitted the occurrence on 15-2-64 but gave a different version of the same as follows: mahichandra, Pareswar, Kubera Chakra and Haladhar were ploughing the land of murali in the morning of 16-2-1964. At that time they found P. W. 4 and the deceased coming with bows and arrows, dagger, knife and axes. Then Padia and murali went to the village and brought spear, lathi, bows and arrows. Chakra did not go to bring weapons. After ploughing the land Murali Pareswar and Chakra started for ploughing the Nayabadi field which was in possession of Mongulu. They admitted that they passed through the Dhipa Kiari with ploughs only to reach manguli's land and denied the fact that they ploughed the Dhipa Kiari. While passing through the Dhipa Kiari with their ploughs thev were obstructed by the deceased and P. W. 4 who shot arrows towards them. The accused came back to the land of Murali. Mahichandra and Haladhar shot arrows at the deceased and p. W. 4. One of the arrows hit the right leg of P. W 4. P. W 4 attempted to strike murali with an axe. Tc protect himself Murali gave a lathi blow on the head of dasarathi Chakra did not throw any c!od of earth on the back of P. W. 4. Pareswar did not assault P. W. 4 on his head with an axe. Padia stated that the deceased attempted to attack him with an axe. He prevented the first blow When again the deceased raised the axe he used his spear which struck the chest of the deceased. Thus Padia admitted to have killed the deceased but took to the plea of right of private defence Murali and Mahichandra also admitted to have caused grievous hurl to P. W. 4 in exercise of their right of private defence. Other accused persons denied having dragged and assaulted the deceased.