HIRALAL SWAIN Vs. STATE

JUDGEMENT

(1.) APPELLANT Hiralal was a dealer of controlled commodities for village Mahardpalasa under Jasipur police station in the district of Mayurbhanj. At the instance of Jatin, the deceased, a complaint (Ext. 1) was made to the B.D.O., Jasipur on 12.5.82 by the villagers that controlled commodities were not being properly distributed. The Co -operative Extension Officer and the Supply Inspector enquired into the complaint. The allegations having been established, dealership of Hiralal was cancelled and in his place Rameswer Mahanta was appointed as the dealer. Around 9 a.m. on 15.7.82 Jatin was sitting in the shop of Dambaru (P.W.3) who was preparing pakoda, with a view to boarding the bus for Bijatala where he was serving as Village Level Worker. Dasaratha Mahanta (P.W. 13), Kamal Lochan Nayak, Manalal Behera and another were also there. Both the Appellants at that time entered the shop. Appellant Hiralal was holding a bhujali knife and Appellant Motilal was armed with a bhujali. Motilal it is alleged, caught hold of the neck of Jatin and pressed him against the wall. Jatin groaned. Hiralal suddenly hit Jatin in his abdomen with the bhujali knife. He inflicted another blow on his head. Motilal, it is said, dragged Jatin outside and both of them gave him pushes and kicks and threw him on the road. Anadi Charen Bahera (P.W. 1) arrived at the place who offered water to Jatin who could not drink. Jatin was removed to Jasipur hospital in a jeep. As his condition aggravated, he was advised to be removed to Karanjia hospital. On the way, he passed away. Information was sent to Karanjia police station by Annexure -8. P.W. 11, the Assistant Sub -Inspector of police Karanjia P.S. held inquest over the deadbody and sent the deadbody to Karanjia hospital for postmortem examination. P.W. 5 conducted the postmortem examination on 15.7.82 around 1.15 p.m. In the meanwhile, P.W. 17, the Officer -in -charge of Jasipur police station had received information about the incident. He made station diary entry No. 272 dated 15.7.82 (Ext. 20) and proceeded to the spot. F.I.R. (Ext. 2) was lodged by P.W. 1. He arrested the Appellants and seized the wearing apparels around 1 p.m. and also seized the bhujali knife M.O.I. from the house of Appellant Motilal under Ext. 18. Earth suspected to be stained with human blood was sent for examination by the Serologist and the Chemical Examiner. As a prima facie case was made out, charge -sheet was submitted against the Appellants under Section 302/34 and Section 452 of the Indian Penal Code.

(2.) WHILE denying the offence alleged to have been committed by them, Motilal pleaded that his brother Hiralal reported to him in his house that their brother Babulal had killed Jatin by a Luhaphala. It was further pleaded that whereas P.W. 1 and the witnesses belonged to Janata party, Appellant Hiralal belonged to Youth Congress (I). On 15.7.82 while he was proceeding to bus stand, he met Jatin who teased him that his dealership had been cancelled, whereupon Appellant Hiralal replied that he had voluntarily relinquished the dealership and his dealership had not been cancelled. This enraged Jatin who held the shirt collar of Hiralal and there was a tussle between them. Jatin received an injury coming in contact with a dried branch of Amari plant. In course of the tussle, he gave a kick to Hiralal. Jatin in reply gave a blow in the stomach. Hiralal fell down on the road. While Jatin was attempting to hit with a stone, his brother Babulal reached the place with a Luhaphala and thrust the same into the belly of Jatin. When Jatin attempted to hit Babulal with the stone, the latter gave him a blow on the head with the Luhaphala. Then Jatin ran towards the shop of Dambaru (P.W. 3).

(3.) ON a consideration of the evidence, the learned Sessions Judge accepted the prosecution version, disbelieved the defence plea and convicted the Appellants under Section 302/34 and Section 452 of the Indian Penal Code and sentenced them to undergo imprisonment for life on the first count and to undergo two years' rigorous imprisonment on the second count. The sentences were directed to run concurrently.