DHIRENDRA KUMAR SINGH Vs. STATE OF BIHAR

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Eleven appellants in Cr. APP ( DB) No. 144 of 1993 and sole appellant / Bijay Kumar Singh in CR. APP (DB) No. 219 of 1993 were convicted and sentenced by the learned 7 th Additional Sessions Judge, Bhagalpur in Sessions Trial No. 133 of 1988 / 157 of 1988 and as such, both the appeals were heard together and are being disposed of by this common judgment.

(2.) By judgment of conviction dtd. 11/3/1993 passed in Sessions Trial No. 133 of 1988 / 157 of 1988 Sri D.N. Chakravarty, learned 7th Additional Sessions Judge, Bhagalpur (hereinafter referred to as "trial judge") has convicted all the aforesaid appellants for offence under Sec. 302/149 and Sec. 147 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 ( hereinafter referred to as the "I.P.C.") whereas, Tageshwar Prasad Singh/ A-7 in CR. APP ( DB) No. 144 of 1993 and Bijay Kumar Singh /sole appellant in CR. APP ( DB) No. 219 of 1993 were convicted for offence under Sec. 323 of the I.P.C. By the order of sentence dtd. : 12/3/1993 all the aforesaid appellants were sentenced to undergo rigorous imprisonment for life under Sec. 302 /149 of the I.P.C. with a fine of Rs.1,000.00 each and in default of payment of fine they were further directed to undergo rigorous imprisonment for one year each. All the appellants were further sentenced to undergo rigorous imprisonment for two years under Sec. 147 of the I.P.C. , however, Appellant No. 7 (hereinafter referred to as "A") / Tageshwar Prasad Singh of CR. APP (DB) No. 144 of 1993 and sole appellant/ Bijay Kumar Singh in CR. APP (DB) No. 219 of 1993 were further sentenced to undergo rigorous imprisonment for one year each under Sec. 323 of the I.P.C. All the sentences were directed to run concurrently.

