STATE OF H.P. Vs. CHAMAN LAL

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The present appeal is directed against the judgment dtd. 25/6/2013, passed by the learned Special Judge, Una, Himachal Pradesh (learned Trial Court) vide which the respondent (accused before the learned Trial Court) was acquitted of the charges framed against him. (The 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 before the learned Trial Court against the accused for the commission of offences punishable under Sec. 3(i)(x) of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes Prevention of Atrocities Act (hereinafter referred to as SC & ST Act). It was asserted that the informant Surjeet Singh (PW7) is a member of the Scheduled Caste. He was residing in Village Jasana for 18 years. He used to visit the temple of Baba Asri Augarnath. He reached the stairs of the temple on 11/12/2008, when accused Chaman Lal told him not to enter the temple as it was not meant for the Scheduled Caste. The informant replied that he had been visiting the temple for many years. The accused caught hold of the informant's neck and abused him in the name of his caste. Pawan Kumar (PW1) and Lekh Raj (PW2) also reached the spot and rescued the informant from the accused. The accused threatened to kill the informant if he visited the temple again. The informant filed an application (Ex.PA) before the police. The police recorded FIR (Ex.PW6/A). Madhusudan (PW9) investigated the matter. He prepared the spot map (Ex.PW9/A) and recorded the statements of witnesses as per their version. Vijay Kumar (PW3) issued the copy of Jamabandi (Ex.PW3/A), a copy of Aks Shajra (Ex.PW3/B), and a report (Ex.PW3/C). Shashi Pal issued the pedigree table (Ex.PW4/A) showing that the informant was a member of the Scheduled Caste. Hari Dass (PW5) issued a pedigree table (Ex.PW5/A) and Jamabandi (Ex.PW5/B) showing that the accused did not belong to a scheduled caste. Statements of witnesses were recorded as per their version, and after the completion of the investigation, the challan was prepared and presented before the Court.

(3.) The learned Trial Court found sufficient reasons to summon the accused. When the accused appeared, he was charged with the commission of an offence punishable under Sec. 3(1)(x) of the SC & ST Act, to which he pleaded not guilty and claimed to be tried.