MUNNA SINGH Vs. THE STATE OF BIHAR

JUDGEMENT

(1.) ALL these four appeals arise out of the common judgment dated 6.9.1990 passed by the First additional Sessions Judge, Nawadah in Sessions Trial No. 600 of 1988/9 of 1988, whereby and whereunder, all the four appellants, namely, Lalo Singh, Munna Singh, Ramashray Singh and Upendra Singh have been convicted for offence under Sections 302/34 of the Indian Penal Code and sentenced to undergo rigorous imprisonment for life. The prosecution case arising out of Nawadah P.S. Case No. 106 of 1982 is based on the Fardbeyan of Ashok Kumar (P.W. 7) who at 10.30 AM on 24.4.1982 had stated before the police officer that on 23.4.1982 at about 1 PM in the afternoon, he alongwith his servants Mewa Lal, Rajendra Prasad and Ravindra Prasad were sitting in his shop of tea and refreshment and seen appellant Lalo Singh, Munna Singh and Gurujee @ Ramashray Singh alongwith four others to have come to his shop. It is the case of the informant that appellant Lalo Singh after his arrival had given an order to his servant Mewa Lal to bring seven cups of tea for them on which his servant Mewa Lal had replied that since there was no milk in the shop, tea could not be provided to them. It is alleged by the informant that on refusal by his servant to serve tea, all the seven persons including appellant Lalo Singh had started assaulting him (Mewa Lal) by fist and slaps leading to some commotion on which his elder brother Ram Nandan Prasad had come down from his house and had questioned the appellants and others the reason as with regard to assaulting his servant. It is said that the appellant Lalo Singh on this query alone made, by Ram Nandan Prasad, had exhorted to kill and, thereafter, the appellant Munna Singh, Gurujee @ Ramashraya Singh and others had caught hold of his brother Ram Nandan Prasad, whereafter, the appellant Lalo Singh from the rear had hit on the head of his brother with a wooden plank resulting into open injury on the head of his brother and his becoming unconscious and falling down on the ground outside his shop.

(2.) THE informant has also stated that after seeing his brother becoming unconscious, appellant Lalo Singh had said that he had died and had accordingly escaped from the place. According to the informant, many persons thereafter had arrived at the place of occurrence who could also narrate the entire occurrence. The informant had further claimed that he along with others had carried his injured brother to Nawadah hospital but the doctors at Nawadah in the next morning i.e. in the morning of 24.4.1982, had advised him to take him to Patna as his condition had deteriorated. The Informant has stated that thereafter his brother was taken away by Durga Prasad, Kedar Prasad along with others to Patna. The informant has also explained that since his brother was unconscious, he could not give his own statement, leaving him (informant) to give it to the police.

(3.) MR . Rana Pratap Singh, learned senior counsel for Lalo Singh, Ramashray Singh and Upendra Singh and Mr. Uday Shankar Sharan Singh appearing for the appellant Munna Singh, had assailed the impugned judgment on several grounds but, their main attack has been that when the prosecution case itself was delayed by almost 24 hours and the injury alleged in the First Information Report also did not tally with the one found by the doctor holding post mortem, the benefit thereof had to be given to the accused appellants but, the trial court has entered into the realm of surmises and conjectures in recording their conviction. In this regard, it has also been submitted that the witnesses, who were examined on behalf of the prosecution, are also not consistent either with regard to the manner in which the injuries were inflicted or even on the point of the entire manner of occurrence.