YADUNANDAN MANDAL Vs. STATE OF BIHAR

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Though the appellants along with Shyamdeo Jha were put on trial in Sessions Trial No. 311 of 1983, while the latter was given benefit of doubt, the appellants alone suffered conviction under S. 364/34 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and were sentenced to rigorous imprisonment for life.

(2.) The factual matrix - while Gauri Kant Jha and Aditya Nath Jha, both deceased, were at the door of the house of Narendra Kumar Jha, it was alleged that Diwakar Mandal came and persuaded them to accompany him to Jamalpur, and as Gauri Kant Jha and Aditya Nath Jha had to go to Jamalpur, they left village on a bicycle in the company of Diwakar Mandal at about 1.45 p.m. shortly thereafter, Bhola Kant Jha informed Narendra Kumar Jha that he had witnessed Diwakar Mandal, Yadunandan Mandal and Ganeshi Mandal forcibly taking Gauri Kant Jha and Aditya Nath Jha with them along with two unidentified persons, all of whom had gun and arms belt with them. Similar informations were given to Narendra Kumar Jha also by Yognendra Jha, and it is alleged that shortly thereafter, the nearest Police Station was informed which started combing operation into the forest for recovery of the victims but there was neither trace of the victim nor of the criminals.

(3.) Prosecution was launched at Sonbarsa Police Station Out Post by submission of a written report on behest of Narendra Kumar Jha, pursuant to which investigation commenced, on drawal of the first information report, at Bhipur Police Station. During usual investigation, the Police visited place of occurrence, recorded statement of witnesses, made hectic searches to trace out the victims and eventually noticed pairs of sandals and shoes of the deceased, blood marks and also marks of dragging on the bed of river Ganges. Even the dead bodies of Gauri Kant Jha and Aditya Nath Jha too were found floating in the water of the river for which a seizure was made by the Police. The dead bodies were sent to mortuary for post mortem examination and on receipt of the report, and on conclusion of investigation, Police laid charge sheet before the Court. In the eventual trial that commenced against the appellants, the State examined altogether four witnesses including Narendra Kumar Jha (P.W. 2), who set the Police in motion, two persons who claimed to be the ocular witnesses to the abduction of Gauri Kant Jha and Aditya Nath Jha and also the doctor who held autopsy over the dead bodies of the deceased.