JAMUNA SINGH Vs. STATE OF BIHAR

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Appellant No. 1 Jamuna Singh, appellant No. 2 Krishana Singh alias Sri Kishun Singh and appellant No. 3 Bachha Singh have been convicted under Section 304, read with Section 34 of the Indian Penal Code and sentenced to undergo imprisonment for life. Appellant No. 4 Sri Bhagwan Singh has been convicted under Section 323 I.P.C. and sentenced, to undergo rigorous imprisonment for three months.

(2.) The facts which have led to the trial and conviction of the appellants may be summarised as under. On 19-4-1979 one Ram Awatar Thakur (P.W. 1) of village Sadhpur within Garkha police station in the district of Saran was teased and abused by two young boys of the family of appellants No. 2 and 3 because the former had eloped with a married girl of his neighbourhood and married her to the dislike of the villagers including these appellants. On being so teased. Ram Awatar Thakur retorted and rebuked those boys. Consequently, they went home and complained to appellant No. 2 that he had abused them. Consequently, these appellants and one Prakash Singh arrived near the house of Ram Awatar Thakur armed with bhalas and lathis with a view to teach him a lesson by assault. The said Ram Awatar Thakur fled and cried for help. Therefore, Md. Sahid (the deceased) who happened to be the Ex. Sarpanch of the village intervened and showed his inclination to resist any assault on the said Ram Awatar Thakur, a village barber by profession. He invited the ire of the appellants and their associate Prakash Singh and they inflicted bhala and lathi blows on his person causing multiple injuries. Md. Sahid was rushed to Garkha State Dispensary situated at a distance of about 9 K.Ms. from the village Sadhpur where such occurrence took place at about 3 in the after-noon. An information was sent to Garkha police. A Sub-Inspector of police named Uma Kant Ram went there and recorded his fardbeyan/F.I.R. Ext. 4) on the same day at 4.20 P.M. The local Circle Officer was also called and requested to record the dying declaration of the said Md. Sahid as his condition was serious. Consequently, the Circle Officer of Garkha Police Station, namely, K.K. Ojha P.W. 13) recorded the dying declaration of Md. Sahid at Garkha State Dispensary on the same day at 4.45 P.M. Thereafter, injured Md. Sahid was transferred to Chapra Sadar Hospital where he succumbed to the injuries on the same night. It may be mentioned that white the deceased was being assaulted by the appellants and their associates, his brother Md. Aleem (P.W. 4) went to intervene and he was given a couple of lathi blows by appellant No. 4. Even though in course of his F.I.R. and dying declaration the deceased had named only these appellants and Prakash Singh as his assailants, the witnesses examined in court of investigation implicated one Bishwanath Singh, another brother of appellants No. 2 and 3 as one of the assailants attributing dagger in his hand and assault to the deceased by means thereof.

(3.) On such facts, these appellants as well as Prakash Singh alias Pakar Singh and Bishwanath Singh were charged under Section 302, and in the alternative under Section 302 read with section 149, I.P.C. for the murder of deceased Md. Sahid. Appellant No. 4 Sri Bhagwan Singh was further charged under Section 323, I.P.C. for voluntarily causing hurt to P.W. 4 Md. Aleem (sic). The defence of the accused persons including the appellants was total denied of the occurrence in the manner alleged and their false implication. To prove the charges the prosecution examined as many as 16 witnesses including the Investigating Officer (P.W. 16) and the two doctors, one of Garkha who had initially examined the deceased and P.W. 4 at Garkha State Dispensary, and the other of Chapra Sadar Hospital who had performed autopsy on the dead body of the deceased on 20-4-1979. Of the remaining witnesses while P.W. 3 has been tendered for cross-examination, P.W. 2 had witnessed seizure of some bloodstained articles and blood-stained soil from the place of occurrence and P.W. 8 witnessed the inquest of the dead body of Chapra Sadar Hospital. P.Ws. 9, 10 and 12 were of formal nature. P.W. 14 a Sub-Inspector of Bhagwan Bazar police station had held the inquest and prepared inquest report (Ext. 8). The remaining prosecution witnesses, namely, P.W. 1 Ram Awatar Thakur, P.W. 4 Md. Aleem, P.W. 5 Raghubansh Rai, P.W. 6 Ganesh Tewary and P.W. 15 Md. Raseed came to the witness-box as eye witnesses to the occurrence.