SUBA YADAV Vs. STATE OF BIHAR

JUDGEMENT

(1.) JUDGMENT :- All the appellants have been convicted under S. 395 of the Indian Penal Code and have been sentenced to undergo R.I. for ten years each.

(2.) The prosecution case in short is that on 18/19th October, 1984 while the informant was sleeping in his 'Dalan' in the night and his son Mahendra Yadav and two labourers were also sleeping there. It has been alleged that in the midnight, one person came near the 'Chauki' of the informant and enquired from him that who he was. On being asked, he disclosed his identity as a policeman and in the meantime, three other persons also came there and they tied the hands and feet of the informant, his two sons and the two labourers. They also threatened that if they will raise alarm, they would be killed. It has been stated that the informant identified four miscreants by face in the light of 'Lantern' which was lit and was there in the 'Dalan.' It has been stated that two of the miscreants had 'Lathi' in their hands and other two had country made gun. The informant also heard the sound of the other dacoits, who had entered the house. It has been stated that the dacoits remained in the house for about fourty five minutes and they were 12-13 in numbers. When dacoits fled away the female members of the house raised alarm and villagers came on 'dalan' and untied their hands and feet. Thereafter, they ran and chased the dacoits to scare them and get frightened and did not chase them further. The informant went inside his house and he found all the boxes were broken inside the house and the dacoits had taken away silver ornaments and clothes from the boxes. It has also been stated that the informant was told by his nephew, namely, Satendra Yadav and female members, who were inside the house during the commission of dacoity, about the identification of the appellants, namely, Suba Yadav, Ramanuj Yadav, Ram Chandra Yadav, Kameshwar Yadav and Bijoy Yadav. It has been stated that the family members of the informant also disclosed the identity of the dacoits to the Dafadar and other persons of the village. It has also been stated that the dacoits had painted their faces with black paint and were speaking local language. On the basis of the Fard beyan of the informant, an F.I.R. was registered and a case was instituted and charge-sheet was submitted against the appellants. Thereafter, cognizance was taken and subsequently the trial concluded with the result as indicated above. Appellants pleaded not guilty and stated that they were falsely implicated in this case due to enmity with the informant.

(3.) The prosecution in support of its case examined altogether twelve witnesses. P.W. 1 is Suraj Mani Devi, P.W. 2 is Satyendra Yadav, P.W. 3 is Mahendra Yadav, P.W. 4 is Ajay Kumar Singh, P.W. 5 is Ram Kalia Devi, P.W. 6 is Kisun Yadav, P.W. 7 is Ramkali Devi, P.W. 8 is Somar Yadav, the informant, P.W. 9 is Motilal Yadav, P.W. 10 is Rajdeo Singh, P.W. 11 is Chandra Bhushan Sharma, who is the officer-in-charge and P.W. 12 Chabi Narayan Singh, who is a formal witness.