STATE OF BIHAR Vs. RAHIM NADAF

JUDGEMENT

(1.) These nine appellant have been convicted for the fatal assault inflicted on one Kudrat Nadaf. The convictions imposed upon the appellant Kahim Nadaf are under Sections 302 and 148 of the Indian Penal Code. Under the former he has been sentenced to death but under the latter no separate sentence has been awarded to him. The remaining appellants with the exception of the appellant Sakruddin Nadaf have each been convicted under Section 326 read with Section 149 of the Indian Penal Code as also under Section 147. Under the former section each of them has been sentenced to undergo rigorous imprisonment for a period of two years while under the latter for a period of one year only. The last appellant Sakruddin Nadaf has been convicted under Section 302 read with Section 34 as also under Section 147 of the Indian Penal Code. Under the former section he has been sentenced to transportation for life and under the latter to rigorous imprisonment for a period of one year. The different sentences imposed upon the appellants have been directed to run concurrently.

(2.) It is not Challenged that Kudrat Nadaf met his sudden death on 2-5-1955 at about 10 p.m. as a result of a bhala injury inflicted on his chest While he was in the courtyard of his house in village Bhitti, which is within the jurisdiction of police Station Mufassil Bhagalpur, Apart from the oral evidence on the record, this fact is fully established by the circumstantial evidence found by the in vestigating officer Sureshwar Prasad Singh (P. W. 25) on the same night when he arrived there at about 2 a.m. on the receipt of the information about the occurrence as also by the report of Dr. M. Bhagat, Civil Assistant Surgeon, who held post mortem examination On the body of the deceased at about 1 p.m. on 3-5-1955. At the trial the investigating officer (P. W. 25) stated :

