RAM KRIPAL SINGH Vs. STATE OF BIHAR

JUDGEMENT

(1.) SEVEN appellants in two appeals were put on trial before the Additional Sessions Judge, Munger in Sessions Trial No. 99 of 1987 by framing charges under sections 147, 148, 302/34 as also under sections 447, 448 and 341 of the I.P.C. Some charges were joint, however, some were distinctly framed against some of the appellants. The learned trial judge delivered the judgment on 22nd day of December, 1993 and found all the appellants guilty of committing the offences under sections 304 Part II/34 of the IPC and directed each of the seven appellants to suffer rigorous imprisonment for seven years. Each of them was also convicted under sections 148, 447 and 448 of the IPC and without awarding any sentence for their conviction under section 447 IPC to them, the learned trial judge directed each of the appellant to undergo rigorous imprisonment for one year under section 148 of the IPC as also under section 448 of the Code. The sentences were directed to run concurrently.

(2.) THE written report (Ext. 1) of the deceased Rajendra Prasad Mandal drafted by P.W. 1 Ajay Kumar Singh, is the basis upon which the case was registered and the investigation was carried on by P.W. 14 SI Sheo Narayan Mishra, who was the Officer Incharge of Piri Bazar police station. He prepared the injury report, recorded the statement of the deceased Rajendra Prasad Mandal and also inspected the place of occurrence besides recording the statement of witnesses and thereafter, on completion of investigation, submitted charge sheet and after commitment, the accused persons were put on trial.

(3.) 14 witnesses were examined during the course of trial, out of whom, P.Ws 2, 7, 8, 12 and 13 were declared hostile and P.W. 9 was tendered for cross -examination. P.W. 1, who was also the scribe of the written report (Ext. 1) stated that on hearing halla, he came and saw the accused persons assaulting the deceased and injured him badly. P.W. 3, the wife of the deceased also supported the prosecution case by stating that all the accused persons armed with lathi, tangi and pistol, came to her house and entered into its inner apartment by breaking open the doors and caught hold of the deceased. The allegation of catching the deceased appears against appellant Aghori Mandal, Shashi Mandal and Bashistha Mandal. As regards other appellants, it was stated by P.W. 3 that Ram Kripal Singh, Aswani Kumar Mandal and Ashok Kumar Mandal started assaulting her husband by lathi, barrel of pistol and at the same time continued abusing the family members. Specific allegation which was made in the written report against the appellant Kripal Singh was of giving a tangi blow, which was not supported either by P.W. 3 and her daughters P.Ws 4 and 5. It is generally stated by the witnesses that the deceased was dragged to his bathan where he was assaulted by other accused persons with bricks and stone pieces. P.W. 6 Sadanand Singh does not appear to be an eye witness and he stated that when he came at the house of the deceased, he found the deceased lying in a highly precarious condition. Similarly, the evidence of P.W. 11 Jawahar Prasad Singh is that he found on reaching the house of the deceased that he was lying in a precarious condition and he along with others brought the deceased to the hospital where he was hospitalized and his statement was scribed by P.W. 1. P.Ws 2, 3 and 4 are eye witnesses and their presence could not be doubted on account of being wife and two daughters of the deceased who could be always present inside the house. It is established by evidence that an occurrence did take place in which the deceased was assaulted badly by the accused persons. The above fact that the deceased was badly assaulted by the accused persons gets further corroboration from the evidence of P.W. 10 Dr. Dharmendra Kumar Sinha, who held postmortem examination on the dead body of the deceased on 1.4.1986 when the deceased died on 31st March, 1986, as may appear from Ext. 3, the postmortem report. P.W. 10 found the following antemortem injuries on the dead body of deceased Rajendra Prasad Mandal -