BIHARI YADAV Vs. STATE OF BIHAR

JUDGEMENT

(1.) -Death Reference No.2 of 1994 with connected Criminal Appeal No. 157 of 1994 were taken up together as both had arisen from the Common order of conviction recorded by Sri Manohar Prasad, 1st Additional Sessions Judge, Bhagalpur in Sessions Trial No.368 of 1993/14 of 1993 through which he convicted appellant Bihari Yadav under section 302 of the Indian Penal Code and he was awarded death sentence subject to confirmation of this Court and he was also found guilty under section 201 of the Indian Penal Code but no separate sentence was awarded against him and the other appellants, namely, Bajrangi Yadav, Ghanshyam Yadav and Dablu Yadav were also convicted and sentenced to undergo imprisonment for life under section 302 or the Indian Penal Code and they were further convicted and sentenced to undergo rigorous imprisonment for seven years under section 201 of the Indian Penal Code but it was ordered that both the sentences shall run concurrently

(2.) This common order will dispose of criminal appeal and the death reference.

(3.) The fact in short giving rise to this appeal is that in the early morning of 29.7.1992 the deceased Kalicharan Yadav, who, at the relevant time, was staying with his daughter Gita Devi, left for village Raghopur where he got his land near the mango orchard to engage a tractor for ploughing the land he asked his daughter to come to the field with breakfast. Accordingly, at about 11.00 A.M. the daughter of the deceased Kalicharan, namely Gita Devi along with her niece Durga Kumari reached the orchard of village Raghopur with the prepared breakfast for the deceased. It has been alleged that immediately the appellants, Bihari Yadav, Bajrangi Yadav, Ghanshyam Yadav and Dablu Yadav came there armed with weapons and all of them pulled down the deceased and Bihari Yadav gave repeated blow by garasa on the neck and thus the head was completely severed and at that time Bajrangi Yadav, who was holding a bhala assaulted on the stomach and Ghanshyam Yaday and Dablu Yadav were assaulting the deceased by garasa on his legs. It has been alleged that the informant and her niece out of fear came near the mango tree and had seen Dablu Yadav rushing to his house and bronght a gunny bag and Bihari Yadav escaped towards southern side with the chopped head of the deceased whereas the other three appellants packed the trunk portion of the body in the gunny bag and also escaped towards the southern side. It is also the prosecution case as stated by the informant in her fardbeyan that some people had seen the occurrence but out or fear neither (hey raised any alarm nor intervened in spite of the alarm raised by the informant, then the informant and her niece were going to wards the police station and in the way had seen a police jeep coming with police force. So, they stopped the jeep near Nurpur Gumti where the fardbeyan was recorded by the A.S.I. Dhrub Singh. It has also been alleged by the informant in her fardbeyan that father got a son and five daughter and son died about ten years ago then the appellant Bihari Yadav had forcibly taken away his wife to his house and kept her as his wife only out of lust of property and subsequently the deceased Kalicharan gifted all his properties to his three granddaughters which caused annoyance to the appellants as they are nephews of the deceased and for that some litigations were also going on between the deceased and these appellants in order to grab the properties the deceased committed murder of the deceased.