P APPARAO Vs. STATE

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THESE two appeals are from one of the cases of the last Rourkela communal riot which took place some time in the latter half of March, 1964. The victim of the riot in this case was one G. . S. Khan. He was at the relevant time posted at bondomunda as the Carriage Supervisor of S. E. Rly. and was living there with his second wife Peari Bibi (P. W. 2) and two minor daughters aged 6 years and 21/2 years respectively, in Quarter No. 53 of Sector C of the Railway Colony. It is alleged that on 20th March, 1964, between 8 and 9 p. m. a mob of about 40 or 50 persons including the four appellants and the approver Amiya Bhusan Seal (P. W. 1) armed with lathis, iron rods and other deadly weapons, forcibly entered his house, dragged him from there to a distance of about 30 to 40 cubits--to an open field situated near the post office, and assaulted him to death. On these allegations, the appellants were charged at the trial under Sections 148, 302/ 149, 342/149 and 380, Indian Penal Code.

(2.) THE learned Additional Sessions Judge who tried the case found the appellants not guilty of the offences under Sections 380 and 342/ 149, Indian Penal Code, and accordingly acquitted them all of these charges. But in respect of the other two charges, viz. , those under Sections 148 and 302/149, Indian Penal Code he found them guilty. Accordingly they were convicted under these two sections. Under Section 302/149, Indian Penal Code the sentence imposed on each of the appellants was one of life imprisonment, but there was no separate sentence awarded for the offence under Section 148, Indian Penal Code.

(3.) IN support of the prosecution case, there were three main witnesses examined at the trial: (i) Amia Bhusan Seal (the approver), (ii) Peari Bibi (widow of the deceased), and (iii) Ghulam Hussain (a railway employee ).