STATE OF H.P. Vs. JAGDISH CHAND

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The present appeal is directed against the judgment dtd. 28/12/2010, passed by the learned Special Judge, Solan, District Solan (HP) (learned Trial Court), vide which the respondents (accused before the learned Trial Court) were acquitted of the charges framed against them. (Parties shall hereinafter be referred to in the same manner as they were arrayed before the learned Trial Court for convenience).

(2.) Briefly stated, the facts giving rise to the present appeal are that the police presented a challan against the accused for the commission of offences punishable under Ss. 336, 447, 427 and 506 of Indian Penal Code (hereinafter referred to as IPC) and Sec. 3(v) of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes Act (Prevention of Atrocities), 1989 (hereinafter referred to as SC & ST Act) read with Sec. 34 of the IPC. It was asserted that the victim Bhungar Ram Bhatia (PW1) and the accused Jagdish purchased one biswa of land bearing khasra no. 110 each from Abhi Ram in 2000. Accused Jagdish constructed a house after the purchase, whereas the land purchased by the informant was lying vacant. The informant started the construction of his house on 31/8/2008. He had constructed four pillars. The informant engaged Pawan Kumar (PW2) as a contractor to carry out the construction. The informant went to Chandigarh on 22/9/2008. He was returning to his home when he received a call on 23/9/2008 at about 05.00 PM that the construction was damaged by Jagdish. The informant went to the spot. Pawan Kumar revealed that Jagdish and Naresh had come to the spot and pelted stones at the labourers. They abused the informant in the name of his caste and said that they would not permit a member of the scheduled caste to construct a house near their house. Pawan Kumar had jumped to save himself, and the Rs.30,000.00 kept by him in his pocket fell. Jagdish and Naresh damaged one pillar and created a hole in another pillar. The shuttering was removed and thrown into the nala. The informant suffered a loss of Rs.2,50,000.00. The incident was witnessed by Ward Member Babu Ram, Durga Ram, Chet Ram, Dhana Ram, and Mahender, who were present on the road. The matter was reported to Kailash Chand Gupta (Pradhan), who tried to reconcile the matter; however, the reconciliation could not be effected. Hence, the matter was reported to the police. The police registered the FIR (Ex. PW21/A). Kulwant Singh (PW20) conducted the investigation. He visited the spot and prepared a site plan (Ex. PW20/A). He seized the shuttering lying on the spot and handed it over on supurdari vide memo (Ex.PW1/B). He took the photographs (Ex. P1 to Ex. P4). Narveer Singh (PW16) continued the investigation. He recorded the statements of witnesses as per their version. Dinesh Kumar (PW18) conducted the remaining investigation. The informant produced the copies of the Jamabandi (Ex. P6), sale deed (Ex. P5), technical report (Ex. P7), and estimate (Ex. P8), which were seized vide memo (Ex.PW1/C). Dinesh Kumar filed applications (Ex. PW12/A and Ex. PW17/A) for obtaining the pedigree table and caste certificate of the parties. Keshav Ram (PW17) issued the caste certificates of the informant (Ex. P10), accused Jagdish Chand (Ex. PW17/B), Naresh Kumar (Ex. PW17/C) and Shankar (Ex.PW17/D). An application (Ex. PW14/A) was filed for the demarcation of khasra No. 110. Pyare Lal (PW14) issued the report (Ex. PW14/B). The statements of prosecution witnesses were recorded as per their version, and after the completion of the investigation, the challan was prepared and presented before the learned Trial Court.

(3.) Learned Trial Court charged the accused with the commission of offences punishable under Ss. 336, 427, 447 and 506 of IPC and Sec. 3(v) of the SC & ST Act, read with Sec. 34 IPC, to which they pleaded not guilty and claimed to be tried.