(3.) Short fact of the case is that on 3/8/1985 at 12.15 hours (P.M.) Sub Inspector of Police Sri A.H. Khan , officer- in- charge of Shahkund Police Station recorded fardbyan of Ramjatan Singh ( deceased ) at Shahkund Hospital. In the fardbyan the informant (deceased ) stated that on the same day at about 9.00 A.M. after taking medicine from Dr. Mahendra Singh he was returning to his house and as soon as he reached near the door of one Nagendra Singh; Baneshwar Prasad Singh/ A-8 , Bijay Kumar Singh/ sole appellant in CR. APP ( DB) No. 219 of 1993 , Tageshwar Prasad Singh/ A-7, Subodh Kumar Singh /A-6, Kailash Prasad Singh/ A- 2, Bishwanath Singh /A-9, Baneshwar Prashad Singh /A-8 , Bipat Lal Singh /A-11, Subhash Prasad Singh / A-10, Panchu Das /A-4 and Dhirendra Kumar Singh/ A-1 all surrounded the informant . Baneshwar Prasad Singh/ A- 8 was carrying farsa in his hand and rest of the accused persons were carrying lathi in their hands. The informant further stated that Parmanand Singh / A- 5 exorted and using filthy language said to kill " ekjks lkys dks ". Thereafter , Bijay Kumar Singh / appellant in CR. APP ( DB) No. 219 of 1993 forcefully gave lathi blow on his right hand whereby his hand was fractured. He stated that to save his life and he started fleeing away and near the western door of Nagendra Singh in the field of the informant accused persons started assaulting him. Thereafter, he fell down . The informant further stated that accused- Tageshwar Prasad Singh gave assault of lathi on his left hand. Subodh Kumar Singh / A- 6 gave lathi blow on his right hand . Kailash Prasad Singh/ A- 2 gave lathi blow on his left hand . Bishswanath Singh/ A- 9 also assaulted him on his left hand by means of lathi. Parmanand Singh/ A-5 and Baneshwar Singh/ A- 8 started to press his neck with a view to kill him . Bipat Lal Singh / A- 11 climbed on his chest and gave forceful hura blow ( blow by the last portion of the lathi). After the neck and chest being pressed by accused persons the informant started squirming and he noticed that he was about to die. In the meanwhile, informant's brother -Ghanshyam Singh / P.W. 2 , mother of his daughter- in- law of Mantu ( not examined ), his bhabhi -Pushpa Devi / P.W. 1 when tried to save him, accused -Subodh Kumar Singh /A- 6 gave lathi blow on their left shoulder and Bijay Kumar Singh gave lathi blow on their left leg. The informant stated that due to such injury he became unconscious and thereafter, accused persons considering the informant as if he had died, left the place of occurrence. The informant further stated that accused persons were preventing from injured being carried to Shahkund Hospital , then Anil Kumar Singh ( not examined ), Arjun Mandal ( not examined ) , Arjun Yadav ( not examined) , Ram Prasad Yadav and Devi Yadav ( not examined ) arrived and they carried the informant on cot to Shahkund Hospital . The reason for assault was explained by the informant that he had purchased 22 1/2 decimals of land from one Ram Briksh Singh, resident of Begusarai through kewala, however the accused persons were trying to forcibly take possession of the said land. The informant made his fardbyan and finding it correct he put his L.T.I. since his hand had already fractured. After recording fardbyan on the same date a formal F.I.R. vide Shahkund P.S. Case No. 90 of 1985 was drawn for offence under Sec. 147, 148, 149, 307, 325, and 323 of the I.P.C. against eleven accused persons i.e. all the appellants except one Arbind Kumar Singh, who is A-3 in CR. APP ( DB) No. 144 of 1993. During investigation on the same date at about 6.00 P.M. (evening ) the injured/ informant died in Jawahar Lal Nehru Medical College and Hospital , Bhagalpur and thereafter in the case Sec. 302 of the I.P.C. was also added. in Bhagalur Medical College and Hospital thereafter on 4/8/1985 inquest report was prepared. During investigation accusation against all F.I.R. named accused persons including one additional accused namely; Arbind Kumar Singh/ A- 3 who was not named in the F.I.R. was noticed. After investigation, on 7/11/1985 charge- sheet was submitted and thereafter, learned Magistrate took cognizance of offence on 23/11/1985 for offence under Sec. 147, 148, 149, 323, 325, 307 and 302 of the I.P.C. and after supply of police papers by order dtd. 10/2/1988 the case was committed to the court of Sessions and thereafter, it was numbered as Sessions Trial No. 133 of 1988. On 18 th August, 1988 charge under Sec. 323 of the I.P.C. was framed against accused -Bijay Kumar Singh, Tageshwar Singh and Subodh Kumar Singh and on the same day charge under Sec. 302/ 149 of the I.P.C. was framed against all the accused aforesaid and further charge under Sec. 148 of the I.P.C. was framed against Baneshwar Prasad Singh /A- 8. Against Bijay Kumar Singh/ sole appellant in CR. APP (DB) No. 219 of 1993 , Tageshwar Singh /A -7 , Subodh Kumar Singh A-6 , Kailash Prasad Singh A-2, Bishwanath Singh /A-9 , Bipat Lal Singh /A - 11, Subhash Prasad Singh/ A-10, Panchu Singh /A-4, Parmanand Singh/ A -5 and Dhirendra Kumar Singh / A-1 and Arbind Kumar Singh / A-3 charge under Sec. 147 of the I.P.C. was framed. Since the accused persons denied charges and claimed to tried the prosecution with a view to establish its case examined altogether six witnesses. After completion of the prosecution evidence, the accused persons were explained with the circumstances and evidences against them brought during the trial and their statement under Sec. 313 of the Code of Criminal Procedure , 1973 (hereinafter referred to as "Cr.P.C.") was recorded on 23/5/1992 . After the statement of accused recorded under Sec. 313 of the Cr.P.C. to disapprove the charges from the defence side in the present case altogether eight defence witnesses were examined. From the prosecution side, P.W. 1/Pushpa Devi ( wife of Ghanshyam Singh), P.W. 2 / Ghanshyam Singh @ Ramjatan Kumud and P.W. 3 / Kumari Chandana Kumud were examined as eye witness to the occurrence whereas , P.W. 4 / Sudha Paswan was inquest witness; P.W. 5 / Dr. H.I. Ansari had conducted post- mortem examination on the dead body of the deceased and P.W. 6 /Abul Hasan Khan is the investigating officer. The prosecution besides oral evidence has also brought on record documentary evidences such as post - mortem examination report [ Exhibit -2], fardbyan [Exhibit- 3], injury requisition [ Exhibit -4], formal F.I.R. [Exhibit- 5], one fardbyan of Ghanshyam Singh / P.W. 2 which was marked as Exhibit -7 , inquest report [Exhibit 8]; sketch map [Exhibit- 9] and signature of P.W. 4 / Sudha Paswan was marked as [Exhibit- 1] . From the defence side Sri Chhedi Yadav and Ram Prasad Yadav whose names were mentioned in the fardbyan as witness was examined as D.W. 5 and D.W. 6 respectively; D.W. 1 / Ram Naresh Prasad Modi , who was a teacher of School in which P.W. 3 was student on the date of occurrence and he brought on record the class attendance register of the date of occurrence, which was marked as Exhibit -B . D.W. 2 / Shree Kant Mandal who was a Clerk in the Surgery Department in the Bhagalpur Medical College & Hospital has proved the bed head ticket which was marked as Exhibit -C . D.W. 3/ Kumari Bandana has claimed to be the class mate of P.W. 3 . D.W. 4/ Kanhai Prasad Singh is the co- villager who has stated on the point that Ghanshaym Singh/ P.W. 2 had impersonated his brother Ramjatan Singh as Ramjatan Kumud , D.W. 7 / Umesh Chandra Chaubey is a formal witness and D.W. 8 / Ashok Kumar Mandal was an employee of ikS/kk laj{k.k foHkkx (Plant Protection Office) .