RAMBARAN MAHTON Vs. STATE

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This is an appeal from the decision of the Additional Sessions Judge, Patna, dated 22nd December, 1956, convicting the appellant under Section 325, I. P. C. and sentencing him to undergo rigorous imprisonment for five years. The charge initially against the appellant was of murder under Section 302, I. P. C. but the learned Additional Sessions Judge found that the charge of murder had not been established. In his opinion the offence the appellant committed was grievous hurt under Section 325, and he sentenced him accordingly.

(2.) This lamentable incident which was the development of a domestic feud between the two full brothers over almost a trifle and which resulted in the death of one of them took place at 6 P. M. on 29th May, 1956, in village Soh within the Bihar Police Station. Nokhali, the deceased, was the elder brother of the appellant, Rambaran Mahton. Both of them were separate in mess and cultivation. This occurrence took place in the field comprised in Survey Plot 849 which, there is no dispute, had been allotted exclusively to their mother Mosstt. India (Court witness No. 1). At that time the deceased was looking after his brinjal field which was 250 yards distant from plot 849. The appellant along with his mother and two sisters was then irrigating that plot by means of Rahat fixed in a well at some distance from that plot. These ladies were living with the appellant. One of the sisters was married, but at the time of the occurrence she was there with the appellant. The case of the prosecution is that the deceased came to plot 849 from his brinjal field and there took place some altercation between the two brothers. What actually preceded this altercation there is no evidence, According to the prosecution, there was exchange of abuses between the two brothers and the appellant dashed him to the ground and sat upon his stomach and belaboured him with fists and slaps. This rendered him senseless. Both the appellant and his mother gave him water to drink but he did not regain his senses. Several persons arrived at the place of occurrence and a khatia was brought and Nokhali deceased was taken on the khatia to one Dr. Bhagvvan Sahay who was living a mile away from the place of occurrence. Before medical aid could be given to the deceased, he expired. Soon after a Police Constable arrived at the place of Dr. Bhagwan Sahay and at the instance of the constable Most. Garbhi and Ramdas, the widow and the son of the deceased, took the deceased on the Ekka to the Police Station where she lodged 1st information report at 9-30 P. M. The Sub-Inspector visited the place of occurrence soon after at about midnight and forwarded the dead body for post mortem examination. Dr. H.C. Ghosh held post mortem examination on the corpse of Nokhali at 11 A. M. on 30-5-56. The examination disclosed the following ante-mortem injuries on the person of the deceased :

(3.) The appellant did not deny the occurrence. In fact, the time and the place of occurrence and the fact that there was some dispute between the two brothers were practically admitted. The appellant, however, did not admit administration of kicks and slaps. According to the defence, when Nokhali came to the place of occurrence he was in a fit of anger and caught hold of the appellant by the throat, and the appellant, in order to extincate himself, pushed him aside and Nokhali fell on a (spade) Kodari which was lying in the field. The suggestion is that the injuries that the medical officer found on Nokhali were probably caused by fall on the handle of the Kodari.