RAMJIT PATHAK Vs. STATE OF BIHAR

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THIS appeal is directed against judgment and order dated 28th May, 2002, passed by Additional District and Sessions Judge -Presiding Officer, 1st Additional Fast Track Court at Siwan, in Sessions Trial No. 343 of 1981/260 of 2001, arising out of Mairwa P.S. case No. 12/80 dated 13.11.80. Appellant No. 1 Ramjit Pathak has been convicted under Section 302 I.P.C. and awarded R.I. for life and a fine of Rs. 5000/ - and in default to suffer further R.I. for two years. He has also been convicted for offences under Sections 148 and 324/149 I.P.C. and awarded R.I. for two years for each offence. Appellants No. 2 to 5, namely, Kanhaiya Pathak, Rabindra Pathak, Yogendra Pathak and Jitendra Pathak, have been convicted for offences under Sections 148, 324/149 and 323/149 I.P.C. They have been awarded sentence of R.I. for one year, six months and three months respectively for the said offences.

(2.) THE prosecution case is based upon fardbeyan of Kedar Pathak (P.W.9), resident of village Pathkhauli, P.S. Mairwa, district Siwan, recorded by A.S.I. Binodanand Thakur on 13.11.1980 at 14.30 hours at village Pathkhauli. In brief, the prosecution case is that the informant is one of the four co -owners and from two such co -owners, namely, Babu Nand Pathak and Kailash Pathak, accused -appellant Ramjit Pathak purchased 6 kathas 12 dhurs of land through sale -deed, pertaining to plot Nos. 2036 and 2040. In each of the said plots there is katahal(jack fruit) tree which the accused Ramjit Pathak wanted to capture but the informant party did not permit him to do so because the sale -deed did not Include those trees. Two years earlier an occurrence of assault had taken place on account of attempt to take forceful possession of the said trees leading to cases which are pending in court. For settlement of the dispute relating to those trees a Panchayati had been convened on 13.11.80 at 12 noon for which Dr. Raghunath Singh (P.W.5), Brij Prasad, Dr. Kalamuddin(Mukhiya), Maksudan Mishra (P.W.4) and Rambilas Tiwary had come and panchayati was held under the said katahal three. At about 1 P.M. after looking into the documents of both the parties Kalamuddin declared that the katahal tree belongs to the informant party. On hearing this, accused -appellant Ramjit Pathak declared that he would not accept the said verdict. On that the panches got ready to leave. At that time Arti Devi, daughter of Ramjit Pathak, handed over a bhala and a dagger to her father. Thereafter other accused persons went running and brought weapons like bhala, barchhi and farsa from a nearby sugarcane field. Ramjit Pathak assaulted the deceased Bihari Pathak in the abdomen with a bhala. Bihari Pathak fell down on the ground. Panchdeo Pathak (P.W.1), Sudama Pathak (P.W.8) and Byas Pathak (P.W.2) attempted to save. Bihari Pathak and then appellant Kanhaiya Pathak assaulted P.W.1 on the chest with a bhala. Appellant Yogendra Pathak assaulted P.W.8 on the back with a bhala. Appellant Rabindra Pathak assaulted P.W.2 by throwing brick bats. Co -accused Sarvajeet Pathak who died during course of trial allegedly assaulted the informant by throwing brick bats. Seeing such occurrence the persons who had gathered for doing panchayati started fleeing away. Bihari Pathak died at the same place. The accused persons went to darwaja of Naresh Pathak and assaulted him there. After the accused persons escaped then the dead body of Bihari Pathak was brought to darwaja of the informant due to fear that accused persons may take away the dead body. The injured persons, namely, Naresh Pathak, Sudama Pathak, Panchdeo Pathak and Byas Pathak were sent to Mairwa hospital for treatment.

(3.) CHARGES were framed against all the accused persons for offences under Sections 302/149, 307/149, 148 and 447 of the Indian Penal Code. They pleaded not guilty of the charges and claimed to be tried. On conclusion of trial they have been convicted by the impugned judgment as already noticed earlier.