LALAN SAH; SHANKAR SAH Vs. STATE OF BIHAR

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Both the appeals having arisen out of the same judgment of the trial Court have been heard togethe and are being disposed of by this common judgment.

(2.) Appellants Lalan Sah and Ratan Sah of criminal appeal No. 262 of 1999 stand convicted under Section 302 read with Section 34 of the Indian Penal Code ("the Code" in short) and have been sentenced to undergo rigorous imprisonment for life. They also have been sentenced to pay a fine of Rs. 10,000/- and in default. to undergo rigorous imprisonment for two years. Appellant Lalan Sah has further been convicted under Section 323 of the Penal Code and sentenced to undergo rigorous imprisonment for six months. Appellant Shankar Sah of criminal appeal No. 368 of 2000 stands convicted under Section 302 of the Code and similarly sentenced to imprisonment, and fine. All the three appellants have further been convicted under Section 342 of the Code and sentenced to rigorous imprisonment for six months. All the sentences in case of each of the appellants are to run concurrently.

(3.) The case of the prosecution briefly stated, and as coming out of the fardbeyan (Ext. 5) recorded by Jawahar Prasad (PW 5) on 22.3.1989 at 9 p.m. in village Dudhpura is that on the same day at about 4 p.m. he heard bulla on which he ran to the darwaja and saw all the three appellants and one Arjun Sah, who since has expired, were assaulting Ram Chandra Sah, brother of the informant with the help of lathi, bhala and farsa. Mantoon Sah (not examined) who had gone to intervene was also assaulted by Shankar Sah with farsa injuring his hand and Lalan Sah assaulted the informant with lathi. The informant in his fardbeyan came down to the specifics of assault claiming that appellant Shankar Sah had given two farsa blows on the left leg of the deceased brother, whereas other accused had assaulted the deceased with lathi. After fleeing away of the miscreants, the injured was brought to the clinic of Doctor Ram Pratap Singh, who only bandaged the wound and referred him to Rosera Hospital but in the way Ram Chandra Sah expired. Reason for assault as given was that before the occurrence the appellants amongst themselves were quarrelling when the deceased went to preach them peace as it was day of holi festival, but in response those accused started assaulting the brother giving rise to the occurrence. It also was claimed that earlier also deceased had quarrels with the accused side relating to land for which a panchayat was held but the accused persons had refused to obey the decision, whereafter they used to assault the informant and his family members and also threatened them with killing.