HARIHAR SINGH YADAV Vs. STATE OF BIHARR

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Criminal Appeal (DB) No.197 of 1996 is filed by the appellant/original accused no.2 Harihar Singh Yadav and appellant/original accused no.3 Rameshwar Singh Yadav whereas Criminal Appeal (DB) No.258 of 1996 is filed by appellant/original accused no.1 Radhey Shyam Singh Yadav. As both these appeals are arising out of the same Judgment, they are being decided together by this common Judgment. The appellants are challenging the Judgment and Order dtd. 16/5/1996 and 17/5/1996 respectively passed in Sessions Trial No.154 of 1993 by the learned 1st Additional Sessions Judge, Buxar whereby the appellants/accused nos.2 and 3, namely, Harihar Singh Yadav and Rameshwar Singh Yadav are convicted of the offence punishable under Sec. 302 read with 34 of the Indian Penal Code and appellant/accused no.1 Radhey Shyam Singh Yadav came to be convicted of the offence punishable under Sec. 302 of the Indian Penal Code. They all are sentenced to suffer imprisonment for life. For the sake of convenience, the appellants shall be referred in their original capacity as "an accused".

(2.) Facts leading to the prosecution of the accused, projected from the police report can be narrated thus:

(3.) In support of its case, the prosecution has examined 14 witnesses. Out of those witnesses, the prosecution claimed that P.W.1 Shardha Devi, P.W.2 Kausalia Devi, P.W.3 Lilavati Devi, P.W.4 Kumari Devi and P.W.8 Chandravati Devi are eye witnesses to the incident in question. P.W.6 Lallan Prasad is a formal witness who proved the printed F.I.R. Ext.1. P.W.5 Rajendra Giri and P.W.10 Kashinath Yadav were tendered by the prosecution for cross-examination. P.W.7, Birendra Giri is the first informant and P.W.9 Ramdayal Kamkar is a co-villager. They both claimed to have heard the oral dying declaration of Sadhna Devi. P.W.11 Dr. Ashish Kumar Goswami had conducted post-mortem examination on dead body of Sadhna Devi. P.W.13 Sanjay Das had examined the victim Sadhna Devi at the Primary Health Centre. The learned trial court had summoned Vijay Narain Rai, a court witness, to prove the F.I.R. as well as the printed F.I.R., Ext.7 and Ext.8 respectively.