AMIR ALI Vs. STATE OF ASSAM

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The appellants No. 1 Amir Ali and No. 4 Manik Ali are brothers being sons of late Sarafat Ali. The appellant No. 2 Jalaluddin, No. 3 Habib Ali, No. 5 Ishad Ali and No. 10 Sona Mia @ Sonahar Ali are sons of late Farmuj Ali. Appellants Nos. 6, 7 and 8 Abdur Rashid @ Mullah, Hilaluddin and Bolai Mia respectively are sons of Habib Ali. Appellant No. 9 Alai Mia @ Alauddin is the son of Arab Ali. All the appellants are close relatives. The 10 appellants have been convicted under S. 302/149, 325/149 and 324/149 of the I.P.C. in Sessions Case No. 115 of 1983 by the judgment dt. 28-2-1985 of the Sessions Judge, Silchar. They impugne the said judgment in this appeal.

(2.) The case arose on the death of Bhagirath Mal on 27-4-1982. Abani Kr. Nath (P.W. 7) lodged First Information Report, Ext.3 at Lala Police Station on 27-4-1982. The prosecution story was that Bhagirath Mal with his uncle Naresh Mal were cultivating their land in the morning at about 6.00 A.M. and at that time accused Amir Ali, Manik Ali with their uncles Jalaluddin, Ishad, Sona Mia and Habib armed with deadly weapons, by forming unlawful assembly, suddenly attacked Bhagirath Mal and Naresh Mal in the field and that Amir Ali struck Bhagirath with a 'lenja' (spear) causing serious injury and accused Jalal struck Naresh Mal with 'lenja' causing severe injury; that to protect the injured, Suresh Mal, Nitai Mal and Kanta Mal came to the place of occurrence, At that time accused Hilal Mia, Alauddin, Balai Mia and Mullah also appeared and joined in the assault; that the accused party caused injuries on the persons of Suresh, Nitai and Kanta (P.Ws. No. 4, 5 and 6). It was also stated in the First Information Report that the condition of Bhagirath, Naresh and Nitai was serious and (they were) lying at the place of occurrence. The names of the witnesses to the occurrence had been given in the First Information Report and they are: Sudhangshu Nath, Abdul Matin, Irsad Ali, Hariprasad Mal, Karuna Nath, Mak mud Ali etc. Bhagirath succumbed to the injuries. Investigation being completed by Karnaswar Sarma (P.W. 9) and charge-sheet being submitted by Shri V. Barpatra Gohain against 10 accused persons, they faced the Sessions Trial by pleading not guilty to the charges.

(3.) 9 witnesses had been examined by the prosecution and 3 witnesses were examined by the defence. 2 witnesses, namely, Lalbabu Rajwar and Ishad Ali were examined at the instance of the Court as Court witnesses. Admitted position was that 5 persons including deceased of the prosecution side and 4 accused sustained injuries in the occurrence. Police found some of the injured persons of both sides lying at the place of occurrence and took them to the Hospital in the same Van. Some of the accused sustained grievous injuries. This clearly indicates that there was mutual marpit between the parties in that cultivable field.