MANGROO YADAV Vs. STATE OF BIHAR

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THE present appeal has been filed by the six appellants against judgment of conviction dated 12.09.1991 and order of sentence passed on 13.09.1991 by the 3rd Additional Sessions Judge, Aurangabad in Sessions Trial No. 171 of 1985/51 of 1991, whereby appellant nos. 3, 4, 5 and 6 have been convicted for offences under Sections 147 and 302/149 of the Indian Penal Code (for short 'I.P.C. ') and sentenced to undergo two years and life imprisonment, respectively, to run concurrently, whereas, appellants no.1 and 2 have been convicted under Sections 148 and 302/149 of the I.P.C. and sentenced to undergo two years and life imprisonment, respectively, to run concurrently. It may be mentioned that in the trial 20. persons were charged and tried, out of which 14 have been acquitted.

(2.) WE may also, at the very outset, notice that when the appeal was called out, no one appeared for the appellants. The reason was apparent. The appeal was of the year 1991 arising out of an incident that took place in the year 1985. As would appear from the judgment of the trial court, the age of appellant no.1 would now be about 92 years, that of appellant no.2 would now be about 59 years, that of appellant no.3 would now be about 102 years, that of appellant no.4 would now be about 87 years, that of appellant no.5 would now be about 61 years and that of appellant no.6 would now be about 77 years. During the passage of time, some of them might have died and some of them might have moved out. We, therefore, requested Mr. Arun Kumar Tripathi, Advocate to assist us Amicus Curiae in the matter, to which the learned counsel for the State has no objection. We adjourned the matter and, thereafter, have been ably assisted by him and Mr. Ajay Mishra, learned A.P.P. for the State. We have heard the matter in detail.

(3.) THE prosecution case is based upon the fardbeyan of one Rampati Yadav (P.W.6) as recorded by S.I. Shiwadhar Ram (P.W.10) at about 1A.M. on