GAYANAND YADAV Vs. STATE OF BIHAR

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THE present appeal arises out of and is directed against the judgment and order dated 24th April, 1993, passed in sessions Case No. 282 of 1990, whereby the appellants have been found guilty under sections 324/149 and 148, IPC. They have been released under Section 4 of the probation of Offender's Act on their entering into a bond of Rs. 1000/- with one local surety of the like amount for a period of one year.

(2.) TO put the record right, it is recorded that during the pendency of the present appeal, appellant No. 3 Ram Chandra Yadav, appellant No. 5 Bhaluk Yadav, appellant No. 10 Khedu Yadav and appellant No. 13 satyanarayan Yadav were reported to be dead. Affidavits in this regard were filed on behalf of the appellants. This Court called for a report from the Superintendent of police, Lakhisarai regarding the death of these four appellants. On submission of the report, this Court under order dated 3-7-2008 found that the present appeal against abovementioned four appellants stood abated as they have been reported dead. Necessary corrections in the memo of appeal have already been carried out by the office in terms of the order dated 3-7-2008.

(3.) BACKGROUND facts giving rise to the present appeal, in a nutshell, are as follows: an FIR (Ext. 2) seems to have been lodged by P. W. 4 Bisheshwar Yadav alleging therein that on 6-12-1987 at about 9. 30 a. m. the informant (P. W. 4) was sitting at his Darwaza along with his nephew Sanjay Kumar Yadav (P. W. 3 ). All the accused persons named in the FIR variously armed with deadly weapons arrived at the said Darwaza of the informant, started abusing and threatening him. This was protested by the informant. The prosecution case further is that the accused persons surrounded the informant and his nephew and started assaulting them with their respective weapons. An alarm was raised by his nephew (P. W. 3), whereafter witnesses named in the FIR including P. W. 1 arrived at the scene of occurrence. On seeing the witnesses, the accused persons stopped assaulting them. The prosecution case further is that thereafter the accused krishna Deo Yadav took out a match box from his pocket and put the Baithka of the informant on fire. It was a thatched roof and, therefore, caught fire and burnt into ashes. The prosecution case further is that the household articles, such a books, cloths etc. kept in the Baithka also burnt into ashes. According to the informant, the accused persons did not stop there. They entered into the 'aangan' of the brother of the informant and committed theft of different articles including golden Hansuli, golden chain and rs. 1,600/- cash amount from the room of negeshwar Yadav. On the basis of the fardbeyan (Ext. 3), a formal FIR (Ext. 2) was drawn the Lakshsarai P. S. Case No. 367 dated 6-12-1987 was instituted under various sections of the Penal Code including sections 147, 148, 149, 323, 324, 307, 448, 436 and 380, IPC. The motive assigned in the FIR is that both the parties were at loggerheads due to some land disputes going on between them from before. The land dispute is thus admitted in the FIR.