RANKANATH DAS Vs. STATE OF ORISSA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THIS revision is preferred against the judgment of the Second Additional Sessions Judge, Puri, convicting the Petitioners under Section 323/34, I.P.C. and sentencing each of them thereunder to pay a fine of Rs. 100/ - in default, to suffer rigorous imprisonment for 15 days and further convicting them under Section 341/34, I.P.C. without imposing any separate sentence thereunder.

(2.) THE prosecution case, briefly stated, is that on 3.9.1981 at about 8. 30 P.M. while the informant (P.W. 1.) with his wife P.W. 3 and niece P.W. 4 was returning to Tangi on a motor cycle, on the way near Kalupada Ghat crossing, the Petitioners stopped the motor cycle and thereafter the Petitioner Rankanath Das assaulted the informant with a thenga on the right hand and subsequently all the Petitioners dragged the informant to the side of the road when the Petitioner Tushar Kanta Das assaulted him on his back by means of a cycle chain and thus the Petitioners rendered themselves liable for offences under Sections 323/34 and 341/34, I.P.C.

(3.) THE prosecution has examined in all nine witnesses to prove its case. P.W. 1, the informant, was a teacher of Singarama M.E. School. His wife is P.W. 3, a teacher in the Tangi Girls' High School and both of them were residing at Tangi. Informant's sister's daughter is P.W. 4. P.Ws. 1, 3 and 4 were examined as eye -witnesses to the occurrence. P.W. 2 is the informant's brother -in -law and he arrived at the spot on being informed by P.W. 4 about the assault on P.W. 1. P.W. 5 is the driver of the auto -rickshaw in which both P.Ws. 3 and 4 went to Tangi soon after the occurrence. P.W. 5 was declared hostile by the prosecution. P.W. 6 is the brother of P.W. 4 and he is a post -occurrence witness. P.W. 8 is the doctor who examined P.W 1 regarding his injuries. P.Ws. 7 and 9 are the Investigating Officers in the case.