(3.) According to the prosecution one Tabia, the first wife of Alim (P. W. 8), was the source of all the troubles. The evidence on the record shows that the deceased Kudrat Nadaf died leaving five sons, namely, (1) Alim (P. W. 8), (2) Gafoor (P. W. 9), (3) Doman (P. W. 10), (4) Jhanno (P. W. 12) and (5) Podin (P. W. 19) and a daughter Sadika (P. W. 1). Tabia was married with Alim about 11 or 12 years ago. But most likely the relationship between Tabia and Alim was not happy and perhaps for that reason Tabia used to run away off and pn from the house of Alim. Alim being fed up with this attitude of Tabia married a second wife Sajida (P. W. 4) about three years back. This, however, did not end the trouble for the people of Tabia were still anxious to see that she should settle down peacefully in the house of Alim and that she should be maintained by Alim, but for Tabia, apart from other reasons which there may be, the new situation arising from the presence of Sajida (P. W. 4) in that house as her husband's second wife proved all the more unbearable. It is said that in the month of Aghan preceding the date of occurrence Sakruddin, who is probably related to her, if not directly at least Indirectly, brought Tabia back to the house of Alim and tried that she should live there a normal life. In spite of that, Tabia again fled away; And this perhaps thereafter became the subject of common talk in the family of the deceased Kudrat Nadaf. The sketch map on the record and the evidence given by the witnesses show that the appellant Sakrud-din and his four brothers, namely, appellants Rahim, Lalho, Hafiz and Aluddin, as also the appellants Ganno and his wife's brother Mahmood have their houses in the same village close to the house of the family of Kudrat Nadaf. So also is the case with the other two appellants, namely, Warsali and Yasin, who though not connected with the family of Sakruddin yet are residents of the same village and live somewhere in their neighbourhood. It is said that on the day of occurrence at about 4 p.m. Sajida (P. W. 4) and Kari (P. W. 6), wife of Doman (P W. 10), were talking about Tabia whereupon Sadika (P. W. 1) asked them not to talk about her. This, it is said, was overheard by the appellant Sakruddin from his house, which, as stated above, was at a close distance from there. Sakruddin hearing that rushed to the courtyard of Kudrat Nadaf and started abusing the female inmates of that house, the male members of the family then being out. The case of the prosecution is that this led to a battle of abuses between them in the course of Which Sakruddin suddenly pulled away the sari of Sajida (P. W. 4) and then tried to drag Kari also by catching hold of her hand. The latter resisted and sat down in the courtyard whereupon sadika picked up one metia (small earthen pot) and hurled the same on Sakruddin. At that he fled away but soon returned with a kutll (small stick) and began abusing Sajida again. That led to anpther round of abases from both sides. This time, It is said, Sakruddin gave one lathi blow on the shoulder of Sajida and thereafter ran away from there to his darwaza. In the meantime on the hulla raised by the females, some neighbours including Nairn (P. W. 13), Mansoor (P. W. 3) and Alim (P. W 8) arrived there and saw some parts of that occurrence. For the moment the matter ended there. It is, however, said that in spite of this temporary lull in the fight, parties still continued hurling abuses on each other from their respective houses; and in the course of it the members of Sakruddin's party went further and not only gave threats to the other side but also threw brickbats in the courtyard and on the roof of Kudrat Nadaf. Podin (P. W. 19) in the meantime was the first in the family among male members to arrive back, and to witness all that at about 5 p.m. He, however, being a lad of nineteen only got terrified at what he heard and saw and kept complete silence over the matter. Thereafter at about 7 p.m. Jhanno (P. W. 12) returned from Fatehpur. He on receipt of the report as to what had happened advised the females not to be much perturbed over the matter and to keep patience. He him self in the meantime went to the mosque in the village which is at a short distance from his house for getting a panchaiti over the matter. During those days, it being the month of Ramzan, the people of the village, which appears to be populated by the Muslims alone, used to collect in the mosque after dusk for offering Torabi Prayer. There Jhanno met, among others, Md. Majid (P. W. 7), Md. Torab (P. W. 11), Ibrahim (P. W. 16) and Md. Samid (P. W. 17), Tarabi prayer takes sometime, say about two hours, and so he as also the appellant Sakruddin, who too happened to arrive there either on his own initiative or at the instance of the Villagers, were asked to wait at the mosque till the prayer was over. Jhanno accordingly remained there sitting white the appellant Sakruddin, it is said, in the very midst of prayer left the mosque ana went to his house. At about) 10 p.m. Kudrat Nadaf came back from Bhagalpur. The prosecution case is that in the meantime in between 8 to 10 p.m. other appellants also collected at the house of Sakruaddin and they kept hurling abuses and throwing brickbats all along till then on the house of Kuorat Nadaf. When Kudrat Nadaf came back, he on seeing what was going on and having heard what had already happened challenged the appellants and abused them too as to why they were thus harassing the female members of the house. Thereupon the party of the appellants shouted "Isi sale ko maro" adding that he was wicked. At that the appellants entered the courtyard of Kudrat Nadaf, some by jumping over the western wall and some through the entrance to the courtyard which lay in the south-western side. Of them, the appellant Rahim was then armed with a bhala and the rest with lathis and brickbats. In the courtyard the appellant Sakruddin, it is said, caught hold of the cha-bathi (Jaw) of Kudrat ana threw him down on the floor and while he was in that position the appellant Rahim struck him with a bhala blow on the chest and others smashed the tiles of the chapper with lathis and brickbats and thereafter all of them fled back. In the meanwhile Kudrat Naaaf having received the blow got up in a fit and tried to rush out when he fell down on a chatai spread on verandah and there he began tossing in pain crying that he would not survive. Just then his three other sons Doman (P. W. 10), Alim (P. W. 8) and Gafoor (P. W. 9) returned from outside. They on their arrival saw their father lying unconscious with bleeding injuries on his chest. Alim then and there tied his gamcha round the injury while Sadika rushed to the mosque and raised hulla about the murder of her father and there informed Jhanno and others about the occurrence. Hearing that, Jhanno along with P. Ws. 7, 11 and 17 ran to the house. By then Kudrat Nadaf had succumbed to the injury. So they on arrival there saw him lying dead with bleeding injuries and heard the names of the culprits from the Inmates of the family.. Those people on receipt of the report decided to get hold of the culprits and accordingly they with the help of the chaukidar Sudin (P. W. 18), who also in the meantime had arrived there, captured all the appellants excepting Mahmood and subsequently those arrested were handed over by the chaukidar to the Investigating officer Sureshwar Prasad Singh (P. W. 25) on his arrival there the same night at about 2 a.m.