SITA RAM PANDEY Vs. STATE OF BIHAR

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THIS appeal by six persons, namely, Sita Ram Pandey, Indrasan Pandey, Dular Pandey, Ganesh Pandey, Ram Nath Pandey and Sobha Pandey (hereinafter to be referred for the sake of convenience as the appellants Nos. 1 to 6, respectively) is directed against the judgment and order of the learned Additional Sessions Judge convicting all the appellants under Section 302 read with Section 149 of the Indian Penal Code (hereinafter to be referred to as 'the Code') and imposing a sentence of rigorous imprisonment for life on each of them; further convicting appellants Nos. 1 and 2 under Section 148 of the Code and passing no separate sentence on them under the said section; and, lastly, convicting appellants Nos. 3 to 6 under Section 147 of the Code and imposing no separate sentence on them under the said section. The aforesaid conviction and the sentence imposed on the appellants under Section 302 read with Section 149 of the Code were for the murder of Indradeo Pandey. All the appellants are residents of village Tenduni, Police -station Kargahar in the district of Shahabad. Appellant No. 2 is the son of appellant No. 5 whereas appellants Nos. 1 and 4 are full brothers being sons of one Ram Naresh Pandey.

(2.) THE prosecution case, in brief, was that, on the 17th of July, 1967, Dular Pandey (appellant No. 3), at about 10 A. M., was taking his cattle to the Tal, which was then full of water, situated to the east of the Chabutra of Indradeo Pandey, the deceased, in the said village. At that point of time, Indradeo Pandey was sitting on his chabutra in front of his baithak intervened by a lane 4V2 feet wide. Indradeo Pandey protested appellant No. 3 taking his cattle consisting of two buffalos and two cows through his (deceased's) bharith (filled up land) land. The bharith of the deceased was situated south of his baithka and his ianani kita. According to the deceased, by taking away the cattle through the bharith land, the land would be damaged. This led to an exchange of hot words between appellant No. 3 and the deceased, However, appellant No. 3 took away his cattle through the bharith land of the deceased to the Tal. Thereafter, appellant No. 3 further took back his cattle through the same route, namely, through the bharith land of the deceased. At that point of time, namely, on the return journey also, there was exchange of hot words between the deceased and appellant No. 3 who held out threats to the deceased. Fifteen or twenty minutes thereafter, appellant No. 3, along with the other appellants, came to the chabutra at about 10 A.M. where Indradeo Pandey was sitting. Appellants Nos. 1 and 2 were armed with bhalas whereas the rest of the appellants were armed with lathis. Appellants Nos. 5 and 6 instigated the other appellants to assault Indradeo Pandey. Appellants Nos. 3 and 4 each one of them hurled their lathis on Indradeo Pandey but latter managed to escape from being hit by their lathis. Thereafter appellants Nos. 1 and 2, who were holding bhalas in their hands, hurled bhalas on the chest of the deceased causing serious injuries on him. After having received those injuries, Indradeo Pandey fell down on the ground. According to the prosecution, the occurrence was seen by Basisth Pandey (P.W. 1), the nephew of the deceased, Aditya Pandey (P.W. 4), Harakh Pandey (P.W. 5), and Rarnashray Pandey (P.W. 7), the son of the deceased, and, on hull a, various other persons had assembled there from different parts of the village. After committing the offence and after various persons had arrived, all the appellants ran towards their home in the said village. Basisth Pandey (P.W. 1) tried to remove Indradeo Pandey from the ground to a cot in order to carry him to the hospital. However, in the course of his being removed to the cot, Indradeo Pandey died. Subsequently, P.W. 1 went to Kargahar Police Station, which is at a distance of seven miles from the place of occurrence, and lodged first information report on the same day, i.e., on the 17th of July, 1967, at about 3 P.M. naming all the six appellants which was recorded by Tribeni Singh (P.W. 10) Officer Incharge of the police -station, who investigated the case and examined various witnesses. He also went to the place of occurrence, collected blood from the chabutra in presence of the witnesses and sent it to the Chemical Examiner for examination and report. He also sent the dead body of Indradeo Pandey for post -mortem examination to Dr. Kumar Baneshwar Pd. Singh attached to Sasaram Hospital. On the 18th of July, 1967, at about 9 A.M. he held postmortem examination over the dead body of Indradeo Singh and found the following injuries on his person:

(3.) AFTER completing investigation, P.W. 10 submitted charge -sheet against all the six appellants. After usual enquiry under Chapter XVIII of the old Criminal Procedure Code, the appellants were committed to the Court of Session. In the Sessions Court, on behalf of the prosecution, as many as ten witnesses, including those we have already mentioned, were examined to establish its case, apart from the evidence of doctor Kumar Bane -shwar Prasad Singh whose evidence was tendered in the Sessions Court under Section 501 of the old Code of Criminal Procedure. The evidence of Kapildeo Pandey (P.W. 2), Jai -dika Pandey (P.W. 3), Mosst. Lakhni (P.W. 6) and Ram Asis Pandey (P.W. 8) was simply tendered by the prosecution in the Sessions Court. Sheo Nandan Singh (P.W. 9) was examined only as a formal witness, as he had carried the dead body for post -mortem examination to the doctor named above. As mentioned earlier, Tribeni Singh (P.W. 10) was the investigating officer.