RAMJEE KAHAR Vs. STATE

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The Petitioners have been convicted under Section 457 of the Penal Code, and each, of them has been sentenced to undergo rigorous imprisonment for nine months and also to pay a fine of Rs. 50/- or in default, to undergo further rigorous imprisonment for two months.

(2.) Shortly stated, the prosecution case is that Kedar Nath Singh (P. W. 1) was sleeping in his dalan on the night of the 13th and 14th September, 1958. At about 1-30 A. M. he heard a hulla of 'chor, chor' from the Zenani Kita of his house, and he rushed there along with his servants. They found Shiva Dhanuk (who died before the trial) and Ramswaroop Kahar (who has been given benefit of doubt and acquitted by the trial Court running away with two bundles. They also found-the petitioners hiding themselves inside the gheran attached to the Zenani house and caught hold of them. It was subsequently discovered that five iron bars of a window of his house had been removed, and thereby entrance into the house was made possible. It also transpired that articles-worth Rs. 413/- had been removed. The Courts below have accepted the prosecution case, and have convicted and sentenced the petitioners as I have already mentioned.

(3.) The only point which Mrs. Lall has urged on behalf of the petitioners is that, having been found inside a gheran they cannot be held to have committed the offence of house trespass. She has contended that a gheran, which is an open space surrounded by walls, is not a building within the meaning of Section 442 which defines the offence of house trespass.