DINESH THAKUR Vs. STATE OF BIHAR

JUDGEMENT

(1.) There is only one petitioner in this case and he was convicted by the learned Magistrate for the offence under Section 457, Penal Code and was sentenced to undergo rigorous imprisonment for six months. He preferred an appeal which was heard by the learned Assistant Sessions Judge and the latter altered the conviction into one under Section 451, Penal Code and also reduced the sentence by three months, According to the conviction which now stands the petitioner has been convicted under Section 451, Penal Code and sentenced to undergo rigorous imprisonment for three months.

(2.) According to the prosecution, on 14-8. 1965, at about 10 p. m., the petitioner was seen on the roof of the house of the informant who is P. W. 3 in this case, and on an alarm being raised by P. W. 3, the petitioner jumped from there to the roof of the neighbouring house and ultimately when he came down he was caught in the Khand. After having been caught and arrested there, he was taken to the police station where a first information report was lodged and a case was instituted against him.

(3.) The learned Magistrate held that the prosecution had been able to prove the case against the petitioner and also disbelieved the defence version and the learned Assistant Sessions Judge on appeal also held that the prosecution had been able to prove the case. The petitioner being aggrieved thereafter has preferred this revision and in this two main points have been submitted. One of these is that the evidence on record does not disclose that the petitioner had been identified as the person who was on the roof of the house. The second point which has been urged is that the ingredient of the offence under Section 451, Penal Code had not been proved and so the petitioner could not have been convicted under that section.