MAST RAM Vs. BASANT RAM

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THIS is a reference by the learned Sessions Judge of Mahasu, wherein he has recommended that the order of the Magistrate First Class, Solan, acquitting the opposite party, Basant Ram, of an offence under Sections 323 and 504, I. P. C. , be set aside and the case sent back for retrial. The reference arises under the following circumstances.

(2.) THERE were two connected cases before the Magistrate First Class, Solan. (1) 'state v. Mast Ram and two others', under Sections 354 and 457, I. P. C. The allegations in that case were that the accused persons broke into the house of one Mt. Dharmi in village Nahri and they outraged her modesty. (2) A complaint filed by Mast Ram against Basant Ram, as already stated, under Sections 323 and 504, I. P. C. , with the allegations that the accused gave him three blows with a 'danda'.

(3.) THE former case ended in conviction. The convicted persons went up in appeal to the Sessions Judge of Mahasu, who set aside their conviction and ordered a retrial. The second case ended in acquittal. The learned Sessions Judge recommends that the acquittal be set aside and a retrial ordered, mainly, on the ground that the defence version in one case formed the prosecution case in the other and, therefore, it was expedient that the two cases should be tried afresh to avoid conflicting decisions. He has also expressed his opinion that in the Magistrate's decision in case (2), the evidence was not properly discussed and the judgment was perfunctory.